Akrura Drives Krishna and Balarama to Mathura, from the “Isarda Bhagavata Purana” (c. 1560–70): Art, History and Details

Akrura Drives Krishna and Balarama to Mathura, from the “Isarda Bhagavata Purana” (c. 1560–70) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

A page from a Hindu manuscript shows the dark-skinned Krishna and his white-skinned brother leaving their companions in the cowherd village where they grew up. They are on their way to confront their evil uncle who killed their siblings and imprisoned their parents. Their gestures urgently indicate the direction of their journey. A preference for the color pink in the sky, chariot, and garments distinguishes this work from those of pre-Mughal creation.

Object facts

• Title: Akrura Drives Krishna and Balarama to Mathura, from the “Isarda Bhagavata Purana”
• Date: c. 1560–70
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Isarda
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 19.3 x 25.7 cm (7 5/8 x 10 1/8 in.); with mat: 36.3 x 49 cm (14 5/16 x 19 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1971.234

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
• Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998.

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.