This painting depicts a scene from the Markandeya Purana which shows a congregation of brightly dressed devas (god or deity), standing in a state of devotional expectation before a large open lotus. It was done in Guler, a school of Pahari painting. This Markandeya Purana is one of the important Hindu texts which were written as a form of dialogue between the sage Markandeya and Jaimini, a disciple of the sage, Vyasa. It consists of 900 verses, spread across 137 cantos which were compiled in different stages. It serves as a form of subtext containing textual references to the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Devi Mahatmya (Glorification of the Great Goddess) and some genealogies in the Puranic dynasties. The Markandeya Purana has a character quite different from other Puranas in that it is shorn of any sectarian spirit and little religious tone.
