Kamadhenu, The Wish-Granting Cow

Currently not on view

Kamadhenu, The Wish-Granting Cow

c. 1825-1855

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

This vision of Kamadhenu, the wish-granting cow of ancient Hindu legend, combines a white zebu cow with the crowned, frontal female face, colorful “eagle” wings, and peacock tail of Buraq, the animal that the prophet Muhammad rode to heaven on his night journey (Miraj). From at least the fifteenth century, Persian paintings showed Buraq with a horse’s body, wings, and a woman’s face; the peacock tail may have been an Indian addition. Popular portrayals of Kamadhenu in India today often show her in this Indo-Persian composite form; this may be one of the earliest images to merge the visual characteristics of the Hindu Kamadhenu with the Islamic Buraq.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Kamadhenu, The Wish-Granting Cow

Date:

c. 1825-1855

Artist:

Artist/maker unknown, Indian

Medium:

Opaque watercolor and metallic pigment on paper

Dimensions:

5 x 5 inches (12.7 x 12.7 cm)

Classification:

Paintings

Credit Line:

Stella Kramrisch Collection, 1994

Accession Number:

1994-148-401

Geography:

Made in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India, Asia or made in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, India, Asia

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Currently not on view