Cleveland Museum of Art
Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana
- Date
- c. 1710
- 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
- Object ID
- 314446
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
In the forest where Krishna lived as a youth among the cowherds, there was a great pool of water connected to the Yamuna River. The water had become toxic from the poison excreted by all the snakes living there, including the serpent Kaliya. Kaliya’s royal residence is depicted at the lower right. In order to make the pool usable for drinking and bathing, Krishna tamed the serpent king by dancing on his heads. Krishna then persuaded him to move away to the ocean. The snake-demon Kaliya holds a flower in his mouth for Krishna.
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Provenance & credit
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- Credit line
- Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
- Provenance
- Ex collection: Khajanchi, Bikaner | October 16, 1980: (Christie’s, October 16, 1980, lot 174) | ?–April 1990: (Terence McInerney, New York, NY, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim) | 1990–2001: Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA | 2001–2018: Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 2018–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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