Kamakandala dies on hearing the news of Madhava’s death, folio 19 from a Madhavanala-Kamakandala of Alam (c. 1720): Art, History and Details

Kamakandala dies on hearing the news of Madhava’s death, folio 19 from a Madhavanala-Kamakandala of Alam (c. 1720) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Having seen how desperately Madhava loves Kamakandala, King Vikrama decides to test Kamakandala to ensure she loves him equally. Time is compressed in this scene. King Vikrama is shown delivering the false news that Madhava died from a broken heart. In response, Kamakandala faints, and her friend sees that her tongue has turned black, according to the poem. Kamakandala then dies, and her friends cry and wail, letting their hair loose in an act of mourning; the king’s groom looks downcast. At the end, Madhava dies after hearing of Kamakandala’s death. King Vikrama is seized with deep regret, until a celestial being restores their lives, and the lovers are reunited.

Object facts

• Title: Kamakandala dies on hearing the news of Madhava’s death, folio 19 from a Madhavanala-Kamakandala of Alam
• Date: c. 1720
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 17.6 x 28.5 cm (6 15/16 x 11 1/4 in.); Page: 20.2 x 31 cm (7 15/16 x 12 3/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.94

A detail from the museum

The scene is set at night with a star-studded sky.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.