Krishna and Balarama Fight the Evil King Kamsa’s Wrestlers: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana

India (Madhya Pradesh, Malwa)

Not on view

Kamsa sent Canura and Mushthika, two mountainlike wrestlers who had limbs as strong as lightning, to confront the youthful Krishna and Balarama. The climactic moment is statically presented with great formal drama. Such scenes of conflict serve as metaphors for Krishna’s destruction of corruption. The deep brown background and brightly lit action set against a night sky are typical of the fully developed Malwa aesthetic. (This page is from the same manuscript as 1974.116.)

Krishna and Balarama Fight the Evil King Kamsa’s Wrestlers: Page from a Dispersed Bhagavata Purana, Ink and opaque watercolor on paper, India (Madhya Pradesh, Malwa)

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.