Temple cloth celebrating Krishna (Picchavai) (border section)
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.
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