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Krishna sporting with the gopis in the Jumna River, from a Bhagavata Purana
c. 1525–40
- Medium
- Gum tempera and ink on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Overall: 16.5 x 22.2 cm (6 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Northern India
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin N. Haas
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Abstract concentric circles depict water churned up by the gopis, or cowherd women, who are swimming and playing with joy and abandon. In their midst, the blue-skinned Krishna reaches for a gopi’s breast. Their love play is celebrated by celestial beings in the sky who offer flower garlands and beat on a drum. Every figure’s face is shown in profile—a hallmark of Indian painting of the early 1500s perpetuated by artists wishing to emphasize Indian rather than Persian depictions of the human form.
