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I recently got gifted an image of Shrinathji, the young Krishna and the presiding deity at the shrine in Nathdwara, India.

enter image description here

I have several questions about the way that Krishna's child form is depicted, in particular, the paraphernalia that have been depicted in the image. These have all been outlined using red boxes in the image and are numbered. I can only guess at #6, which is presumably a flute, usually associated with Krishna's Gopal form. Any help with identifying and understanding the significance of the others would be appreciated.

tchakravarty
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1 Answers1

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Good question.

1 is freshly made paans that Srinathji likes to chew.

2 is bantaji filled with some sweets/snacks for Srinathji if He feels hungry

3 is jhariji filled with jamuna-jal with wet red cloth to quench thirst of Srinathji.This represents Mother Yasoda also.

4 and 5 do not appear in all images like one enclosed. They probably are framed well-known local miniature paintings on Krishna-leela

7 is a govardhana-shila worshipped as Sri Krishna (these shilas are worshipped as Giridhari--this I know personally.)

The garland of lotus flowers is symbolic of the love of Sri Radhika by the way.

And, 6, (what you have identified as flute) seems to me a stick that Sri Krishna kept as cowherd.

His lotus shaped eyes are known to be symbolic of the Kamdeva's bow. His U-shaped Tilaka on His forehead is an impression of Sri Radha's foot.

His left hand is symbolic of holding the govardhana mountain in govardhana-dharana-leela.

I remember seeing an engraved snake on His body, which normally remains covered by His garments.

Thanks.

Reference :1. https://www.pushti-marg.net/svaroup-additional.htm 2. https://www.sahapedia.org/nathdwara-paintings-shrinathji-cult-haveli-traditions-and-bazaarsenter image description here