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Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna

c. 1770

The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States

After Krishna raised Mount Govardhan, he began to play erotically with the girls of his village. Under a scorching sun, Krishna and three milkmaids enjoy the cooling waters of the Yamuna River. The women neatly stack their clothes on a nearby tree, and Krishna’s crown and scarf rest by the bank. Krishna playfully splashes one of the women, and she turns her face away. This scene evokes the joy of spending life in intimacy with the god Krishna.

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  • Title: Krishna Playing with the Gopis in the Yamuna
  • Date Created: c. 1770
  • Physical Dimensions: Page: 24.8 x 17.8 cm (9 3/4 x 7 in.); Image: 23.5 x 16.6 cm (9 1/4 x 6 9/16 in.)
  • Provenance: (Kundus, San Francisco, CA, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim), Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA, Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Type: Painting
  • Rights: CC0
  • External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/2018.118
  • Medium: gum tempera and gold on paper
  • Inscriptions: 13
  • Fun Fact: Krishna playfully splashes one of the women who turns her face away.
  • Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
  • Culture: Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Nurpur
  • Credit Line: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
  • Collection: Indian Art
  • Accession Number: 2018.118
The Cleveland Museum of Art

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