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Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana

Unknown

1710

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Baroque Mughal Painting 18th Century Mythology

Dominant colour

Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana is a 1710 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1710 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a bright blue river, a boy dancing on a many-headed snake, and cows watching from the bank. The snake’s hoods fan out like a throne at the bottom of the painting. This is a scene from a Hindu story about Krishna, a god who lived as a child among cowherds. The snake’s poison had turned the water deadly, so Krishna danced on its heads to force it to leave. The artist used bold colors and flat shapes—no shadows—to tell the tale clearly. For more paintings like this, look up the subject rajput kingdom of mewar.

The story of this work

Overview

In the forest where Krishna lived as a youth among the cowherds, there was a great pool of water connected to the Yamuna River. The water had become toxic from the poison excreted by all the snakes living there, including the serpent Kaliya. Kaliya’s royal residence is depicted at the lower right. In order to make the pool usable for drinking and bathing, Krishna tamed the serpent king by dancing on his heads. Krishna then persuaded him to move away to the ocean.