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Krishna and Balarama In Pursuit of the Demon Shankashura

Ca. 1690

India, Rajasthan, Bikaner

Gouache, gold, and silver on paper

H. 9 x W. 5 1/5 in. (23 x 13.3 cm)

Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund, 2002.2

Provenance

Doris Wiener Gallery, New York, NY.

The Asia Society, New York, NY; acquired from Doris Winer Gallery, New York, NY, July 2002.

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This page is from an illustrated manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana, a narrative that tells the life of Krishna. This painting shows Krishna and his elder brother Balarama chasing the shell demon, Shankasur, who Krishna will eventually kill. The lower right corner of the painting shows Krishna as the eternal lover as he plays his flute for Radha, surrounded by gopis (cowherd girls), on a moonlit night. The upper left corner shows the heroic aspect of Krishna chasing Shankasur with Balarama. The manuscript was painted in the Rajput court of Bikaner, a powerful kingdom in the seventeenth century that had developed close relations with the Mughal court.