"He Govind, He Daomodar, He Madhava" (From The Mahabharata)

The two worlds of spirit and matter blend in Madhubani paintings. The wonderful flights of imagination and innovative skills of the artist can be discovered through an examination of paintings such as this.

In this narrative painting, the horizontal space arrangement has been so used to divide the work, indicating a keen awareness of the rural stage where incidents separated by time and space are portrayed at the same time. The painting pictorially narrates an incident from the Mahabharata. Draupadi was married to the five Pandava brothers. They were constantly harassed by their cousins, the Kauravas for the kingdom which rightfully belonged to the Pandavas. The Kaurava invited the latter for a game of dice and cheated them of their kingdom, their personal belongings and even their wife. To humiliate the Pandavas further, Duryodhana, one of the Kaurava brothers asked his younger brother Dushashana to disrobe her in the gathering.

The dominant part of the painting shows Dushashana pulling at Draupadi's sari. The bearded Bhishma Pitamah, their great grandfather, can bee seen trying to stop the proceedings. At the right corner is spread out the board of the game of dice and the players.

When Draupadi's pleas for help to all quarters failed she appealed to Lord Krishna to save her honor, by crying out in distress "He Govind, He Daomodar, He Madhava". Her beloved Krishna immediately came to her rescue and as much the Kauravas tried to pull at her sari, it kept increasing in length and prevented them from their heinous intention. At the upper right portion of the painting can be seen Krishna blessing Draupadi with yards and yards of cloth.