Temple cloth celebrating Krishna (Picchavai) (border section)

India, Rajasthan

Not on view

This painted textile represents the lower border of a large scale and high quality picchavai, a devotional temple hanging. Dedicated to the veneration of Lord Krishna as Shrinathji, believed to be a self-manifested form of Vishnu that appeared as a black stone icon of his avatar as Krishna. Traditionally much venerated by rural worshippers, and especially those associated with cowherds, a genre of painted cloth emerged, employed as backdrops to the black stone icon, and as substitutes for it when worshipped away from Nathdwara. This panel has a series of vignettes depicting a range of devotional scenes associated with Krishna’s youthful adventures, as recounted in the Bhagavad Purana.

Temple cloth celebrating Krishna (Picchavai) (border section), Painted pigments (kalamkari) and glued gold on cotton, India, Rajasthan

Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Open Access

As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.

API

Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.

Detail