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Nanda Solves Vasudeva’s Dilemma, from a Bhagavata Purana
c. 1610
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 24.8 x 29.9 cm (9 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Kalesan Natesan in honor of Dr. Stanislaw Czuma
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Three cowherd boys stand behind their village elder Nanda, who agrees to hide the newborn Krishna, an incarnation of a Hindu god. At the left is Krishna’s father, Vasudeva, who has made this request in order to protect the child from slaughter by the despotic king, who had heard a prophecy that Krishna would one day kill him.
This painting is from a series depicting scenes from a sacred Hindu text and was part of the royal Bikaner collection. The simple, geometric composition, profile views, and flat planes of color show adherence to long-standing local artistic styles.
