Open Research

Kalijaman pursues Krishna, c. 1730, Mankot, (The Archer Collection)

Collections	Arthur Llewellyn Basham
Title:	Kalijaman pursues Krishna, c. 1730, Mankot, (The Archer Collection)
Author(s):	Archer, William George Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
Keywords:	Miniature Painting: Pahari, Basohli style;paintings;miniatures;photograph
Description:	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).
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/1885/188274
Other Identifiers:	ANUA 682-3323

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