ATTRIBUTED TO NIKKA SON OF NAINSUKH, CHAMBA, NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 1780-85

This painting is an illustration to the Sundar Shringar, a poetic text composed by Sundar Das in the early 16th century. Comparable to other texts such as the Rasakapriya of Keshav Das or the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta, the Sundar Shringar details the moods of love and the classification of heroes and heroines (nayaka-nayika bheda) with Radha and Krishna as protagonists. Their love is used to illustrate the various stages of romance and passion.
This scene illustrates the idea of maana - offence taken from hurt pride.The poet says that offences can occur in three severities: laghu (minor), madhyam (medium), and guru (large). How each arises, and how each is reconciled, is then described. Here we see the first category of laghu maan. The nayika accuses her lover of his gazing longingly at beauteaous women and becomes hurt. The lover counters by saying that it was a pure accident, and that there was no lustful gazing on his part. Satisfied, or at least pretending to be, the nayika accepts this and the two are reconciled. In the end, the matter ends well and both join in laughter.
Coming from a series notable for its landscape format, this Sundar Shringar relates closely to the ‘Second Guler’ Gita Govinda series made in 1765-70. Both share a similar delicate and refined style, however the Sundar Shringar prefers architectural settings – as depicted here – in comparison to the lush green landscapes of the Gita Govinda (J.P. Losty et al., A Mystical Realm of Love: Pahari Paintings from the Eva and Konrad Seitz Collection, 2017, p.291).
Illustrations from this series sold in these Rooms 1 April 2021, lot 40, and 24 October 2019, lot 131. For further pages from this same series sold at auction, see Bonhams, London, 23 October 2018, lot 149; Sotheby’s, New York, 19 September 2008, lots 201 to 204; 19 March 2008, lots 205-208; 19 September 2006, lots 1-5; 29 March 2006 lots 149-152; 20 September 2005, lots 106-108; 1 April 2005, lots 110-113.