2-744-979 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Marriage of Pradyumna and Rukmavati, page from a Bhagavata Purana, c. 1525-50. Pradyumna was the son of Krishna and an incarnation of the god of love. The scene of his marriage is in the upper register, where a brahmin priest to the right of the pole, wearing a white lower garment and looped topknot of hair, performs the ceremony. Their arrival at the ceremony is pictured below. The flattened spaces and bold variety of background colours are typical of a major strain of Indian paintings made before the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556-1605), who catalyzed stylistic changes derived from exposure to Persian and European art forms.