Chamba rumals, or ceremonial cloths, made between the early eighteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth in the Himachal Pradesh region are among the most charming embroideries produced in India. Their pictorial styles vary, with some designs, drawn by professional artists and embroidered by ladies at court, resembling miniature paintings, and others, worked by women in the villages, demonstrating a more "primitive," folk tradition. These cloths, which were used as wrappings for gifts exchanged between the families of a bride and groom, as offerings to deities, or as hangings placed behind religious statues or above altars, were most commonly embroidered with scenes from the life of the Hindu god Krishna. This example from the Museum's rich collection of traditional Indian textiles depicts the popular story of Krishna and the milkmaids engaged in a dance in which he assumes as many bodies as there are maidens (here four) in order to complete the circle of the dance. The entire composition is surrounded by a traditional floral border. Worked with silk thread on unbleached cotton, the embroidery is identical on both sides. Dilys Blum, from Philadelphia Museum of Art: Handbook of the Collections (1995), p. 79.