The Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Stories of the Lord) is traditionally ascribed to the legendary poet-sage Vyasa in the 8th-10th century CE. It stresses the path of devotion (bhakti) to Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu God of Preservation. To fulfill his role as the guardian of the world, Vishnu appears as a succession of heroic animals and semi-mortal saviors, called avatars, through which he intervenes in times of crisis and unrighteousness.
In this folio [# effaced], the action unfolds in continuous narration. In the upper left corner, Krishna is being suckled by his foster-mother Yashoda. The Braj text on the reverse is yet to be translated and may relate to an adjacent folio, so the identification of the remaining scenes of Krishna’s life are tentative: Krishna receives an oblation, perhaps fragrant ointment from Kubja (lower left corner); Krishna on horseback receiving a garland, perhaps at the house of the garland-maker Sudama (center upper register); and Krishna on horseback leading a chariot with a woman, and two mounted archers (lower register).
See its series mate M.84.229.1 [#15]. Additional folios from this dispersed series are in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi (9428 [#22] and 9478 [#43]); Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1975.410.7 [#28] and 1978.542.1 [#26]); National Museum, New Delhi; Norton Simon Museum of Art (P.2003.02.06 [#26]); San Diego Museum of Art (1990.969 [#56]); and Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (86.169 [#93]).
