{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O480069"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O480069/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML8984/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2020ML8984/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2020ML8984","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020ML8996","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2020MM0286","copyright":"©Victoria & Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O480069/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O480069","accessionNumber":"563(IS)","objectType":"Figure","titles":[{"title":"Balarama","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Standing figure of Balarama (an incarnation of Vishnu and brother of Krishna), holding a ploughshare (hala) in is left hand which rests upon the base. His right hand is held aloft and formerly held a long pestle (musala)as illustrated in a drawing, Moor (1861). He wears a headdress of rosettes with tufts of either peacock feathers or lotus buds. He wears a floral garland round his neck and a dhoti with a decorative hem which is pleated at the front. He stands on a circular plinth with a lotus-petal-moulded rim.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[{"text":"casting","id":"AAT53104"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"zinc alloy, casting","categories":[{"text":"India Museum","id":"THES286062"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2020ML8984","2020ML8996","2020MM0286"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES371869"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Benares","id":"x30824"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"now known as Varanasi"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca.1780s","earliest":"1775-01-01","latest":"1793-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"not later than 1786 when the donor returned to England from India."}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Donated by Sir Charles Wilkins to the India Museum and transferred to the South Kensington Museum (now the V&A) in 1879. Sir Charles Wilkins, F.R.S. (1749-1836) was a founding member with William Jones of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He trained as a printer and joined the East India Company as a writer arriving in India in 1770 where he gained the support of Warren Hastings, the Governor General, who encouraged him to further his linguistic studies in Sanskrit. This resulted among other publications on Sanskrit grammar, language and literature in the first translation of the <u>Bhagavad Gita</u> into English in 1785. He returned to England in 1786 and subsequently became the first Director and Librarian of the East India Company’s library at India House in 1800. His collection of zinc alloy deities which he had commissioned while in Benares (now Varanasi) was published in <u>The Hindu Pantheon</u> by Edward Moor in London in 1810. The figure is numbered 404 in the India Museum Slip Books.","historicalContext":"Balarama probably has his origins as an incarnation (<i>avatara</i>) of Vishnu, although usually worshipped in association with his half-brother Krishna. He holds attributes associated with agriculture, including a plough (<i>hala</i>) and a pestle (<i>musala</i>).","briefDescription":"Balarama; Sculpture, zinc alloy, Benares, ca.1780s","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Moor, E. & Moor, Allen Page (1861), <u>Shrisarvvadevasabha. Plates illustrating the Hindu Pantheon reprinted from the work of Major E. Moor...Edited, with brief descriptive index by...A.P. Moor, London, Hertford,</u> pl 51, fig. 2\r\nMoor, E. (1810). <u>The Hindu Pantheon</u>\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":"AUTH356588"},"details":"Moor, E. (1810) The Hindu Pantheon, London, Johnson, p.420, note","free":"p.420 note\r\n'The beautiful specimens of HINDU mythology, cast at BENARES under the superintendence of MR. WILKINS and some PANDITS, have never received the least polish or filing, but are now seen at the INDIA house museum exactly as they made their first appearance from the moulds. PLATE 3 – fig. 2.3. of PLATE 13 – plates 15.48.50 AND 51.'\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"This figure was commissioned by Sir Charles Wilkins as part of a set of Hindu gods.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["563(IS)"],"accessionNumberNum":"563","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2021MU9434"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-05","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":true}}