Nanda and the Elders in Council with the Cowherds, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1690–1700): Art, History and Details

Nanda and the Elders in Council with the Cowherds, from a Bhagavata Purana (c. 1690–1700) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The glowing hues and exquisite treatment of the figures and vegetation transport the viewer to the mythic realm of the Hindu god Krishna. Nanda, the lead elder of the cowherder village, sits amid the village council, larger than the others. After witnessing the divine and superhuman activities of Krishna, the cowherders approached Nanda and asked him for an explanation.

Object facts

• Title: Nanda and the Elders in Council with the Cowherds, from a Bhagavata Purana
• Date: c. 1690–1700
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, silver, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 30 x 38 cm (11 13/16 x 14 15/16 in.); Miniature: 22.5 x 31.1 cm (8 7/8 x 12 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.192

A detail from the museum

Each of the cowherd boys wears a different color hood.

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.