Cleveland Museum of Art

Sacrificial Fire, from the "Tula Ram" Bhagavata Purana

Date

c. 1720

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Culture

Western India, Gujarat, Surat

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The evil king Kamsa organized a fire sacrifice in order to bring about the death of his brother-in-law, Vasudeva, father of the Hindu god incarnated as Krishna. The four-armed god of creation, Brahma, attends at the upper left with the sage, or holy man, Narada at the upper right. Scholars have linked the copious floral motifs throughout this dispersed series with textile patterns. This series was created in a port city, the center of flourishing international textile trade. The sage Narada in the upper right corner plays a stringed instrument called a vina .

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