Kalijaman pursues Krishna, c. 1730, Mankot, (The Archer Collection)
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Archer, William George
Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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This is a picture of stark magnificence. Each form is rendered with firm precision
tiny details are unobtrusively inserted and the two fighters - Krishna with a cowherd's crook raised aloft, Kaljaman with a great sword projecting into the border, go prancing by like dancers in a ballet. Krishna is, in fact, decoying the demon king Kaljaman away from his army by pretending to flee. He keeps a hand's distance from him and leads him to a cave where Kaljaman kicks a sleeping sage. The sage gives him an angry look and burns him to ashes. Krishna then returns to dispatch Kaljaman's demon army. It is significant that although the incident occurs long after Krishna has left the cowherds and has assumed his role of feudal prince in Mathura, he continues to carry, as his identifying emblem, a cowherd's crook. (William George Archer, Visions of Courtly India: The Archer Collection of Pahari Miniatures, Washington DC, International Exhibitions Foundation, 1976, p. 128) -- 11.25 x 8.5 inches (with borders).
tiny details are unobtrusively inserted and the two fighters - Krishna with a cowherd's crook raised aloft, Kaljaman with a great sword projecting into the border, go prancing by like dancers in a ballet. Krishna is, in fact, decoying the demon king Kaljaman away from his army by pretending to flee. He keeps a hand's distance from him and leads him to a cave where Kaljaman kicks a sleeping sage. The sage gives him an angry look and burns him to ashes. Krishna then returns to dispatch Kaljaman's demon army. It is significant that although the incident occurs long after Krishna has left the cowherds and has assumed his role of feudal prince in Mathura, he continues to carry, as his identifying emblem, a cowherd's crook. (William George Archer, Visions of Courtly India: The Archer Collection of Pahari Miniatures, Washington DC, International Exhibitions Foundation, 1976, p. 128) -- 11.25 x 8.5 inches (with borders).
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Archives Series
Date created
March, 1979
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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