This terra-cotta plaque depicts the legendary battle of the hero-God Krishna, on the left, with the horse demon, Keshi. Krishna thrusts his left arm into the demon’s mouth. According to legend, it expanded and became red-hot. Below we see the aftermath: Keshi lies dead. The objects above his body may be balls of dung discharged in the agony of the horse’s death.

This is one of many tales about Krishna’s youthful exploits. Some of them may derive from Roman legends of the labors of Hercules. Krishna is one of several avatars, or earthly incarnations, of a Hindu god: Vishnu the preserver, who descends to earth when cosmic order is threatened. All Hindu gods are aspects of Brahman, the universal world-spirit. A North-Indian sculptor created this relief in the fifth century, during the reign of the Gupta dynasty. This is known as the classical era of Indian art.

Nearby, you’ll find a large Gupta statue of the Buddha. Gupta figures, both Hindu and Buddhist, emphasize a sense of flowing, continuous mass, with unadorned surfaces. Their rounded bodies appear slightly inflated by prana: the inner breath that fills all living creatures. In Indian tradition, regulating breath is a meditation technique used to divorce oneself from the demands of the body. A body filled with prana, therefore, is purified of earthly dross.