King Muchukunda Enters the Realm of Mount Gandhamadana to Attain Salvation, from the “Fifth Basohli Bhagavata Purana” (c. 1760–70): Art, History and Details

King Muchukunda Enters the Realm of Mount Gandhamadana to Attain Salvation, from the “Fifth Basohli Bhagavata Purana” (c. 1760–70) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Fattu (Indian).

The work and its context

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

According to Hindu mythology, Muchukunda, the man dressed in saffron, fell asleep in a cave and slept for thousands of years. When he finally woke up, Krishna appeared and advised him to perform penance to cleanse the accumulated sins and attain liberation. He went to Mount Gandhamadana, on India’s east coast, to practice atonement.

Object facts

• Title: King Muchukunda Enters the Realm of Mount Gandhamadana to Attain Salvation, from the “Fifth Basohli Bhagavata Purana”
• Date: c. 1760–70
• Creator attribution: Fattu (Indian)
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 30.3 x 40.7 cm (11 15/16 x 16 in.); Image: 27.1 x 37.5 cm (10 11/16 x 14 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.83

A detail from the museum

The painting was turned horizontally, suggested by the upside down inscription on the verso

Collection credit

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

Further reading listed by the museum

• Griswold, William, Cameron Kitchin, Chase F. Robinson, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cincinnati Art Museum, and National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution). Pahari Paintings: Art and Stories, edited by Sonya Rhie Mace, Sarang Sharma, and Vijay Sharma. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2026.

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.