KANGRA, PUNJAB HILLS, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1820

This charming painting displays a variant on the story of Krishna’s childish pranks with his brother Balarama. One of Krishna’s known pranks was to have Balarama distract his foster-mother Yashoda allowing him to steal butter from the pot she was churning. In our painting, the roles are reversed and the statuesque Yashoda is rather distracted by Nanda presenting Krishna towards her. While she gazes adoringly at Krishna, her hand gently caressing his chin, Balarama, seemingly encouraged by another young boy, mischievously seizes the opportunity to dip his hand in the pot of butter.