Page from a Bhagavata Purana Series: Krishna Slays the Horse Demon Keshi (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
The gigantic horse Keshi was yet another in the long series of demons sent by Kansa to kill Krishna. When the beast attacked, Krishna plunged his left arm down its throat, expanding the limb to such a vast size that it suffocated the demon. This scene depicts an earlier moment of the encounter. As fellow cowherds rush to his aid, Krishna—brandishing his flaming discus—grabs the charging horse-demon’s nose. In the visual shorthand typical of Central Indian painting, the two trees on the right indicate Vrindavan’s forests. Large numbers of such vividly colored, highly animated illustrations suggest mass production by workshops in later 17th-century Central India.
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