2-732-951 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Krishna and Balarama Touching the Feet of Vasudeva and Devaki, 1730-40. In the life story of the Hindu god Krishna, he incarnated himself on earth in order to defeat Kamsa, an evil despot. Kamsa had heard a prophecy that his sister Devaki’s child would slay him, so he imprisoned her and murdered any child she bore. The night she gave birth to Krishna, her husband Vasudeva snuck him out during a rainstorm to be raised in a village as the child of a cowherd family. This poignant scene shows the blue-skinned Krishna and his foster brother the white Balarama years later, reunited with his birth parents for the first time, having just slain Kamsa. Emotional depth is rendered through the direction of their unblinking gazes, evocative gestures, and subtle positioning of figures in relation to one another.