Bala Krishna Pull Toy

This is a polychrome wooden pull-toy on wheels of Bala (baby) Krishna, from Tamil Nadu. Krishna is the God of compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one of the most popular and widely revered among Indian divinities. Krishna has the typical characteristic of his topknot as well as a more unusual plait down his back. He is shown in a crawling position, eating ghee (butter) of which he was very fond, from his right hand, and holding the pot of ghee (butter) in the left. Beside the ghee is a serpent’s head, which symbolizes how the young Krishna subdued the snake Kaliya, who had poisoned the River Yamuna. The carved figure sits on a double plinth with four wheels, so the toy could be pulled along by a rope.