CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Subject: Dowry Box. Pedis, or dowry boxes are created by chitrakaras and are used to store items of dowries. These are wooden boxes often made of gambhari wood which are covered with cloth canvas and painted over. The boxes may be decorated with scenes from the life of Krishna or they may be decorated with images of musicians and dancers, animals, plants, or other designs. This scene shows the legend of Kanchi Abhiyan. This object has been procured by State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) Show House.

Subject: Dowry Box. Pedis, or dowry boxes are created by chitrakaras and are used to store items of dowries. These are wooden boxes often made of gambhari wood which are covered with cloth canvas and painted over. The boxes may be decorated with scenes from the life of Krishna or they may be decorated with images of musicians and dancers, animals, plants, or other designs. This scene shows Krishna and Balarama playing their flutes and surrounded by gopis. This object has been procured by State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) Show House.

Subject: Dowry Box. Pedis, or dowry boxes are created by chitrakaras and are used to store items of dowries. These are wooden boxes often made of gambhari wood which are covered with cloth canvas and painted over. The boxes may be decorated with scenes from the life of Krishna or they may be decorated with images of musicians and dancers, animals, plants, or other designs. This scene shows Krishna and Balarama seated in a chariot driven by Akrura. They are leaving their home of Brindaban and travelling to Mathura to fight Krishna's uncle Kamsa. The gopis crowd around the chariot, clutching at the wheels, attempting to halt their departure. This object has been procured by State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) Show House.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used. Back view of the object.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used. Back view of the object.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used.

Subject: Yasodha with Balrama and Krishna. Yasodha is Krishna's foster mother. She also played an important role in raising Krishna's elder brother Balarama (the son of Rohini) and sister Subhadra. Here we see Krishna and Balarama with Yasodha. Odisha is famous for such wooden objects. Often, gambhari or beech wood, the local wood is used for the carvings as it has a fine texture and is light-cream color though other woods may also be used.

Subject: Krishna (Makkan/Labani Chora). Krishna is worshipped as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is also as a supreme god in his own right. Here Krishna appears with a dahi handi (yoghurt pot) referring to the legend of Krishna stealing butter and other milk products as a baby. This object has been procured from State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) Show House Museum, Handicrafts Complex.

Subject: Krishna (Makkan/Labani Chora). Krishna is worshipped as the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu and is also as a supreme god in his own right. Here Krishna appears with a dahi handi (yoghurt pot) referring to the legend of Krishna stealing butter and other milk products as a baby. This object has been procured from State Institute for Development of Arts & Crafts (SIDAC) Show House Museum, Handicrafts Complex.

Subject: Krishna Playing Flute. Lac comes from an insect’s resinous secretion. Terracotta and wooden items are coated with lacquer to produce utility or decorative items. This figure is of the Hindu god Krishna playing his flute. View of the back of the object.

Subject: Krishna Playing Flute. Lac comes from an insect’s resinous secretion. Terracotta and wooden items are coated with lacquer to produce utility or decorative items. This figure is of the Hindu god Krishna playing his flute.

Subject: Krishna Navanita-Nartana: Balakrishna or Child Krishna was a favorite with several of the Vaishnava saints. This is the most popular imagery for child Krishna as a dancing infant, with one hand in the divine gesture of protection (abhaya) and the other stretched out in the movement of the dance. Clothing is absent and child Krishna is clad only in ornaments that include the traditional girdle of bells and range of necklaces, armlets, and anklets.

Subject: Balakrishna: Balkrishna or Child Krishna was a favorite with several of the Vaishnava saints. This is the most popular imagery for child Krishna as a dancing infant, with one hand in the divine gesture of protection (abhaya) and the other stretched out in the movement of the dance. Clothing is absent and child Krishna is clad only in ornaments that include the traditional girdle of bells and range of necklaces, armlets, and anklets. This is the back view of the image.

Subject: Buddha standing, lower part. The sharply incised three line Brahmi epigraph is translated as follows: In the 93rd year (171A.D) of Maharaja Devaputra Vasudeva, in the 4th month of Hemanta as on the 25th day, an image of the Buddha, who has full grasp of knowledge and whose faith cannot be shaken, was set up along with parasol by a Buddhist monk who was Kayastha (?) after paying due respect to his father Sarvanandi, mother Jivsri and Arya Dhana . Found from Krishna Puri (Mathura)

Subject: Buddha standing, lower part. The sharply incised three line Brahmi epigraph is translated as follows: In the 93rd year (171A.D) of Maharaja Devaputra Vasudeva, in the 4th month of Hemanta as on the 25th day, an image of the Buddha, who has full grasp of knowledge and whose faith cannot be shaken, was set up along with parasol by a Buddhist monk who was Kayastha (?) after paying due respect to his father Sarvanandi, mother Jivsri and Arya Dhana . Found from Krishna Puri (Mathura)

Subject: Baby Krishna with butterpots

Subject: Radha and Krishna in Brindaban

Subject: Kalinagamardana, Krishna kills Kalinga

Subject: Buddha: In South India, the Buddhist and Jain faiths were quite vital in the Chola period. Buddhist monasteries attracted donations of individual images of the Buddha and Buddhist deities. The early arrival of Buddhism in south India is evident from the ancient Buddhist monastic sites that dot Godavari and Krishna basins of the Andhra region as well as literary sources. However with the upsurge of Shaiva nayanmars and the Vaishnava alvars, the power of Buddhists greatly reduced. Buddhism received new impetus during the eleventh century partly because of the arrival of a colony of Buddhists from the kingdom of Shrivijaya in Indonesia. In this image of Buddha, he has a serenely elegant face and elongated ear lobes, stands erect with his right hand raised in the abhaya gesture of protection and his left lowered in the varada gesture of wish granting. His head is covered with tiny curls, and rising from the top of the head in a stylized flame, characteristic of south Indian images of Buddha. His monastic robe covers his shoulders and the scalloped folds along its lower outer edges is a feature that becomes highly pronounced from the twelfth century onwards. Chola Buddhist bronzes are portable images intended for processional festivities as is evident from the holes in the Buddha's circular lotus pedestal intended to help hoist the image and the ceremonial aspects of Hindu and Buddhist images overlapped considerably. This is the front and the back view of the image.

Subject: Krishna Navanita-Nartana: Balkrishna or Child Krishna was a favorite with several of the Vaishnava saints. This is the most popular imagery for child Krishna is as a dancing infant, with one hand in the divine gesture of protection (abhaya) and the other stretched out in the movement of the dance. Clothing is absent and child Krishna is clad only in ornaments that include the traditional girdle of bells and range of necklaces, armlets, and anklets. This is the back of the image.

Subject: Left portion, gopis; Krishna Taking Toll

Subject: Center portion, Krishna and Arjuna before the Mahabharata Battle