Abduction of Rukmini: Krishna Tied the Hands of Rukma, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1640): Art, History and Details

Abduction of Rukmini: Krishna Tied the Hands of Rukma, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1640) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Krishna eloped with Rukmini against her brother Rukma’s will. Rukma, in the striped tunic (jama), soon chased him down and challenged him to a battle. Knowing that Krishna would murder her brother, Rukmini pleaded with Krishna to spare his life, so Krishna tied his hands with a piece of cloth, and Krishna’s brother Balarama later freed him.

Object facts

• Title: Abduction of Rukmini: Krishna Tied the Hands of Rukma, from a Bhagavata Purana
• Date: c. 1640
• Culture: Central India, Madhya Pradesh, Malwa
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 16.9 x 20 cm (6 5/8 x 7 7/8 in.); Miniature: 14 x 17.8 cm (5 1/2 x 7 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.127

A detail from the museum

The white Balarama slayed two of Rukma’s followers with his plow.

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.