Painting Krishna's Kingship

This paper looks at the Dwarkadhish Temple in Mathura, built in 1814, and asks whether itspainted walls and ceilings can be read alongside the pichwai textiles used behind Shrinathji atNathdwara. I do not argue that one copied the other. I suggest that a fixed painted interior and amovable cloth may both help devotees feel Krishna’s presence, and I call this idea an“architectural pichwai”. The evidence for the Mathura paintings is thin, so the paper separateswhat is documented from what is interpretation. It ends by setting out what further researchwould be needed to test the idea.