A HINDU COSMIC DIAGRAM
Kutch, Gujarat, North-Western India, 18th - 19th century

Opaque pigments and ink on paper, the large circular cosmic diagram cut in four uneven large folios, each folio folded and with Devanagari inscriptions on the recto, the square centre with a yellow flower radiating streams of blue and red lines to every corner, further rivers and energetic lines depicted running through the diagram, each line followed by a caption and often a numeral, the last folio with sketches in red ink of Kurma and Varaha, the second and third avatars of Vishnu, followed by a sketch of a human-headed bird described as Pradhana Shakti, one of the forms of the Hindu Goddess, the folio 31cm x 20cm, 32.5cm x 25.8cm including the binding.