Select a highlighted point on the painting to encounter insights from our contributing experts about that part of the painting.
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 | Conservation and Scientific Research Team |
|---|---|
 | Hindu Community Members Advisors |
 | Curatorial Team |
More object information
This pichwai represents the autumn full moon festival of Sharad Purnima. The festival celebrates the night when Krishna graciously multiplied himself to connect individually with each of his devotees. On this starry night, the milkmaids of Braj (gopis) dance with Shri Nathji under a silvery moon.
In Pushtimarg temples, pichwai paintings are part of multisensory ensembles designed to recreate transformative moments in the life of young Krishna. The ensembles are known as festivals (utsav), adornments (shringar), or viewings (darshan). They include three-dimensional props, devotional music, fragrant flowers, and tasty foods. For devotees, viewing Shri Nathji in the temple ensembles is equivalent to being with Krishna in Braj. The artist makes this permeability between the transcendent and the everyday visible. Notice how Shri Nathji’s upraised arm, echoed by the gopis’ postures, seems as much a gesture of dance as one of miraculously lifting an entire mountain.
A region in north India near the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Mount Govardhan and the city of Mathura are located in Braj.
A teardrop-shaped design motif (often called paisley in the West).
A village milkmaid. The gopis, who felt deep affection for Krishna during his lifetime on earth, personify devotion to the god.
A low mountain located outside the north Indian city of Mathura that is associated with the child Krishna, who miraculously lifted it to shelter his devotees from a torrential rain.
The Mughal Empire controlled much of India between 1526 and 1857. Elements of its highly refined court culture were adopted across India.
A large painted or woven cloth that is an integral part of Pushtimarg devotion to Krishna.
The "Path of Grace" is a Hindu devotional tradition founded in the fifteenth century. It centers on the deity Krishna as a seven-year-old child.
A classical Indian musical mode associated with the monsoon season.
The divine circle dance in which Krishna multiplied himself for each gopi.
In the Pushtimarg community, devotees who care for and serve Krishna.
A festival on the night of the full moon (purnima) in the month of Sharad (September–October).
The central deity of the Hindu Pushtimarg tradition is a form of the god Krishna. Shri Nathji’s name refers to his status as the Lord of Mount Govardhan.
The Yamuna River begins in the Himalayas and flows south past New Delhi before merging with the Ganges. Hindus consider the Yamuna sacred.
The moon and stars were made using tin leaf, which is tin hammered into very thin sheets that attached to the surface with an adhesive. Although the tin leaf has dulled over time, it would have remained bright and shiny much longer than silver leaf.
“It’s a full moon, so that means it's Sharad Purnima, the full moon night of the lunar month of Sharad. Everybody, including the gods in their sky chariots, are in the mood of the raas lila dance with Krishna.”
–Samir Parikh, sevak
Shri Nathji’s dark blue skin signals his divinity, while his upraised arm recalls the time he lifted an entire mountain to shield the cowherders of Braj from devastating rains. The gesture reminds Krishna’s devotees of his unending love and care.
Imaging in the near-infrared region (NIR) reveals Krishna is painted with a bright blue ultramarine pigment mixed with a darker blue or black. In NIR, the ultramarine becomes transparent, and the darker blue or black paint shows the artist’s shading.
In each of the twenty-four squares, Shri Nathji is adorned differently. Look closely to see how he is dressed for comfort and delight over the course of the Pushtimarg festival year—light clothes in summer, heavy in winter, and daubed with color for the springtime festival of Holi.
Shri Nathji’s proportions are based on a five-foot-tall stone image that appeared miraculously to the founder of the Pushtimarg tradition in 1494. Devotees understand both the stone icon and its painted representation as living manifestations of Krishna. Here, Shri Nathji wears a peacock-feather crown, a tricolored dancing skirt, and garlands of cooling pearls and lotus buds. Conjuring the shimmer of moonlight, a delicate white textile covers the rectangular stone slab behind the body of Shri Nathji.
A water pitcher swathed in a red cloth symbolizes the boundless love of Krishna’s foster mother, Yashoda.
This bright blue pigment is ultramarine, a synthetic pigment first invented in France in the late 1820s and used worldwide by the early 1830s. Pichwai artists adopted synthetic ultramarine because of its brilliant shade of blue and low cost.
This is Indian yellow, a pigment that was popular in India from the seventeenth to nineteenth century. Indian yellow fluoresces under ultraviolet light, which helps us identify where it is used on its own and where it is mixed with other colors.
“Look! Delight is in everything, everywhere, all at once! There's even a rhythm to the lotuses in the Yamuna River, right? They're opening and closing, bending and alternating—Nature is celebrating!”
—Sushmita Mazumdar, artist
Shri Nathji single-handedly lifted Mount Govardhan to protect the residents of Braj from torrential rains. In gratitude, they assembled a tremendous feast. Here, the people of Braj offer Krishna fifty-six stacked pots of delectable foods.
This pichwai was repaired with patches of many different materials, ranging from iron-on patches to pieces that Nathdwara artists cut from worn-out pichwais. Patches made from materials similar in weight and flexibility, like old pichwai, have been more beneficial to preservation because they move and react to the environment like the painting they are patching. For patches that were visible from the front, artisans used a section of old pichwai similar in color and style to the loss in the painting. These areas were overpainted enough to make the patch blend in.
