Artwork Page for Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

Details / Information for Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

c. 600

Southern Cambodia, Takeo Province, Phnom Da

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Medium
Sandstone
Measurements
Overall: 203.1 x 68 x 55.5 cm (79 15/16 x 26 3/4 x 21 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1973.106
Public Domain
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Location
243 Indian and Southeast Asian
Print
?

Did You Know?

Gold earrings were once fastened to the sculpture using holes in the figure's earlobes.

Description

This masterwork of early Cambodian sculpture shows the Hindu god Krishna effortlessly holding aloft a mountain to protect his fellow villagers and herds from torrential storms sent by a jealous old god. It is one of eight monumental monolithic figures recovered from a two-peaked mountain in the floodplains of the Mekong River delta, on the outskirts of the ancient urban center of Angkor Borei.
A fragmented gray sandstone sculpture depicts Krishna in human form, extending his left arm straight up with a flexed hand, right arm hanging down and broken away at the bicep. For the legs, only a fragment of the right shin remains. A garment called a sampot with radiating pleats wraps around his waist, his chest bare. Krishna smiles faintly, face worn down, ears elongated, and hair falling to shoulders in tightly coiled curls.

Krishna Lifting Mount Govardhan

c. 600

Southern Cambodia, Takeo Province, Phnom Da

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