"Bhagavata Purana" series: Krishna and Balarama Studying with the Brahman Sandipani / Artist Unknown, India, Uttar Pradesh, Chaurapancasika Style

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Record Details

Accession Number
1983/2.104
Title
"Bhagavata Purana" series: Krishna and Balarama Studying with the Brahman Sandipani
Artist Nationality
Indian
Object Creation Date
1525-1550
Object Creation Place
Asia (continent)
India (nation)
Delhi (union territory)
Delhi-Agra Region
Creation Place 1
Asia (continent)
Creation Place 2
India (nation)
Creation Place 3
Delhi (union territory)
Creation Place 4
Delhi-Agra Region
Style/Group/Movement
Chaurapancasika/pre-Mughal
Inscription
Inscriptions on painting identify each character and probably tell story.
Dimensions
16.5 cm x 23 cm (6 1/2 in. x 9 1/16 in.)
Century
16th century
Primary Object Classification
Painting
Primary Object Type
narrative painting
Secondary Object Classification
Painting
Secondary Object Type
study
Physical Description
Krishna, in blue, and Balarama are portrayed in identical poses and wearing peacock-feather headdresses. The paunchy bearded figure at right is their mentor, Sandipani. Two other, older students appear at left. They are seated, approximately equidistantly spaced, in an architectural structure that organizes the space.
Subject Matter
The Bhagavata Purana is one of the major sources of tales about Krishna, a human incarnation of Vishnu. In this scene, from one of the earliest extant illuminated manuscripts of the tale, Krishna and his brother Balarama are shown as schoolboys at their lessons.
Stylistically, this work represents an important moment in the history of north Indian painting. Its antecedents can be found in the Jain Kalpasutra folios of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: the composition is still compartmentalized into units of pure, bold colors that silhouette the gestures of the figures, but here the convention of the extended “further eye” has been abandoned for a profile view. In turn, the conventions developed by this time would become the basis for much later Rajput painting.
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Technical Details

Image Size
1265 x 915
File Size
130 KB
Record
1983/2.104
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1983-sl-2.104/1983_2.104.jpg

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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1983-SL-2.104:1983_2.104.JPG

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""Bhagavata Purana" series: Krishna and Balarama Studying with the Brahman Sandipani; Artist Unknown, India, Uttar Pradesh, Chaurapancasika Style." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1983-sl-2.104/1983_2.104.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 29, 2024.
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