Studies in Indian Art c12.s13.26

c12.s13.26

It is strange that no early image depicting the life incidents of the cowherd deity Kṛṣṇa has come to light at Mathurā. An exception may be deemed in the case of a relief (1344) of the Kuṣāṇa period bearing a scene which Daya Ram Sahni interpreted as one showing Vasudeva walking across the river Yamunā to transport the new-born Kṛṣṇa to Gokula for safe custody¹ (Fig. 105), I agree with this view and think that the relief is the earliest representation of a scene from Kṛṣṇa's life.