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Krishna watches the milkmaids circumambulating a sacred tree: The month of Jyestha (May–June), from a Barahmasa (The Twelve Months)

Unknown

1760

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Mughal Painting Romanticism 18th Century Religious

Dominant colour

Krishna watches the milkmaids circumambulating a sacred tree: The month of Jyestha (May–June), from a Barahmasa (The Twelve Months) is a 1760 unspecified by Unknown, a Mughal Painting work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1760 · Mughal Painting
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see women in bright skirts walking in circles around a leafy tree while a blue-skinned man watches from behind banana plants. This painting shows a Hindu ritual where wives pray for their husbands’ long lives. Here, the milkmaids are praying for Krishna instead—flipping the usual meaning. The artist used tiny details like the women’s jewelry and the tree’s roots to make the scene feel alive. To see more paintings like this, look up the subject rajput kingdom of bundi.

The story of this work

Overview

On the day of Jyestha Purnima, having fasted for three days, married women worship the banyan tree by circumambulating it. The goal of this ritual is to ask for a long life for their husbands. The milkmaids ( gopi s), having already accepted Krishna as their supreme master, are praying for his well-being, while he observed the ritual from behind the plantains.