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Nanda and the elders, page from a Bhagavata Purana
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
In a page from a manuscript about the life of the Hindu god Krishna, Krishna’s foster father, wearing green, confers about moving their community to a new location. Their current village has been beset by demons sent by the evil king to kill Krishna. Typical of South Asian compositions of the early 1500s, figures and other elements are arranged in horizontal rows. Above, in the story of an encounter between a gardener and a merchant’s daughter who wants a rose, we see use of the same Mughal convention, shown with a more natural conceptualization of space. Mughal compositions were often based on earlier illustrations.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineNanda and the elders, page from a Bhagavata Purana, c. 1525–40. Northern India. Gum tempera and ink on paper; overall: 16.3 x 21.5 cm (6 7/16 x 8 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund, 1960.53
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