Others appear to be content frolicking and splashing amongst the waves. Some of them appear with their hands together in anjali mudra (a gesture of prayer) as if begging Krishna to return their clothing. In this 16th-century folio from a Bhagavata Purana manuscript, we see the gopis standing partially nude amongst the swirling waves of the Yamuna. The mountain in this scene is Mount Govardhana, also called Govardhana Hill, which is close to Brindavan and in the region of Braj.Īnother well-known story from the life of Krishna that appears often in works of art is the episode when he stole clothing from the milkmaids ( gopis) who were bathing in the nearby Yamuna River.

Most notably, the artist depicts Krishna’s left arm raised above his head, holding up what appears to be a mountain full of plants and animals. Surrounding him on all sides are animals (especially cows which are significant to Krishna as he was raised in Brindavan as a cow herder) and human figures. Krishna here is beautifully adorned with jewelry and a conical headdress. We can see tribhanga postures used in many different ways throughout South Asian art, both as a subtle sway (as in the Krishna sculpture above) or in an exaggerated form as in Shiva Nataraja (Lord of the Dance). In this depiction Krishna stands in a triple-bend posture which creates an elegant swaying of his body ( tribhanga). One of the many postures connected to traditional forms of Indian dance, depicting figures in tribhanga (with alternating bends at the knees, hips / waist, and shoulders / neck) was one way for artists in South Asia to create a sense of movement and dynamism in representations of the body. A 13th-century carving from the Hoysalesvara Temple at Halebidu in southern India shows an episode in the life of Krishna in which the landscape is once-again a central character.

Krishna and his philosophy