Exhibitions: Vishnu: Hinduism's Blue-Skinned Savior

Krishna and Radha in a Grove. Northern India (Rajasthan, Kota), circa 1720. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper, 7 1/2 x 4 3/8 in. (19 x 11.1 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon B. Polsky Fund, 2003.178a, b. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY

Until about 1000 C.E. , Hindu literature described Krishna’s romantic exploits as fully egalitarian: he gave love to every gopi equally. Later Hindu literature describes a favorite gopi, named Radha. She is Krishna’s great love but she is married, so the two must meet in secret. Devotees are invited to imagine themselves as Radha, involved in an intense affair with God. Some of India’s most beautiful paintings have treated the relationship between Krishna and Radha, celebrating their love and the bounteous pastoral setting in which it blossoms.