Temple cloth celebrating Krishna (Picchavai) (border section)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painted textile represents the lower border of a large scale and high quality picchavai, a devotional temple hanging. Dedicated to the veneration of Lord Krishna as Shrinathji, believed to be a self-manifested form of Vishnu that appeared as a black stone icon of his avatar as Krishna. Traditionally much venerated by rural worshippers, and especially those associated with cowherds, a genre of painted cloth emerged, employed as backdrops to the black stone icon, and as substitutes for it when worshipped away from Nathdwara. This panel has a series of vignettes depicting a range of devotional scenes associated with Krishna’s youthful adventures, as recounted in the Bhagavad Purana.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art