# A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana

- Date: c. 1650–60
- Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Page: 17.1 x 19.7 cm (6 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.)
- Culture: Central India, Madhya Pradesh, Malwa
- Credit line: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.133)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/2018.133/2018.133_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Sitting on a stool in a palatial setting, Krishna receives a letter, inviting him to participate in a ceremony called a svayamvara, in which an unmarried woman who has come of age selects a husband. Krishna will later elope with the princess Rukmini. This scene takes place in Krishna’s western palace of Dvaraka, by the ocean, which is depicted with waves and fish at the bottom of the page.