Art, Symbol & Imagination
Krishna Instructing Arjuna: Surendra Nath Kar
Original caption: Krishna instructing Arjuna
Kar concentrates the relationship between Krishna and Arjuna into a scene of instruction: the teacher’s raised hand and the listener’s turned face carry the exchange. The ornate seat and halo frame Krishna without displacing the intimacy of the two figures. The accompanying Bhagavad Gita discussion begins from Arjuna’s reluctance to fight his own kin and moves through duty, devotion and action without attachment to its rewards. The illustration isolates the teaching relationship from the surrounding battlefield, presenting a pause for understanding at the point where a warrior’s inherited obligations have become intolerably difficult.
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Citation
Surendra Nath Kar. "Krishna Instructing Arjuna: Surendra Nath Kar" [source caption]. In Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists, Sister Nivedita and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Original scan, 1914, George G. Harrap & Co.. Source scan leaf 233. Lumitheca. /gallery/image/hindu-krishna-arjuna
Source details
Title from the printed caption. Editorial description. Source details from the Library catalogue.
Artist credited in the printed list of illustrations. Full source leaf and the adjacent narrative reviewed; historical scan colour and texture retained.
Sources
From the book
Myths of the Hindus and BuddhistsSister Nivedita and Ananda K. Coomaraswamy1914More from this book
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Cite this illustration
Surendra Nath Kar. Krishna Instructing Arjuna: Surendra Nath Kar. Myths of the Hindus and Buddhists. Scan leaf 233. Lumitheca. https://lumitheca.com/gallery/image/hindu-krishna-arjuna