An Illustration from the Bhagavata Purana: Krishna uprooting Trees

The illustration depicts the child Krishna reclining between the trunks of two large uprooted trees while a group of onlookers including his foster parents Yashodha and Nanda as well as his young playmates, gaze at him in amazement. Two richly attired male figures seen at the lower left also look on at the scene respectfully.

Private Sussex Collection since the 1960s

The stories of the Bhagavata Purana relate episodes in various stages of Krishna’s life. Krishna’s pranks as a child especially are recorded in great detail. According to the text, one day his mother, tired of his mischievous ways, tied him to a heavy grinding mortar to restrain him. Undeterred, the baby Krishna stood up and tried to walk, dragging the heavy stone behind him. As the stone got stuck between two large trees, he pulled at the rope and uprooted the trunks releasing two demigods who had been cursed to stand there as trees for a hundred years. The two figures seen on the lower right corner of the painting are no doubt these celestial beings, who offer their obeisance to the child God.

The bright green color of the grass as well as the treatment of the foliage in both this and the following lot are close to a painting of Vishnu visiting Shiva in the collection of the Chandigarh Museum, see B. N. Goswamy, Essence of Indian Art, San Francisco, 1986, cat. 61.