c. 1570-1575

Krishna Shares Food with Balarama and the Cowherds during the Rainy Season

The god-hero Krishna and his brother Balarama enjoy a meal of rice and curds together with their cowherd friends from the village of Vrindavan, where Krishna spent his childhood. The meal takes place in a grove made lush by the rainy season. Elements such as expanses of bold, flat color; a red ground behind the main figures; a layered, stagelike setting; and profile heads with big, fish-shaped eyes typify indigenous north Indian manuscript painting known from the eleventh century. It was from this milieu that Rajput painting grew, blended with the distinctive Persian-influenced style of the powerful Mughal court.