Kurukshetra War
measurements: 132x79x6 cm
weight: ca. 10800 gr
This picture shows a scene from the Mahabharata, the great Hindu epic, depicting a battle scene. Arjuna is standing on the chariot on the left with Krishna as his charioteer. On the chariot sits Karna, the adversary, and King Salya as charioteer. There are many other figures depicted, which unfortunately I cannot identify exactly.
This panel is the largest and heaviest carving in my collection. I like the deep brown wood. You don't often find such a large piece of heartwood made from the finest tropical wood. Unfortunately, I have no information about the year it was made; it was probably made between the 1950s and 1970s.
measurements: 48x50 cm
weight: 2980 gr
weight: 2980 gr
signed by I Kt. Lanus, Sukawati, Bali
The faces on the carving are smiling, but in the narrative of the Mahabharata, the battle at Kurukshetra was incredibly brutal, with mountains of corpses. But the Mahabharata also tells of great courage, honor, how a ruler exercises good governance, and it is above all a very philosophical work that one should have read, at least in an abridged version.