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18th - 19th century

Krishna Playing the Flute

Artist/maker unknown

In Bengal during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a new devotional movement dedicated to the god Krishna, an incarnation of the supreme god Vishnu, took shape. Under the inspiration of the mystic saint Chaitanya (1486-1533), this community sought an intensely personal and deeply emotional engagement with Krishna modeled upon the relationship between the flute-playing cowherd god and his beloved Radha.

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Artist/maker unknown, Krishna Playing the Flute, 18th - 19th century | Philadelphia Museum of Art