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4. Krishna Dancing South India, Tamil Nadu region Chola Dynasty, circa 12th century Copper alloy Height: 15 3⁄8 in. (39 cm.) |
This beautifully cast image depicts Krishna in his most popular form as a young boy dancing joyfully and holding his right hand in a gesture indicating “Have no fear.” The deity’s left hand is gracefully outstretched in a movement of dance, and his legs are bent as if he has been captured mid-leap upon a tall double lotus base. Each limb of Krishna’s supple body is held with control, and his erect posture is elegant yet playful. Also known as Balakrishna (Divine Child Krishna), the figure is naked except for his sumptuous jeweled ornaments alluding to his status as a pampered, royal child. He wears a kinkini (girdle of bells), trefoil armbands, disk-shaped earrings and a series of beaded bracelets, anklets and necklaces. Crowning his head, masses of upswept curls are piled into a high lotus-topped chignon and surrounded by a jeweled tiara.[1] Balakrishna is easily mistaken for the Saiva dancing child saint, Sambandar, given the numerous iconographic similarities between the two. Although both are portrayed as unclad dancing boys, Sambandar is distinguished by the gesture of his right hand pointing toward the sky.[2] Balakrishna, on the other hand, often holds a butterball in the palm of his hand,[3] dances on the hood of the serpent Kaliya, or as in the present example, is depicted simply dancing, unrelated to any particular narrative. It is often thought that the image of Sambandar was modeled after that of Balakrishna in order to create a Saiva child saint that would be an equal of the Vaishnava child god.[4] The ateliers of the Chola Dynasty in the south are renowned for the production of the greatest Indian bronzes. The attention that the artists devoted to the human figure and its dynamic movement is unparalleled, as evidenced by this lovely example. Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, New York Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 1977 William H. Wolff, Inc., New York, 1985 [1] For a related eleventh century example of Krishna Dancing, see Pal (2003), no. 178. [2] It is said that as an infant, a hungry Sambandar was fed milk by Parvati herself. When asked by his father who had fed him, he pointed to the heavens from whence the nourishment came. See Dehejia, Eskenazi, Lock and Rosenthal (2006), p. 98. [3] This iconography makes reference to an impish incident in which Krishna stole a pot of butter from his mother’s larder. [4] See Pal (1988), p. 292. |