An illustration from the Bhagavata Purana: Krishna and the Demoness Putana

INDIA, RAJASTHAN, MALWA, CIRCA 1660

Details

An illustration from the Bhagavata Purana: Krishna and the Demoness Putana
India, Rajasthan, Malwa, circa 1660
The infant Krishna wearing a long red and white garland strangling the demoness Putana who has a long protruding tongue and exposed breasts, Krishna's mother Yashoda dressed in a gold and silver looks on with alarm from the door of her home at right, with large floral foreground and set inside red ruled yellow margins decorated with scrolling flowers
Opaque pigments on wasli heightened with gold
9 7/8 x 6 7/8 in. (24.4 x 17.4 cm.)

Provenance

Doris Wiener Gallery, New York, late 1960s or early 1970s

Lot Essay

This painting depicts the moment Krishna foils Putana's plot to kill him. Instead of poisoning him with her milk, he sucks the life out of her, delivering her from her life as a demoness. See lot 266 for the next moment in this story.

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