Realising toll

Though highly dramatized and hence difficult to link, the episode represented in the painting is what is termed as realising toll from gopis by Krishna and his mates. As the tradition has it, for better price gopis of Brij used to export their products, butter in particular, to Kansa’s court at Mathura and thus helped evil to grow stronger. Krishna and his mates decided to take from them their share of butter. They hence posted themselves midway and forced gopis to give them their share before they were allowed to go farther. Here the two horse-riding figures with their characteristic body colours and costume-forms are Krishna and Balarama and the lady with pots of butter in her basket symbolically represents the gopis of Brija.