Bhuri Singh Museum, Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, India.
Painted in 1758 CE by the master Pahari artist Laharu of the Gujarati Manikanth family, this illuminated folio is part of a famous Bhagavata Purana series ordered by Mian Samsher Singh while Raja Umed Singh ruled Chamba. Art historians B.N. Goswamy, Eberhard Fischer, V.C. Ohri, and Karl Khandalavala have studied this piece in depth. It shows a moment from Canto 10 of the *Bhagavata Purana*: Vishnu appears in the prison cell of Kamsa, in Mathura. Before becoming a human baby, Vishnu shows himself in a four‑armed (Chaturbhuja) form. He wears yellow pitambara and holds the familiar conch (shankha), lotus (padma), mace (gada) and discus (chakra). Beside Vishnu, his parents Vasudeva and Devaki stand. Vasudeva wears a white jama. Devaki wears elegant Himalayan clothes. They press their hands together in an anjali mudra* to honour Vishnu. In style, Laharu turns a prison scene into a raised two‑level pavilion. The pavilion has horizontal brick lines, Mughal‑style chhatris(domed kiosks) and a low arched door. Using an isometric 'Indian perspective', Laharu raises the moment into an open upper loggia. The background is plain and dark so the eye stays on the figures. Two Pahari trees, placed on each side, balance the centre. They sit inside a red outer border (hashiya). By mixing geometry, sharp building lines and expressive figures, Laharu turns a Sanskrit story into the unique style of 18th‑century Chamba painting.
Laharu’s 1758 Chamba miniature depicts Vishnu revealing his four-armed divine form to Vasudeva and Devaki before Krishna’s birth. Its architectural prison transforms into a two-level pavilion with Mughal chhatris, brickwork, and an open loggia. Strong geometry, dark background, balanced trees, expressive figures, and a red border exemplify Laharu’s distinctive synthesis of Pahari, Mughal, and Himalayan visual traditions.
