South-Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses c8.s5.6

c8.s5.6

In South India pictures of Krishna with a pot of butter under his left arm and eating out of a ball of it placed in the palm of his right hand are not uncommon. On either side of him are represented shepherd girls of Brindāvana.¹ This form of Krishna, though very often meditated upon and sung about even in nursery rhymes, is rarely worshipped as the chief figure in temples—a famous exception to this being Udipi in the South Canara district, where a big temple, richly endowed, is maintained for the worship of the god Bāla-Krishna.² In the Madras Museum are two metallic images of dancing Krishna, one of which holds in its right hand a ball of butter³ (fig. 25). A peacock's feather stuck into the tuft of hair knotted overhead is, along with the other golden jewellery peculiar to children, a special feature of Krishna as a boy. Gold and silver images of this form of Krishna in miniature are among the set of idols worshipped daily in an orthodox Brāhmana's house. Vaishnavism in its various forms prevailing throughout India praises the child form of Krishna in the sweetest of strains with an overflow of devotion peculiar to that creed alone.