This painting depicts Krishna seated in a
palace courtyard talking to a handmaid of Radha, who is shown beyond them in a
bedchamber. Behind Krishna is a room with a large brass pot heating over a
fire. A label in the upper border identifies the scene as "Upapati!
Paramour! no. 194," and the text on the reverse of the painting (see
Appendix) describes the demure eye contact of the divine lovers and mentions
the fire in both the hearth and Krishna's heart.
The painting is thought to illustrate a
passage from the Satsai (Seven hundred I verses!), one of the four great jewels
of Hindi literature. Intriguingly, however, the inscribed verse does not
correspond to the one given in the standard edition of the Satsai, which varies
from other known versions of the text in the number and content of the verses
(Holland, PP- 4-5).
The standard Salsa; consists 01 713
poetic verses, primarily in celebration of the romance of Radha and Krishna.
The remaining verses describe nayakas and nayikas and the romantic sentiments
associated with the six seasons of the Indian climate (sec no. 30). It was written
by Bihari Lal Chaube (1595-1664), who was born in Govindpur, near Gwalior in
Madhya Pradesh, into the mixed caste of Rays, which also produced several other
well-known Hindi poets (Randhawa 1966, p. 15). As a child Bihari Lal moved with
his family to Orchha and later to Mathura. It was in the latter city that Bihari
Lal must have learnt "Braj-Bhasha," the dialect of Hindi in which the
Satsai is written and which was current around Mathura, the homeland of
Krishna, and was frequently used for the deity's devotional poetry and song
lyrics. Bihari Lal enjoyed a profitable tenure at the court of Amber under jai
Singh I (r. 1625-67), for whom the Satsai was reportedly composed in 1662
(Grierson, pp. 4-5; and Leach, p. 271). Illustrations of the Satsai were
particularly popular in Pahari painting, especially in Kangra during the reign
of Sansar Chand (r. 1775-1823), under whose lavish patronage this work was
produced.
Stylistically, this painting is a good
example of the refined almost overly so expression found in Kangra painting.
The soft palette and delicate ambience are the hallmark of the realm's
workshops and are particularly adept at conveying the romantic connotations of
the popular theme of love.
Writer
Name: - Pratapaditya Pal
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