The Bhagavata Purana has an episode of how mischievous Krishna hides away all the clothes of girls bathing in the river. The episode provides a lot of fodder for poets, artists and devotees and is an integral part of the Hindu experience.
Here is a collection of pictures culled from our collection that depict the episode of the girls begging Krishna to return their clothes.
© K.L.Kamat
Krishna stealing the clothes of his female companions
The Gopika-Vastraharana episode
© K.L.Kamat
Gopika Vastrapaharana (The Stealing of Clothes)
Painting shows Krishna climbing a tree with the clothes of bathing girls
© K.L.Kamat
Naked Women asking Krishna for their Clothes
Krishna from Gunavante chariot
© K.L.Kamat
Ladies Pleading for Clothes
Detail from a South Indian painting, Mysore
© K.L.Kamat
Gopika Vastrapaharan
Detail from a Mysore Traditional Painting, Mysore
© K.L.Kamat
Gopika Vastraharana
Detail from a painting by Shubharaya
© K.L.Kamat
Gopika-Vastraharan
Detail from a miniature painting, Partakali Math, Goa
© K.L.Kamat
Krishna Climbs a Tree after Stealing Women's Clothes
Gopika Vastraharan as depicted in a Gokarn temple sculpture
© K.L.Kamat
The Clothes Thief
Girls bathing in the river begging Krishna to return their clothes.
