Krishna was born to oppose his uncle, the evil king Kamsa, who believed a prophecy that a son of his sister would destroy him. To protect baby Krishna from that fate, the child’s father Vasudeva placed the child in a basket and secretly took him from the palace in which he was born to live with foster parents in a cow herding village on the other side of the river. The precious child was protected on the journey by a tiger and a serpent. The painting shows Vasudeva fording the river with the child held high above this head. In the lower right corner, Krishna’s foster mother Yashoda holds the daughter she will exchange for Krishna.