Artwork Page for Krishna Exacts a Toll from the Milkmaids: Dana-Lila, from a Bhagavata Purana

Details / Information for Krishna Exacts a Toll from the Milkmaids: Dana-Lila, from a Bhagavata Purana

Krishna Exacts a Toll from the Milkmaids: Dana-Lila, from a Bhagavata Purana

c. 1600

Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner

Medium
gum tempera and gold on paper
Measurements
Page: 21.6 x 29.2 cm (8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.186
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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A red quadrangle offsets the blue-skinned god Krishna.

Description

Krishna can be seen here teasing the girls who bring pots of milk and yogurt to the Brahmin priests. Thinking it a waste of time to feed the Brahmins, Krishna waylays them, pretending to be the owner of the land where they are walking. He threatens to topple their pots if they don’t pay him a toll. An exasperated cow herder follows.
A horizontally oriented gum tempera and gold painting depicts figures on a yellow hillside, at the center of which blue-skinned Krishna reaches for pink pots on a woman's head. Behind them stands a red wall. To our right, another woman with medium skin tone balances stacked pots. On our left, a man with medium skin tone holds a red staff. Flowering trees arch over the scene within a speckled orange border.

Krishna Exacts a Toll from the Milkmaids: Dana-Lila, from a Bhagavata Purana

c. 1600

Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner

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