Kṛṣṇa in cosmic form and Viṣṇu on the world serpent

Description:

India, Rajasthan, ca. 19th c.
35,5x25,5 und 31 x 22 cm
The Hindu god Kṛṣṇa, an emanation of the god Viṣṇu, is depicted here in his universal or cosmic form (Sanskrit: viśvarūpa). The figure of the god, especially the design of the face and headdress, seems to be modelled on the Nāthji representations found especially in Nathdwara painting. Kṛṣṇa stands in a flaming aureole and holds various attributes in his sixteen arms, some of which can be attributed to Viṣṇuite iconography (e.g. a lotus blossom and a snail horn highlighted in colour). II: The painting shows the Hindu god Viṣṇu four-armed and standing on the world serpent Śeṣa. He holds the usual hand attributes of lotus flower (Sanskrit: padma), mace (Sanskrit: daṇḍa), snail horn (Sanskrit: śaṅkha) and throwing wheel (Sanskrit: cakra). Below the snake, the turtle (Sanskrit: kūrma), on whose shell the world rests according to Hindu tradition, is depicted in miniature. Instead of standing in the ocean, Viṣṇu stands in a lotus pond; this refers to the iconography of the god Kṛṣṇa, to whose proximity Viṣṇu is thus figuratively moved.
From an important private collection in northern Germany, collected mainly in India from the early 1950s until the 1980s - Minor wear and damages due to age