A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1650–60): Art, History and Details

A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1650–60) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Sitting on a stool in a palatial setting, Krishna receives a letter, inviting him to participate in a ceremony called a svayamvara, in which an unmarried woman who has come of age selects a husband. Krishna will later elope with the princess Rukmini. This scene takes place in Krishna’s western palace of Dvaraka, by the ocean, which is depicted with waves and fish at the bottom of the page.

Object facts

• Title: A Brahmin gives Krishna the Message or Invitation for the Competition to Rukmini’s Svayamvara, from a Bhagavata Purana
• Date: c. 1650–60
• Culture: Central India, Madhya Pradesh, Malwa
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 17.1 x 19.7 cm (6 3/4 x 7 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.133

A detail from the museum

The letter in Krishna’s hand repeats the name of “Rama,” another incarnation of Vishnu.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.