Krishna’s childhood is the part of the literature devotees return to most: the boy who crawls through Nanda Maharaja’s courtyard, who is carried by mother Yashoda, who plays with the cowherd children and gets into trouble daily. Theologians call this vatsalya rasa, the mood of parental love. Everyone else just finds him charming, which is rather the point.
This collection gathers the paintings of the child Krishna: Little Krishna Gopal, baby Krishna resting on Ananta Shesha, Gopal with a calf, Gopal with a monkey, and the various Gopal studies. Because the subject suits children, the collection is heavy on kids’ items — kids’ t-shirts, kids’ hoodies, soft dolls and school backpacks — alongside adult t-shirts and hoodies, canvas art, framed posters, puzzles, journals, bottles, stickers and pin badges. Related: Damodara lila and the butter thief.