In subject, the picture represents what Krishna saw on his return from destroying the Yadavas at Prabhasa. Balarama, his half-brother, has gone down to the sea and has there yielded up his spirit. Sesha, the great serpent, who is part of Vishnu himself, is now issuing from the body Balarama having been his incarnation. Snakes come to greet him while Varuna, the god of water, stands as 'an old man of the sea' ready to escort him to his long home. [Illustration] PLATE 2 _The Death of Krishna_ Illustration to the Persian abridgement of the _Mahabharata_, the _Razmuama_ (or Book of the Wars) By Mukund Mughal (Akbar period), c. 1595 Collection H.H. the Maharaja of Jaipur, Jaipur Following the death of Balarama, Krishna prepares to leave the world. He sits in meditation and is shot in the sole of his right foot by Jara, a Bhil hunter--the arrow which kills him being tipped with part of the iron which has caused the destruction of the Yadavas. The picture shows Krishna reclining on a platform of the kind still constructed in India at the base of sacred trees. An arrow transfixes his right foot while the hunter, dressed as a courtier in Mughal dress, is shown releasing the bow. In front of Krishna stand four awe-struck figures, representing the celestial sages and devotees of Vishnu who have come to attend his passing. In the sky four gods look down. To the right is Siva. Then, a little to the left, is four-headed Brahma, below him, Indra, his body spotted with a thousand eyes and finally a fourth god of uncertain identity. Around the platform surges the snarling sea as if impatiently awaiting Krishna's death before engulfing the doomed Dwarka. The painting is by a colleague of Basawan (Plate 1) and illustrates the same great text. [Illustration] PLATE 3 _The Slaughter of an Innocent_ Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay Following the expansion of Indian miniature painting in the early seventeenth century, illustrated versions of the tenth book of the _Bhagavata Purana_ began to be produced in parts of Hindu India. It was in the Punjab Hills, at the end of the eighteenth century, however, that romance and religion achieved their most delicate expression. The artist chiefly responsible was a certain Nainsukh who had arrived at the State of Guler in about 1740. His way of painting had marked affinities with that of Basawan (Plate 1) and represents a blend of early Mughal naturalism with later Hindu sentiment. The style founded by him influenced members of his own family, including his nephew Kushala and ultimately spread to Kangra and Garhwal where it reached its greatest heights. The present picture, together with Plates 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 16, is possibly by the Kangra artist Purkhu and with others of the series illustrates perhaps the greatest interpretation of the _Bhagavata Purana_ ever produced in Indian painting.