Unknown - Indian
Indian (active South India, Tamil Nadu)

Processional Image of Dancing Child Krishna , 13th c. CE, late Chola period
copper alloy
8 1/2 x 13 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.

SBMA, Museum Purchase
1970.9

RESEARCH PAPER

This diverting figure of the dancing Hindu God Krishna is a major attraction and a popular work of art in SBMA's Asian Collection. It was acquired with the aid of important contributions from Mr. Wright Ludington, Mr. F. Bailey Vanderhoef and Mrs. George R. Fearing. The excavated bronze has a rich earth vertigre patina. The total casting of the image is intact although traditionally the figure would have been mounted on a bronze base, cast separately with a bezel in which the image was set. A protrusion on the back of the head would have probably held a small disc.

Krishna is poised in the movement of his dance, with one leg, touching the ground and the other curved and hovering. The arms are also in a position of thrust and graceful curve which dancers use. This conception of the bending body and the exquisite gestures of the hands creates one of the most dynamic sculptural forms and is so typical of the art of India.

In the Chola period of southern India, motifs of the dance were dominant in their copper and bronze sculpture. Craftsmen belonging to hereditary guilds cast metal in the lost wax process. The material, in contrast to stone, which is more static in character, is more adaptable to rendering implied movement and graceful curves.

These statues were used as aids to worship and were kept in puja in the temple. Worshipers prostrated themselves in front of the image and also touched it during this ritual. Small images were carried in religious processions, on which occasions they were dressed in rich apparel.

KRISHNA

KRISHNA is the most popular Hindu-god and widely worshipped Avatar of VISHNU, the highest Hindu-god.

Krishna is worshipped in India as a manifestation of Vishnu and can be characterized in his major aspect as the God of Love. He was born as a mortal being to the sister of King Kamsa, but was spirited away to live among the simple cowherds of Brindaban to avoid a curse. He was brought up in humble circumstances. His infancy and childhood there, though punctuated with miracles performed in the service of his adopted people, were normal and human, and his pranks and mischievous behavior occupy much of the Vedic literature. He has a particular appeal for the poor, the hungry and the oppressed.

Like the other children, he would steal the sweet butterballs or break his mother's pots, then steal off to bed and feign innocence. As he grew to manhood, this capricious nature remained and extended to his numerous amorous adventures with the milkmaids. Krishna had the reputation as a stealer of hearts. When he and Bala-Rama, his brother and constant companion one day smelled food, which was prepared by the shepherd, they asked for food but were rebuffed. The cowgirls brought them food because they recognized him as a god. When they returned to their husbands, they (the husbands) were angry with themselves to have missed the opportunity of serving the young god.

Krishna's amorous adventures began when he was young and developed naturally from his childhood teasing of the cowgirls. One day, when a group of them had gone bathing in the river, Krishna came across them as they were calling his name. He stole their clothes, climbed up a tree with the clothes and hid in the tree. The cowgirls got very frightened and tried to hide their nakedness beneath the water, but Krishna told them that a serpent inhabited the water. He insisted that each of the cowgirls come forward to the tree to receive back their clothes. Then he promised to dance with them the following autumn. When autumn came Krishna went on a moonlit night into the forest. He played his flute to call the cowgirls who all slipped away from their husbands to join him. He danced with each one of them.

In his manhood he performed the task for which he was born. He left the shepherd and returned to kill King Kamsa and other wrongdoers in a long battle with the forces of evil.

The image of our bronze is a celebration of Krishna as a baby (Bal-Krishna) dancing for joy. His right hand is raised in the Abhaya mudra offering divine protection and reassurance of his devotees. His face expresses the innocence of childlike joy and the infinite wisdom of the all-knowing deity. His intricate headdress is regal, appropriate to a God, but his body is childishly plump, appealing to parental instincts of love and protection.

BIBLIOGRPPHY

Ions, Veronica, Indian Mythology , Italy, 1967.

Larousse World Mythology , Italy, 1965

Lee, Sherman, A History of Far Eastern Art , New York, 196 .

Original research paper by Herta Furst­, n.d., and article initialled R.A.K., n.d.
Compiled from SBMA Docent files 2008, LG.

SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS

This child-god Krishna is a devotional icon worshiped in processional parades, reflecting the importance of dance, music and singing that characterize Hindu festivals. With the joyful exuberance of a child and the poise of a trained dancer, Krishna portrays movements described in the "Natyashashtra", a 2nd-century manual on dance. This sculpture, when on parade would have been lavishly adorned with jewelry, silk, perfume and flower garlands, serving as the deity’s living presence.

- India, Southeast Asia, and Himalayas, 2022


In Hinduism, Krishna was one of the manifestations of the god Vishnu on earth. As narrated by the sacred text Bhagavata Purana, as a child Krishna revealed his divinity to his people when he vanquished the poisonous serpent Kaliya that lived in the Yamuna River by dancing on him. His right palm raised in a gesture of fearlessness, this elaborately bejeweled child-god invites us to witness in the eye of our minds his victorious dance as he forced the giant snake (now missing under his left hand) into submission.

- Sculptures that Tell Stories, 2019


Statues of various gods in dance positions appear throughout the history of Indian sculpture, reflecting the importance of dance in the society. The image of boy Krishna (literally “Black”) dancing for joy was popular in southern India after the 12th century. Here the cowherd god is almost naked except for his tall headdress and sumptuous jewelry, indications that he is an avatar of Vishnu. A very human and accessible deity, Krishna has his right hand raised in the gesture of protection and reassurance.

- SBMA Gallery Label, 2012