This watercolour painting depicts an important scene in Book II Sabha Parva (The Book of the Assembly Hall) of the epic Mahabharata. The strife between the Kauravas and Pandavas in the epic begins with a game of dice. The Kauravas won the game through trickery. As a result, the Pandava brothers lost everything including their wife, Draupadi. To add on to their cousins’ shame, Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kaurava princes, commands his brother Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi in front of all. The painting captures this scene vividly. This painting belongs to the Guler school of painting. In 1741-73, Guler artists who worked for Raja Govardhan Chand (reigned 1741-73), combined Mughal drawing techniques and Pahari lyricism to develop a style of painting that was delicately drawn with a bright, rich palette.
