Jangarh Singh Shyam Sets New Auction Record At Mumbai’s Pundole Gallery

Jangarh Singh Shyam has set a new auction record at Mumbai’s Pundole Gallery, with an untitled 1999 acrylic on canvas selling for a hammer price of Rs 18 crore. The 91-by-69-inch work, depicting a spiritual figure surrounded by snakes and birds in a tree, had been estimated at Rs 4–6 crore. Including Pundole’s 15 per cent buyer’s premium, the final price was approximately $2.15 million. An English-language Indian media outlet described the hammer value as a $1.89 million record for the artist.

The sale took place on September 24, 2026, after bidding initially moved slowly around Rs 7–9 crore. Three bidders eventually narrowed to two, with the price rising by Rs 1 crore with each bid before one bidder dropped out. The winning collector, identified by paddle number 1730, also bought a marble sculpture by Jagdish Swaminathan and a bronze water buffalo by Somnath Hoare. The Shyam painting had never previously appeared at auction.

From Patangarh To The Auction Room

Born in 1962 in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandla district, Shyam belonged to the Pardhan community, whose musicians traditionally preserved stories, myths and genealogies through song. He began by making wall drawings in Patangarh, his hilltop village, before artist Jagdish Swaminathan brought him to Bhopal and introduced him to acrylic paint. His practice subsequently developed into what became known as Jangarh Kalam, characterised by intricate patterns of dots, dashes and recurring forms.

A 2022 report on an earlier Pundole sale noted that Shyam had expanded his community’s tradition of wall drawing into work on paper and canvas. His Ghui Jhaad Par Van Manus (1992) sold for Rs 20 lakh at the time, more than three times its estimate, breaking his previous auction record of $25,000 for Landscape with Spider (1988), sold by Sotheby’s in 2010. Pundole owner Dadiba Pundole said then that the growing interest in Shyam’s work reflected a wider acceptance of artists from outside India’s metropolitan art centres.

A Rapid Rise In Value

The latest result follows another record for Shyam at Saffronart just five days earlier. Bel Mukhota (Gond), a 1999 acrylic on canvas measuring 66.25 by 43.5 inches, sold for Rs 2.88 crore, including the buyer’s premium, against an estimate of Rs 2–3 crore. That sale set a new auction record for the artist at the time.

Pundole’s latest sale included three other paintings by Shyam, all of which sold above their estimates. The auction also included works by established Indian modernists, with M.F. Husain’s Red Girl selling for Rs 65 crore. A 32-by-44-inch work from Swaminathan’s Bird, Tree and Mountain Series sold for Rs 5 crore, including the buyer’s premium, against a top estimate of Rs 3 crore.

Shyam died in 2001, aged 40, while on an artist residency in Japan. His work is held in international museum collections, including the Guggenheim in New York and the Chicago Cultural Centre, according to The Wire. The new Pundole result places his work at a price level far beyond his earlier auction records and marks another significant sale for an artist whose practice emerged from the Pardhan community of central India.

(With inputs from varous sources.)