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Lot Essay
The Rasikapriya written by Keshavdas in circa 1591 is a description of nayakas (heroes) and nayikas (heroines) in love and their emotions, longings and their behaviour patterns. Keshav associates them with the celebrated lovers, Radha and Krishna. One of the standard classifications of nayika bheda from the time of the ancient Natyashastra, an ancient text, was the ashta nayika in which eight types of nayikas are described according to their love situations. Poets of later medieval literature such as Bhanudatta who wrote the Rasamanjari and Keshavdas elaborated on the ashtanayika theme. Of these eight the vasakashayya nayika illustrated here is ‘one who waits for her lover with bed prepared.’
In this painting the nayika who longs for her lover waits bejeweled and bedecked on the freshly prepared bed, glancing often at the door expecting her beloved. Her meek downward glance indicates perhaps a young, shy nayika, one who is inexperienced in the ways of love. Fresh garlands of white flowers ready for wearing, splashes of bright red colour on the doorframe, bed and stool indicating her passion, lamps that are seductively lit and the starry sky are aesthetic details that create a mood of unfulfilled love and expectancy.
The Rasamanjari and Rasikapriya themes were extremely popular amongst Pahari rulers in the Punjab hills in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This painting is from Garhwal whose stylistic affinities with other Pahari states such as Kangra and Guler are well recorded. This could be a painting by the artist Mola Ram based on the figural resemblance with other paintings attributed to him. See ‘Archer, Indian Paintings form the Punjab Hills’, figures 25 and 28; and ‘Pal, P., Pleasure Gardens of the Mind’, page 87. Mola Ram (c. 1743 – 1833) was a poet and artist in the Garhwal royal atelier.
In this painting the nayika who longs for her lover waits bejeweled and bedecked on the freshly prepared bed, glancing often at the door expecting her beloved. Her meek downward glance indicates perhaps a young, shy nayika, one who is inexperienced in the ways of love. Fresh garlands of white flowers ready for wearing, splashes of bright red colour on the doorframe, bed and stool indicating her passion, lamps that are seductively lit and the starry sky are aesthetic details that create a mood of unfulfilled love and expectancy.
The Rasamanjari and Rasikapriya themes were extremely popular amongst Pahari rulers in the Punjab hills in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This painting is from Garhwal whose stylistic affinities with other Pahari states such as Kangra and Guler are well recorded. This could be a painting by the artist Mola Ram based on the figural resemblance with other paintings attributed to him. See ‘Archer, Indian Paintings form the Punjab Hills’, figures 25 and 28; and ‘Pal, P., Pleasure Gardens of the Mind’, page 87. Mola Ram (c. 1743 – 1833) was a poet and artist in the Garhwal royal atelier.