Baby Krishna Asking for Butter from Yashoda, from a Kalighat album
Unknown Artist
c. 1890
Medium
Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper
Dimensions
painting only: 45.7 × 28 cm · secondary support: 48 × 30 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of William E. Ward in memory of his wife, Evelyn Svec Ward
Accession Number
2003.112
About this artwork
As the incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, whose followers recognize as the deity who creates and destroys the universe, Krishna was always eating. Like time itself, which ultimately consumes everything, Krishna eats so much his foster mother Yashoda cannot believe it. When she looks in his mouth, she sees the cosmos and realizes he is not an ordinary baby.