TWO ILLUSTRATIONS FROM A BHAGAVATA PURANA SERIES: YOUNG KRISHNA STEALING GHEE; A GATHERING OF YOGIS AND A CHARIOT PROCESSION
PROPERTY FROM A CANADIAN COLLECTION
Possibly Malwa, Central India, 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on wove paper, comprising a horizontal composition divided in chronological sequence, featuring young Krishna in his rural village of Vrindavan, playing with cows (lower left corner), and stealing ghee from hanging black clay pots scattered around the different pavilions in the architectural setting in the background, gopis warning him and exhorting him to stop in the foreground, and many other kids mischieviously following his lead (background and lower right corner); and another horizontal composition divided into two parts, on the left a gathering of ash-smeared, naked yogis, each holding rudraksha malas (rosary bead necklaces typical of the Shaiva cult), and wearing their matted dreadlocks in a high bun, surrounding a younger ascetic educating a white-clad ruler, on the right the same ruler pictured on a chariot crossing a stream accompanied by three divine figures, including Krishna, each one marked with a halo, each painting set within concentric white rules and brick-red borders.

Each 24cm x 33.7cm