The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 30, 2023

Krishna as the Destroyer of Demons, from a Sursagar of Surdas (Indian, c. 1480-1580)

1705–10

This object has related works. See The Birth of Krishna, from a Sursagar of Surdas (Indian, c. 1480–1580)

India, Rajasthan, Mewar school

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Overall: 36.5 x 25.4 cm (14 3/8 x 10 in.)

Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski 1984.172

Location

not on view

Inscriptions
Inscription Translation

[[recto, in upper margin]] Mommy, come on, make me grow a little. Then, when I'm big, I'll do my duty—kill off every enemy. Milk, curds, butter, sweets, dried fruits—give them all to me when I ask. Otherwise how can I rule the wrestling ring, hit the king and drag him away? How can I get stronger than anybody else, so no one is my equal? Surdas says, I swear it by my life: I'll sit on the throne of Mathura. It's mine!

Provenance
?–1984
Dr. Norman Zaworski [1920–2013], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1984–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Diamond, Debra, and Dipti Khera, eds. A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur. Munich, Germany: Hirmer Publishers; Washington, D.C.: National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, 2022. Reproduced: cat. no. 58, p. 241; Mentioned: pp. 234, 244-45, 346.
Exhibition history

Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).

Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.172