‘Bhakti’ and Krishna in Indian art

It’s difficult to take one’s eyes off this dramatic painting set in a dark prison room. It depicts baby Krishna hidden in the folds of his father Vasudeva’s red robes. This rare Raja Ravi Varma painting from 1890, titled The Birth of Krishna, is the opening work of the exhibition Bhakti: The Art of Krishna. On view at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai, the work hails from the Royal Gaekwad Collection of the Lakshmi Vilas Palace, Vadodara, Gujarat. This nearly life-size painting also marks the beginning of Krishna’s story in this exhibition.

Many myths and legends about Lord Krishna, a muse for poets and artists for centuries, are depicted in the 107 paintings, sculptures and artefacts put together for the show by Ashvin Rajagopalan, director, Piramal Art Foundation. These include two large paintings depicting the bond between Krishna and Radha by Manjit Bawa and a contemporary painting by Raqib Shaw. An interesting artefact is a four-piece silver tea set from P. Orr & Sons, luxury retailers of timepieces, dating to the mid-19th century. Formerly in the collection of Sotirios Bulgari, the founder of fashion luxury house Bvalgri, in Rome, the set depicts the Jagannath chariot festival in Puri, Odisha.

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The show is significant, as it goes beyond the pichvais and Rajasthani miniatures, which are usually associated with the Bhakti movement. “The content of this exhibition is my discovery of Krishna, bhakti and Vaishnavism in art,” says Rajagopalan.

The untitled painting depicting Krishna and Radha by Manjit Bawa has a glorious red background and features his signature flat, two-dimensional figures with simplified forms and contours. While the blue Krishna, draped in a yellow dhoti, listens to Radha, a group of cows circle them. Then there is Raqib Shaw’s vibrant and detailed painting, also titled Krishna and Radha (2019-20), which shows the couple on a swing in Kashmir. M.F. Husain’s cubist painting from the Lost Continent series (2005) depicts the disrobing of Draupadi and Krishna coming to her rescue. In K.K. Hebbar’s untitled work, Krishna is shown as a faceless, all-encompassing force of nature.

The second Raja Ravi Varma work in this exhibition, titled Krishna Drishtha (1888), shows baby Krishna with Yashoda and a group of women, draped in the Maharashtrian nauvari (nine-yard sari) and wearing naths (nose rings). This too comes from the Gaekwad collection. The show moves from the modern to the contemporary with Thukral & Tagra’s board game, Walk of Life, based on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita.

At Art House, Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, Mumbai, till 18 August.

Riddhi Doshi is a Mumbai-based art, culture, travel and lifestyle writer.

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