Image title: Plate-25: Balalilas

[Full title: Balalilas, Nayaka, Tirupparuttikunram, 17th century]

Vasudeva receiving the newborn baby from Devakī, crossing the Yamunā and giving the child to Nandagopa, the bālalīlās of Kṛṣṇa, his killing various Asuras, Sakaṭa, Dhenuka, etc. the uprooting of the Yamala [Yamaḷa] trees as he crawled along pulling the mortar to which he was chained, and so forth, a whole group of cows, cowherds and milkmaids, are all graphically portrayed in this series. These and several other incidents from the life of Ṛṣabhadeva, Vardhamāna and Neminātha, portrayed along with their descriptive labels have been discussed at length by T. N. Ramachandran in his book on the Tirupparuttikunram [Tirupparuttikuṇṛam] Temples, with a wealth of detail in the accompanying plates to illustrate each one of the episodes.

Gallery information:

This plate is contained in the book “Vijayanagara Paintings”, a valuable aid to the understanding of Indian iconography (also known as śilpaśāstra). The Vijayanagara empire was established in 1335 by Harihara, Harihara, Kaṃpa and Bukka (sons of Saṅgama) and grew to be a dominant power in the South. Painting has been considered in the Citrasūtra of the Viṣṇudharmottara, the early standard text on painting, as the premier art.