id: 170804 accession number: 2013.305 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2013.305 updated: 2025-12-07 02:46:02.382000 Yaja and Upayaja perform a sacrifice for the emergence of Dhrishtadyumna from the fire, from Adi-parva (volume one) of the Razm-nama (Book of Wars) adapted and translated into Persian by Mir Ghiyath al-Din Ali Qazvini, known as Naqib Khan (Persian, d. 1614) from the Sanskrit Mahabharata, 1598. Attributed to Bilal Habshi (probably Ethiopian, active late 1500s). Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper; page: 29.8 x 16.8 cm (11 3/4 x 6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.305 title: Yaja and Upayaja perform a sacrifice for the emergence of Dhrishtadyumna from the fire, from Adi-parva (volume one) of the Razm-nama (Book of Wars) adapted and translated into Persian by Mir Ghiyath al-Din Ali Qazvini, known as Naqib Khan (Persian, d. 1614) from the Sanskrit Mahabharata title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1598 creation date earliest: 1598 creation date latest: 1598 current location: creditline: Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection copyright: --- culture: Mughal India;made for Abd al-Rahim the Khan Khanan technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art - Mughal type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Bilal Habshi (probably Ethiopian, active late 1500s) - artist --- measurements: Page: 29.8 x 16.8 cm (11 3/4 x 6 5/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Inscriptions around painting: Ascribed to Bilal Habashi (probably Ethiopian, active late 1500s) Mughal court, made for Abd al-Rahim the Khan Khanan translation: remark: inscription: Persian inscription in bottom margin, in nasta‘liq script: The performing of a sacrifice by King Drupada with Yaja and Upayaja and the appearing of Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi from the fire; Bilal-i Habashi translation: remark: inscription: Persian inscription at edge of bottom margin, in nasta‘liq script: and sword translation: remark: inscription: Calligraphy: Persian text in naskh script: “. . . and rules in Panchala. I want you to take him and bring him to me.” They went to war with Drupada and fought a battle, and King Drupada managed to overcome the Kauravas and put them to flight, but the Pandavas fought him and brought him to Master Drona. Droṇa took half of his [Drupada’s] kingdom from him and left him the other half. King Drupada was extremely distressed that Master Drona had overcome him and wished he could have an offspring who would kill Master Drona. With this desire in his mind, he went to the shores of the Ganges River so that perchance he could find a person whose prayers on his behalf to the almighty God to graciously bestow upon him an offspring capable of killing Droṇa would be accepted. By the banks of the Ganges he saw two pious worshipers. One was called Yaja and the other Upayaja. He spent some time there performing services for them and bringing them whatever they required. After a long while, one day he said to Upayaja: “I would like you to do what is needed so that I have a son who could kill Master Drona. If you do this I will give you one lakh [a hundred thousand] of cows and whatever else you demand.” Upayaja did not accept this. Once again Drupada spent time at their service, and then once again he begged Upayaja to do this. He said: “Go to my elder brother Yaja, since he still has a little attachment to this world, so that he can perform the sacrifice for you, so that the almighty God would bestow on you the offspring that you desire.” King Drupada went therefore to Yaja the brahmin and told him what Upayaja had told him and said: “If you perform the sacrifice for me so that I have son who would kill Master Drona, I would give you eighty thousand cows.” Yaja said, “What kind of a person is Master Drona that you do not deem yourself a match for him?” Drupada said, “Droṇa is the kind of person who remains without rival and peer in the arts of war. His bow is six times the length of the elbow to the fingertip, and nothing in the world can rival and overcome him.” Yaja said: “I will perform the sacrifice for you, so long as my brother Upayaja joins forces with me.” So King Drupada and Yaja both went to Upayaja and pleaded so long that he at last agreed to be present at the sacrifice. They thus made a wish for King Drupada to have a son to kill Droṇa and made a big sacrifice, and from the midst of the sacrificial fire suddenly a son emerged clad in a coat of mail holding a bow in one hand. translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Main gallery rotation (gallery 245): November 2, 2015 -', 'opening_date': '2015-11-02T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'The Cleveland Museum of Art (7/31/2016-10/23/2016); Art and Stories from Mughal India, cat. 25, p. 22.', 'opening_date': '2016-07-31T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.305/2013.305_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.305/2013.305_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2013.305/2013.305_full.tif