When East met West
A friend was kind enough to share this pic with me of a Metal Frame with Lord Krishna inside. This frame and pic was bought by someone in his family from Yarkand across the Great Himalayan divide. His family at that time was involved in Trading with Yarkand initially based at Hoshiarpur but eventually moving to Kullu.
This is a Russian frame used for the Holy Mother and the child but someone in Yarkand was smart enough to replace that with Lord Krishna and sell it to the Hindu traders / Indian traders. But looks kinda odd but I guess it was a good item to sell at that time. The metal work on the frame is quite exquisite though. And it has a Russian or a Georgian inscription as well.
Yarkand served as Center where goods from all over Asia and Europe could be traded. It was an important point in the Silk Route and also had "Route" to India. I have written at length about this Route in another Post earlier.
One of the great trading centers of Central Asia is now lost as a dusty outpost in Xinjiang. Having lost its glory for good.
Pic from July 2017. Raison, Himachal Pradesh