Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1710): Art, History and Details

Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1710) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In the forest where Krishna lived as a youth among the cowherds, there was a great pool of water connected to the Yamuna River. The water had become toxic from the poison excreted by all the snakes living there, including the serpent Kaliya. Kaliya’s royal residence is depicted at the lower right. In order to make the pool usable for drinking and bathing, Krishna tamed the serpent king by dancing on his heads. Krishna then persuaded him to move away to the ocean.

Object facts

• Title: Krishna Quells the Serpent Kaliya, from a Bhagavata Purana
• Date: c. 1710
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Mewar
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 40.8 x 23 cm (16 1/16 x 9 1/16 in.); Miniature: 36.9 x 19.1 cm (14 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.141

A detail from the museum

The snake-demon Kaliya holds a flower in his mouth for Krishna.

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.