An illustration to a Harivamsa series: Krishna and Balarama at the ashram of their guru Sandipani, attributed to Purkhu and his workshop, North India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, circa 1815

Private collection, London.

This illustration depicts a series of scenes from the episode of Krishna and his brother Balarama visiting their guru Sandipani in his ashram. Following their lesson Sandipani asks if they are able to return his drowned son back to life. The two brothers find the marine demon who killed his son and request Yama the god of death to return the child to them.

This illustration originates from a now dispersed Harivamsa series which was previously known as the 'Nadaun Bhagavata Purana series' having once been in the possession of the Raja of Nadaun. Many of the paintings are in the collection of the Government Museum of Chandigarh. Two paintings from the Chandigarh museum collection are illustrated in Goswamy and Fischer, Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India, Zurich, 1992, nos.164, 165, pp.378-381 and one in Goswamy, Beach and Fischer, Masters of Indian Painting, 1100-1900, Zurich, 2011, fig.4, p.726.

Goswamy and Fischer have attributed this series to Purkhu and his workshop (ibid, p.725). Purkhu was the leading painter at the court of Maharaja Sansar Chand of Kangra and was active between 1780 and 1820. Although there are no known paintings signed by Purkhu a group of large scale series have been attributed to him and his workshop, including this Harivamsa, the Gita Govinda, Rasikapriya and the Shiva Purana. The distinctive tri-lobed conical turbans worn by Krishna and Balarama in the current painting are found on further illustrations from the same series, see Sotheby's New York, 21 September 1985, lot 62; Sotheby's New York, 27 March 1991, lots 59 & 60; Sotheby's New York, 2 June 1992, lot 160; Christie's London, 10 June 2015, lot 71.