Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana Series

ca. 1680

Like the adjacent painting, this page depicts the god Krishna’s early life in the idyllic countryside. Here, we see the effects of Krishna’s enchanting flute playing. An accompanying text reads: “. . . In the heavens, the gods listen to his music; on earth, the ascetics offering worship listen as well. Women engaged in casual conversation, mingled with laughter, forget everything and are frozen like a painted picture . . . .” The image captures the elements of the verse and arranges them in tidy registers around the fluting Krishna, with gods riding on boatlike vessels above, ascetics seated to the right, and women in conversation at the left. Such compartmentalization is often used in early Central Indian painting to depict multiple spaces or scenes on a single flat surface.