Worship of Dvaraka Nathji at Kankroli (c. 1880): Art, History and Details

Worship of Dvaraka Nathji at Kankroli (c. 1880) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The four-armed sculpture on the altar is understood by followers of the Pushti Marg system as a living embodiment of Krishna, who generated another pair of arms when playing hide-and-seek with his favorite milkmaid, Radha. The sculpture is called Dvaraka Nathji, and his shrine is located in Kankroli, near Nathdwara in northwestern India. The golden cows adorn a textile backdrop (pichvai) behind the sculpture and reference Krishna’s youth in a cowherd village.

Object facts

• Title: Worship of Dvaraka Nathji at Kankroli
• Date: c. 1880
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Kota
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 32.8 x 25.2 cm (12 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2001.161

Collection credit

Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward

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.