Balarama, brother of the Hindu deity Krishna, slays the ass-demon Dhenuka; and Krishna cares for his tired brother Balarama, from a manuscript of the Bhagavata Purana (Ancient Tales of the Lord Vishnu)

Hindu religious texts, compiled over many centuries, contain lengthy accounts of the exploits of the god Krishna (a form of Vishnu) and his brother Balarama. Among the most widely copied and illustrated of these was the Bhagavata Purana, compiled some time in the ninth to tenth century. It is from a northern Indian Bhagavata Purana, now dispersed, that this page comes. In the upper part of the painted scene, the white-skinned Balarama and the blue-skinned Krishna are shown shaking a tree from which they and their friends wish to gather fruit. In the lower portion, the ass-demon who has attacked them is caught by Balarama, who whirls him around and smashes him against the tree.