Cleveland Museum of Art

Friends of Krishna, folio 163 from a Bhakti Ratnavali of Vishnu Puri

Date

1725–50

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Culture

Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Mewar

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In the upper left vignette, the blue-skinned Krishna sits with two of his friends before Nanda, his foster father and head of the cowherd village in Braj, where he spent his youth. Below, he interacts with three adoring cows. The scene in the upper right corner accords with the end of the verse at the top of the page, which reads, “The one who speaks about him to his wife and son at home will never be abandoned by him.” The text is drawn from a compendium of devotional verses excerpted from the extensive Bhagavata Purana by the medieval commentator Vishnu Puri. The entire background has been painted with the pigment known as Indian yellow, which CMA conservators identified by observing its bright fluorescence under ultraviolet light.

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