File:Hindoo Gods; Wallpaper.jpg

English: Object Type

Paper printed with patterns has been used to decorate walls since the 16th century. However, the many Europeans living in India in the 19th century found it impractical to introduce the fashion for wallpaper there as the climate was not suitable. The heat and humidity caused the paper to peel away from the wall after a short time, and it would also become infested with insects. It seems likely, therefore, that these wallpaper panels were produced to be used as temporary decorations, perhaps for religious festivals.

Subjects Depicted

This scene appears to have been copied from a 19th-century south Indian painting. It combines elements of European design (the chandeliers) with decorative features (the arch) characteristic of Indian art of the Mughal period (1526-1857). The figures depicted in this panel and others in the series are all characters from Hindu mythology. The god Vishnu (the Preserver) is seen reclining on the serpent Ananta, on the waters of Nara; Brahma (the Creator in the Hindu pantheon) appears in a lotus flower which rises from Vishnu's navel. Vishnu's sleep on the eternal waters symbolises the dormant periods between the ages of the universe. Brahma's reappearance signals his re-creation of the universe to begin a new age.