Krishna and Satyabhama Storm the Citadel of Naraka, folio 97 from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1775): Art, History and Details

Krishna and Satyabhama Storm the Citadel of Naraka, folio 97 from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1775) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

From a series depicting the life of Krishna, an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, this scene takes place at the demon king Naraka’s citadel. Seen from above, the mountaintop fortress is surrounded by concentric fortifications that recall the format of a mandala. In the upper left chambers, Naraka sits with nymphs he abducted from heaven. At the right, coming to rescue them, the blue Krishna with his wife blasts through the fortifications on his man-eagle mount Garuda. He prepares to shoot a crescent-shaped arrowhead that has the magical power of a mantra capable of destroying the multiheaded red demon guard.

Object facts

• Title: Krishna and Satyabhama Storm the Citadel of Naraka, folio 97 from a Bhagavata Purana
• Date: c. 1775
• Culture: Nepal, Kathmandu
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and ink on paper
• Dimensions: Paper: 55.5 x 36.2 cm (21 7/8 x 14 1/4 in.); Painting only: 32.2 x 51.5 cm (12 11/16 x 20 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2022.45

A detail from the museum

Krishna’s arrowheads are crescent-shaped, meaning that they have the destructive power of special mantras.

Collection credit

John L. Severance 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.