{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O434104"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O434104/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB0931/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2013GB0931/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2013GB0931","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC2082","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O434104/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O434104","accessionNumber":"IS.2-1970","objectType":"Painting","titles":[{"title":"Krishna ","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The Mughal emperor Akbar commissioned translations into Persian, the court language, of the great Hindu epics in the 1580s and 1590s. The royal copies were illustrated in the royal atelier. This painting is an illustration to the Harivamsa, or \"Genealogy of Hari\", the story of Lord Krishna.In its Persian translation, it was an appendix to the Razmnama (\"Book of War\"), the Persian version of the great Hindu epic the Mahabharata. The volume was completed in about 1590 but its pages were dispersed at an unknown date. The  V&A has 6 folios from the manuscript (IS.2-1970 to IS.-1970). They were all given additional borders, probably in Lucknow in the 18th century, for moounting in an album.\r\nIn this illustration, the infant Krishna (identifiable by his blue skin) has been tied by his foster-mother Yasoda to a tree to prevent him from playing pranks, using a heavy mortar to anchor him. The baby easily crawls away, dragging the mortar and in doing so uprooting a pair of giant Arjuna trees. The trees were, in fact, the demigods Nalakuvera and Manigriva, sons of Kuvera, who had been cursed by the sage Narada. As soon as the trees fell thundering to the ground, they were freed from the curse. Yasoda, her husband Nanda, and the inhabitants of the village rush to witness the incredible scene, while daily life in the village continues peacefully in the background.","physicalDescription":"Painting, illustration from the <i>Harivamsa</i>, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, the infant Krishna uprooting a pair of giant Arjuna trees. The composition is dominated by the trees being dragged by the blue-skinned baby Krishna depicted in the foreground at the centre. His mother and the villagers are mostly on the right, in the lower half of the composition, expressing through their gestures their amazement. In the upper part of the painting, village life continues, with women carrying food and large urns between their dwellings and bullocks in a nearby paddock. The borders were added later, probably in Lucknow in the 18th century. The <i>Harivamsa</i>, or Geneology of Hari, is a supplement to the <i>Mahabharata</i> and deals with the life of Krishna. ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"opaque watercolour","id":"x35013"},{"text":"paint","id":"AAT15029"},{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"gold","id":"AAT11021"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Hinduism","id":"THES48941"},{"text":"Bonita Trust Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project","id":"THES263148"}],"styles":[{"text":"Mughal court","id":"x30977"},{"text":"Mughal","id":"AAT18939"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2013GB0931","2006BC2082"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES403521"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"painting","id":"AAT33618"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mughal Empire","id":"THES262021"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Lahore","id":"x30874"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1590","earliest":"1585-01-01","latest":"1594-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"date":{"text":"18th century","earliest":"1700-01-01","latest":"1799-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"borders probably added"}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"IS.2:2-1970","id":"O1272634"},"association":"Verso"}],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by the Hon. Dame Ada Macnaghten","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"18.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Originally an illustration to the Harivamsa, the Persian translation of the Sanskrit text done as an appendix to the Razmnama, the Persian version of the great Hindu epic the Mahabharata, and commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Painting, <i>Harivamsa</i>, infant Krishna uprooting a pair of giant Arjuna trees, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Mughal, probably Lahore, ca. 1590, borders added later, probably Lucknow, 18th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Das, Asok Kumar, Dawn of Mughal Painting, Bombay, 1982, plate VII, p. 22"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Skelton, Robert, \"Mughal Painting from Harivamsa Manuscript\", The Victoria and Albert Museum Yearbook, no. 2, 1970, p. 42"},{"reference":{"text":"In the image of man : the Indian perception of the universe through 2000 years of painting and sculpture : [exhibition / organized by Catherine Lampert assisted by Rosalie Cass]. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson :in association with the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1982 Number: 0297780719, 0297781243 (pbk.)","id":"AUTH339940"},"details":"p. 207, cat. no. 395","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"The infant Krishna uprooting a pair of giant Arjuna trees.","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Krishna","id":"N748"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"trees","id":"AAT132410"},{"text":"women","id":"AAT25943"},{"text":"bullocks","id":"x47481"},{"text":"villages","id":"AAT8372"},{"text":"deities","id":"x31373"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.2-1970"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1970,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}