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1. Vallabhacarya installs the image of Srinathji in the temple at Govardhan Nathdwara, India circa 1825-50 Opaque watercolour with gold on paper 15.7 by 22.8 cm. painting, 17.4 by 24.5 cm. page |
The idol of Srinathji had been miraculously found buried at Govardhan near Mathura, which turned out to be an image of the divine child Krishna aged seven in the act of holding up that very mountain. The sage Vallabhacarya (1479-1531) enshrined it at Govardhan and built a sect and a philosophy around it. The idol takes the form of the divine boy Krishna holding his left hand up, which he did in the Bhagavata Purana to lift the mountain Govardhan in order to the shelter the villagers and their cattle, when the god Indra sent a fearsome thunderstorm down on them. This painting tells the story of its finding and installation. At the top left is the half buried image with a cow standing near it. The nearby villagers realised something was there when they saw a cow let loose its milk into the cleft. It was first installed in a hut (bottom left) by Madhavendra Yati. Vallabhacarya appeared on the scene apparently in 1493 when on a pilgrimage to the area along with two disciples Krishnadasa Meghan and Damodaradas Harasani, directed there by a divine voice. They were greeted at Anyor, the village at the base of the hill (bottom right), by Sadu Pande the chief cowherd of the village along with his wife and daughter. The next morning they all climbed the hill and Srinathji came running forward to embrace Vallabhacarya (top right). Notice that Srinathji’s upright arm is in fact embracing the sage. The divine child asked to be placed in a proper temple so that worship could be paid to him and Vallabhacarya duly did so. Srinathji was the most important image in Braj when, in order to escape the persecutions initiated by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707), the pontiff of the sect decided in 1669 to move the sacred image from Mathura into Rajasthan. The rath or chariot of Srinathji kept moving ahead confronting all hurdles, until two years later it finally stopped at Sinhada in Mewar, where it was given leave by Maharana Raj Singh of Mewar (1652-80) to remain. A new haveli (mansion) was built over the image which became the great shrine of Nathdwara. Srinathji lives in havelis, not temples, where he is treated exactly like the child he is - awakened, dressed, fed, entertained, made to take naps, undressed and finally put to bed. For further information about Vallabhacarya and the sect he founded, see Skelton and for a later painting of the finding and installation of the idol, see Ambalal pp. 50-51. A very similar painting is in the British Museum, see Ahluwalia, pl.18. Provenance Private collection, Switzerland References Ahluwalia, R., Rajput Painting: Romantic, Divine and Courtly Love from India, London, 2008 Ambalal A., Krishna as Srinathji: Rajasthani Paintings from Nathdwara, Ahmedabad, 1987 Skelton, R., Rajasthani Temple Hangings of the Krishna Cult, New York, 1973 |