Krishna Swims with the Gopis (painting, recto), possibly an illustration from the Bhagavata Purana

In this painting, swirling waters of the Yamuna River serve as a playground for the dark-skinned Hindu god Krishna and a group of gopis (female cowherds). He is shown teasing the gopis, holding on to one as she tries to playfully get away. The flirtatious act is a manifestation of Krishna’s lila, the concept of divine play that induces intense devotional worship (bhakti) among the gopis—and by extension, devotees of Krishna—who gaze at the deity with love-laden eyes and longing for divine union. Seated ashore under a large tree canopy are three women who keep watch over the bathers’ clothes, with Krishna’s peacock-feather crown and yellow dhoti neatly placed in a basket. On the left is a male cowherd with his cattle, and in the center, a priest at a shrine. The setting is probably meant to be the town of Vrindavan in northern India, where Krishna spent most of his early adulthood, and the Yamuna, a main tributary of the Ganges River, features prominently in episodes of Krishna’s life.