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Baby Krishna Asking for Butter from Yashoda

c. 1890

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

As the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, whose followers recognize as the deity who creates and destroys the universe, Krishna was always eating. Like time itself, which ultimately consumes everything, Krishna eats so much his foster mother Yashoda cannot believe it. When she looks in his mouth, she sees the cosmos and realizes he is not an ordinary baby.

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  • Title: Baby Krishna Asking for Butter from Yashoda
  • Date Created: c. 1890
  • Physical Dimensions: Secondary Support: 48 x 30 cm (18 7/8 x 11 13/16 in.); Painting only: 45.7 x 28 cm (18 x 11 in.)
  • Provenance: William E. Ward [1922–2004], Solon, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.112
  • Medium: Watercolor, graphite, ink, and tin on paper
  • Fun Fact: Kalighat artists made metallic pigment out of tin to look like silver.
  • Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
  • Culture: Eastern India, Kolkata, Kalighat
  • Credit Line: Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
  • Collection: Indian Art
  • Accession Number: 2003.112
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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