Chapter VI: Introduction (6)

Basham (op. cit., 305) points out that elements in the Krishna story such as the destruction of the Yadavas and the death of the god are 'quite un-Indian in their tragic character. The themes of the drunken brawl leading to a general slaughter, of the hero slain by an arrow piercing his one vulnerable spot, and of the great city engulfed by the sea, are well-known in European epic literature, but do not occur elsewhere in that of India and are not hinted at in the Vedas. The concept of the dying god, so widespread in the ancient Near East, is found nowhere else in Indian mythology.'

It is unfortunate that Krishna's reasons for destroying the Yadava race are nowhere made very clear. The affront to the Brahmans is the immediate occasion for the slaughter but hardly its actual cause; and, if it is argued that the Yadavas must first be destroyed in order to render Krishna's withdrawal from the world complete, we must then assume that the Yadavas are in some mysterious way essential parts of Krishna himself. Such a status, however, does not seem to be claimed for them and none of the texts suggest that this is so. The slaughter, therefore, remains an enigma.

Note 14, p. 68.

Wilson (op. cit., 608) summarizing the portents listed in the _Mahabharata_ but not included in the _Vishnu_ or _Bhagavata Puranas_.

Note 15, p. 72.

From the _Brihadaranyaka_, quoted A. Danielou, 'An Approach to Hindu Erotic Sculpture,' _Marg_, Vol. II, No. i, 88. For a Western expression of this point of view, compare Eric Gill, 'Art and Love,' _Rupam_ (Calcutta, 1925), No. 21, 5.

'If the trees and rocks, the thunder and the sea, the frightful avidity of animal life and the loveliness of flowers are so many hints of the God who made them, how much more obviously are the things of humanity analogues of the things of God? And among all such things, the union of man and woman takes the highest place and is the most potent symbol. Therefore it is that outside the commercial civilizations of the western world, love and marriage take their place as types of divine union and everywhere love and marriage are the subject matter, the theme of religious writers, singers, painters and sculptors. It is true that love is the theme of western writers also but with them the idea of love is entirely free from divine signification. (As a corollary), the more the divine background disappears, the more the prudishness of the police becomes the standard of ethics and aesthetics alike. Under such an aegis the arts are necessarily degraded to the level of the merely sentimental or the merely sensual and while the sentimental is everywhere applauded, the sensual is a source of panic.'

Note 16, p. 73.

In later poetry as well as in popular worship, Radha's position is always that of an adored mistress--never that of a beloved wife. And it is outside or rather in the teeth of marriage that her romance with Krishna is prosecuted. Such a position clearly involved a sharp conflict with conventional morals and in the fourteenth century, an attempt was made, in the _Brahma Vaivarta Purana_, to re-write the _Bhagavata Purana_, magnifying Radha as leader of the cow-girls, disguising or rather denying her adultery and finally presenting her as Krishna's eternal consort. For this purpose, three hypotheses were adopted. Radha was throughout assumed to be Krishna's spouse and it is only on account of a curse that she takes human form as a cowgirl and comes to live in Brindaban. Radha herself does not marry Ayana the cowherd--his wedding being only with her shadow. Thirdly, Krishna comes to Brindaban and goes through a secret marriage with her. Their love-making is, therefore, no longer adulterous but strictly conjugal. It is not perhaps surprising that the _Brahma Vaivarta Purana_ failed to capture the Indian imagination and indeed is nowadays hardly ever heard of. It is of interest mainly on account of the prolific information given about Radha, the fact that it sets her firmly in the centre, dethroning the hapless Rukmini, and its baroque descriptions of sexual union.

Note 17, p. 73.

During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, a parallel situation seems to have arisen in feudal France and Germany where local love-poetry also treated adultery as a _sine qua non_ of romance.

'Two things prevented the men of that age from connecting their ideal of romantic and passionate love with marriage. The first is, of course, the actual practice of feudal society. Marriages had nothing to do with love and no 'nonsense' about marriage was tolerated. All marriages were matches of interest and, worse still, of an interest that was continually changing. When the alliance which had answered would answer no longer, the husband's object was to get rid of the lady as quickly as possible. Marriages were frequently dissolved. The same woman who was the lady and 'the dearest dread' of her vassals was often little better than a piece of property to her husband. He was master in his own house. So far from being a natural channel for the new kind of love, marriage was rather the drab background against which that love stood out in all the contrast of its new tenderness and delicacy. The situation is indeed a very simple one, and not peculiar to the Middle Ages. Any idealization of sexual love, in a society where marriage is purely utilitarian, must begin by being an idealization of adultery.' (C.S. Lewis, _The Allegory of Love_ (London, 1936), 13.)

Note 18, p. 77.

Much of the _Gita Govinda's_ power arises from the endowment of Nature with romantic ardour, the forest itself being presented as a highly sensitive and symbolic setting for the behaviour of lovers. The following passage from _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_ is perhaps the nearest approach in English to this kind of treatment.

'Amid the oozing fatness and warm ferments of the Var Vale, at a season when the rush of juices could almost be heard below the hiss of fertilization, it was impossible that the most fanciful love should not grow passionate. The ready bosoms existing there were impregnated by their surroundings. July passed over their heads and the weather which came in its wake seemed an effort on the part of Nature to match the state of hearts at Talbothays Dairy. The air of the place, so fresh in the spring and early summer, was stagnant and enervating now. Its heavy scents weighed upon them, and at mid-day the landscape seemed lying in a swoon. Ethiopic scorchings browned the upper slopes of the pastures, but there was still bright herbage here where the water courses purled. And as Clare was oppressed by the outward heats, so was he burdened inwardly by waxing fervour of passion for the soft and silent Tess.'

Note 19, p. 77.

The _Gita Govinda_ was one of the first Sanskrit poems to be rendered into English--Sir William Jones publishing a mellifluous version in _Asiatick Researches_ in 1792. Later in the nineteenth century it was translated into Victorian verse by Sir Edwin Arnold. The present translation from which all the extracts are taken is by George Keyt, the foremost modern artist of Ceylon. It is greatly to be hoped that the entire translation, hitherto available only in an Indian edition, will one day be published in England.

Note 20, p. 86.

Poems 1 and 2 are based on versions by O.C. Gangoly (_Masterpieces of Rajput Painting_, 29, 58); poems 3-11 are from new translations by Deben Bhattacharya.

Note 21, p. 91.

For the originals of certain poems in the _Rasika Priya_ and their literal translation, see Coomaraswamy, 'The Eight Nayikas.'

Note 22, p. 104.

The first scholar to draw attention to this fact, i.e. that the subjects are not Radha and Krishna but palace ladies impersonating them, is Dr. Joan van Lohuizen de Leeuw, whose paper on this and kindred problems is under preparation.

Note 23, p. 105.

For a detailed discussion of Bhanu Datta's _Rasamanjari_ and of similar treatises by other Sanskrit authors, see V. Raghavan, _Srngaramanjari of Saint Akbar Shah_ (Hyderabad, 1951).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AGRAWALA, V.S.: 'The Romance of Himachal Paintings,' _Roopa-Lekha_ XX, 2, (1948-9), 87-93.

ARCHER, W.G.: _Indian Painting in the Punjab Hills_ (London, 1952). _Kangra Painting_ (London, 1952). _Garhwal Painting_ (London, 1954). _Indian Painting_ (London, 1956).

BASHAM, A.L.: _The Wonder that was India_ (London, 1954).

BURNOUF, E. (trans.): _Le Bhagavata Purana_ (Paris, 1840-98).

COOMARASWAMY, A.C.: 'The Eight Nayikas,' _Journal of Indian Art and Industry_, XVI (New Series), No. 128 (1914), 99-116. _Rajput Painting_ (Oxford, 1916). _Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: Part V, Rajput Painting; Part VI, Mughal Painting_ (Cambridge, Mass. 1926, 1930). (trans.) _The Taking of Toll_ (London, 1915).

GANGOLY, O.C.: _Masterpieces of Rajput Painting_ (Calcutta, 1926). _Ragas and Raginis_ (Calcutta, 1934).

GRAY, B.: _Rajput Painting_ (London, 1948). 'Painting,' _The Art of India and Pakistan_, ed. L. Ashton (London, 1950).

GRIERSON, G.A.: _The Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan_ (Calcutta, 1889).

HENDLEY, T.H.: _Memorials of the Jeypore Exhibition. IV, the Razm Namah_ (London, 1883).

HOLLINGS, W. (trans.): _The Prem Sagar_ (Lucknow, 1880).

ISHERWOOD, C. and PRABHAVANANDA, S. (trans.): _The Song of God, Bhagavad-Gita_ (London, 1947).

JONES, W. (trans.): 'Gitagovinda or Songs of Jayadeva,' _Asiatick Researches_ (Calcutta, 1792).

KEYT, G. (trans.): _Sri Jayadeva's Gita Govinda_ (Bombay, 1947).

MATHERS, E. POWYS (trans.): _Eastern Love_ (London, 1927-30). (trans.) _Love Songs of Asia_ (London, 1944).

MAZUMDAR, R.C. (ed.): _The History and Culture of the Indian People, I, The Vedic Age_ (London, 1951); II, _The Age of Imperial Unity_ (Bombay, 1951).

MEHTA, N.C.: _Studies in Indian Painting_ (Bombay, 1926). _Gujarati Painting in the Fifteenth Century_ (London, 1931).

RANDHAWA, M.S.: _Kangra Valley Painting_ (New Delhi, 1954). _The Krishna Legend in Pahari Painting_ (New Delhi, 1956).

ROY, P.C. (trans.): _The Mahabharata_ (Calcutta, 1883).

SEN, D.C.: _History of Bengali Language and Literature_ (Calcutta, 1911).

SEN, R.N. (trans.): _The Brahma Vaivarta Purana_ (Allahabad, 1920).

STCHOUKINE, I.: _La Peinture Indienne_ (Paris, 1929).

WINTERNITZ, M.: _A History of Indian Literature_ (Calcutta, I, 1927; II, 1933).

WILSON, H.H. (trans.): _The Vishnu Purana_ (London, 1840).

INDEX

Abul Fazl, 116, pl. 1 (comment) Aditi, mother of the gods, 58, 59 _Age of Imperial Unity, The_, 115, 121 Agni, god of fire, 18 Agrawala, V.S., 121 Ahmadnagar, Deccan, 97 Ajmer, Rajasthan, 103 Akbar, Mughal Emperor, 97-99, 116, pl. 1 (comment) _Akbarnama_, 98, 116 Akrura, chief of the Yadavas, 45-47, 49, 51, 57, 116 _Allegory of Love, The_, 119 Altdorfer, 93 Amaru, Sanskrit poet, 73 Aniruddha, son of Pradyumna and grandson of Krishna, 64 Archer, Mildred, 4, 9 Archer, W.G., 4, 101, 105, 107-112, 115, 117, 121 Arjuna, leading Pandava, husband of Draupadi, husband of Krishna's sister, Subhadra, 20-22, 64, 65, 67, 69, 116, 117 Arnold, Sir Edwin, 119 _Art of India and Pakistan, The_, 96, 98, 101, 104, 107, 111, 121 _Asiatick Researches_, 119 Assam, 117 Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor, 99 Ayana, husband of Radha, brother of Yasoda, 72, 118

Baden Powell, B.H., 110 Bakasura, crane demon, 33 _Balagopala Stuti_, poem by Bilvamangala, 84, 94 Balarama, brother of Krishna, 27, 30, 31, 34-36, 44-48, 50-56, 61-64, 66, 67, 69, 116, pls. 1, 5, 6, 9, 12, 16, 17 Bali, ruler of the underworld, 62 Bani Thani, poetess of Kishangarh, 103 _Barahmasa_, poems of the twelve months, 102, pl. 32 Basawan, Mughal artist, pls. 1, 2 (comment), 3 (comment) Basham, A.L., 9, 19, 115, 117, 121 Basohli, Punjab Hills, 104, 105, 107, 111, pls. 18 (comment), 26 (comment), 30 (comment) Beatty, Sir Chester, pls. 17, 19 _Bhagavad Gita_, 15-17, 24, 67, 115, 117 _Bhagavata Purana_, 11, 25-71, 72, 74, 85, 85, 99, 101, 105, 107, 110, 111, 116-18, 121, pls. 3-19 _Bhakti_, devotion to God, 19, 24 Bhanu Datta, author of _Rasamanjari_, 9, 105, 120, pls. 30, 31 Bharat Kala Bhawan, Banaras, 103, pl. 37 _Bharatiya Natya Sastra_, Sanskrit treatise, 90 Bhartrihari, Sanskrit poet, 73 Bhattacharya, Deben, 9, 87-90, 119 Bhima, strongest of the five Pandavas, 24, 65, 66 Bihari Lai, poet, 84, 110, pl. 36 Bijapur, Deccan, 97 Bikaner, Rajasthan, 99, 100, 103 Bilaspur, Punjab Hills, 107, 111, pl. 18 Bilvamangala, poet, 84, 94 Blue, colour of Krishna, 14, 115 Book covers, Bengali, 111 Brahma, 17, 27, 28, 33, 34, 58, 59, 65, 67, 117, pl. 2 _Brahma Vaivarta Purana_, 118, 121 Brahmans, 22, 28, 30, 38, 39, 62, 63, 67, 68, 71, 74, 107, 108, 117 Wives of, 38, 39 Braj, country around Mathura, 26, 28, 40 _Brihadaranyaka_, 117 Brindaban, forest near Gokula, 33, 35, 45, 46, 49, 52, 53, 59-62, 103, pl. 6 British Museum, pl. 18 Brough, J., 9 Buddhism, 94 Bull demon, 44 Bundelkhand, 91, 99 Bundi, Rajasthan, 101-103 Burnouf, E., 121

Calcutta, 111, 112 Campbell, Roy, 75 Ceylon, 57, 112 Chamba, Punjab Hills, 107, 111 Chandi Das, Bengali poet, 84, 85, 89, 111 Chandigarh Art Gallery, East Punjab, pl. 27 _Chandogya Upanishad_, 17, 24, 115 Chanura, wrestler, 45, 48 Chawand, Mewar, 100 Christ, 14, 112, 117 Clothes, stealing of cowgirls', 37, 38, 74, 75, pl. 11 Coomaraswamy, A.K., 99, 104-6, 108, 120, 121, pl. 8 (comment) Cowgirls, loves of the, 29, 36-38, 41-44, 46, 49, 50, 52, 53, 58, 60-62, 66, 70-82, 85, 86, 109, 110, 113, pls. 11, 13-15, 20-23. Cowherds, abandonment of, by Krishna, Krishna's life with, 49-53, 61, 62

Damodara, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 Dance, circular, 38, 41, 43, 46, 74, 75, p. 13 (comment) Danielou, A., 117 Daruka, charioteer to Krishna, 68, 69 Demons, combats with, 29, 30, 33-36, 44, 45, 54, 55, 58, 64, 116, 117, pl. 9 role of, 18, 19 Devaka, younger brother of King Ugrasena, 27 Devaki, mother of Krishna, 17, 27, 28, 44, 46, 48-50, 52, 63, 69, pl. 3 Devi, goddess, Earth Mother, 28, 40, 56, pls. 3, 18 Dey, B., 112 _Dharma_, 18, 23 Dhenuka, ass demon, 34 Dhritarashtra, blind son of Kuru, father of Kauravas, 20, 21, 51, 66 Dice, contest by, 21 Dickinson, Eric, 103 Draupadi, daughter of King of Panchal, common wife of the five Pandavas, 20-23, 64, 67 Drumalika, demon, 26 Duryodhana, leading Kaurava and son of Dhritarashtra, 23, 51, 66, 67 Dwarka, Krishna's capital in Western India, 21, 22, 54-59, 61-64, 66-70, 94, 108, pls. 2 (comment), 19

Earth, 27, 49, 58, 67 _Eastern Love_, 121 El Greco, 93

Flute playing, 15, 36, 37, 41, 61, 78, 86, 109, 112, pl. 21 Forest fires, 35, 36, pl. 10 France, feudal, 118

Games with cowherds, Krishna's, 31-35, 45, pls. 4-9 Gandhi, Mahatma, 15 Gangoly, O.C., 104, 119, 121 Garga, sage, 30, 31 Garhwal, Punjab Hills, 107-110, pl. 38 _Garhwal Painting_, 107, 108, 121 Germany, feudal, 118 Ghora Angirasa, 17, 115 Gill, Eric, 118 _Gita Govinda_, Sanskrit poem by Jayadeva, 9, 11, 76-84, 94-96, 98, 110, 111, 113, 119, 121, pls. 20-27 Gods, role of, 18, 19 Goetz, H., 99, 100 Gokula, district near Mathura, 26, 30, 33, 44 Govardhan Singh, Raja of Guler, 107 Govardhana, greatest of the hills, 39, 40, 42, 59, pl. 12 Govind Das, poet, 84, 88 Govinda, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 Gray, Basil, 100, 121 Grierson, Sir G.A., 121 Grunewald, 93 _Gujarati Painting in the Fifteenth Century_, 121 Guler, Punjab Hills, 107-109, pl. 18 (comment)

Hari, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 _Harivansa_, appendix to _Mahabharata_ epic, 25, 32, 98, 116 Hendley, T.H., 98, 121 Herod, 116 Holi festival, 109 Hollings, W., 121 Hunter, slayer of Krishna, see Jara. Hussain Shah, ruler of Jaunpur, 96

India Office Library, London, pl. 34 (comment) Indian Museum, Calcutta, pl. 35 _Indian Painting_, 115, 121 _Indian Painting in the Punjab Hills_, 105, 107 Indra, king of the gods, lord of the clouds, 18, 24, 39, 40, 46, 58, 59, 65, 66, pls. 2, 12 Irwin, J., 112 Isherwood, Christopher, 15, 24, 116

Jadupatuas, minstrel artists of Bengal, 112 Jaipur, Rajasthan, 95, 98, 103, 104, pls. 1 (comment), 2 (comment) Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, 103 Jambhavati, a queen of Krishna, 56, 57, 60 Jammu, Punjab Hills, 107 Janarddana, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 Japan, 13 Jara, Bhil hunter, slayer of Krishna, 24, 67, 69, pl. 2 Jarasandha, demon king of Magadha, 26, 54-56, 65 Jaunpur, Eastern India, 96, 97 Jayadeva, Sanskrit poet, 76, 77, 84, 94, 111, 121 Jodhpur, Rajasthan, 95, 103 Jones, Sir William, 119, 121 Jumna, river, 22, 28, 35, 37, 41, 43, 47, 48, 61, 74, 82, 85, pls. 8, 13-15

Kalidasa, Sanskrit poet, 73 Kalindi, a queen of Krishna, 57, 60, 64 Kaliya, giant hydra-headed snake, 35, 42, 46, 108, 116, pls. 8, 10 (comment) Kaliyavana, 54 _Kalpasutra_, Jain Scripture, 96 Kama, god of passion, 18, 64 Kamalavati, mother of Radha, 72 Kangra, Punjab Hills, 93, 108-11, pl. 3 (comment) _Kangra Painting_, 109, 110, 121 _Kangra Valley Painting_, 121 Kanoria, Gopi Krishna, 9, pls. 7, 29, 39 Kansa, tyrant king of Mathura, son of Pavanarekha by the demon Drumalika, 26-9, 31, 33, 43-50, 54, 55, 57, 62, 110, 116, pls. 3, 9 (comment), 16 (comment), 17, 35 (comment) Karna, leading Kaurava killed by Arjuna at Kurukshetra, 23 Kauravas, the 100 sons of Dhritarashtra, rivals of the Pandavas (vide _Mahabharata_) 20, 21, 23, 26, 51, 62, 66, 67 Kennings, Anglo-Saxon, 116 Keshav Das, poet, 84, 91, 99, 100, 105, pls. 28, 30 (comment) Keshava, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 Kesi, horse demon, 44, 45, 115 Keyt, George, artist and translator of the _Gita Govinda_, 9, 76-83, 112, 113, 119, 121, pls. 21-27 (comments) Khandalawala, Karl, 95, 96, pls. 10, 23 (comment) Khurasan, 97, pl. 1 (comment) Kirpal Pal, Raja of Basohli, 104, 105, 107, pl. 10 (comment) Kishangarh, Rajasthan, 103, pl. 39 Kotah, Rajasthan, 103 Krishna Das, poet, 84 Kubera, yaksha king, pl. 5 (comment) Kubja, hunchback girl, 47, 53, 54 Kulu, Punjab Hills, 107, 111 Kumbhan Das, poet, 84 Kundulpur, 56 Raja of, father of Rukmini, 55 Kunti, wife of Pandu, mother of the Pandavas, sister of Vasudeva (Krishna's father), 20, 21, 51, 57, 62, 64 Kuru, common ancestor of the Pandavas and Kauravas, 20 Kurukshetra, battle-field of, 15, 21, 26, 61 Kushala, Kangra artist, 110, pls. 3, 21, 36 Kuvara, brother of Nala, 32, pl. 5.

Lahore, State Museum, pl. 26 Lanka, modern Ceylon, 57 Léger, F., 112 Lewis, C.S., 119 Lohuizen, Dr. Joan van, de Leeuw, 120 _Love Songs of Asia_, 121 Lucknow, State Museum, pl. 5

MacNeice, Louis, 15 Madhu, demon, 116 Magadha, 26, 54, 55 _Mahabharata_, 11, 17, 19-25, 51, 70, 98, 115 Mahavira, founder of Jainism, 94 Malabar, 84 Malwa, Central India, 97, 100-2 Manaku, Basohli princess, patron of painting, 107, pl. 26 (comment) Manohar, Mewar artist, 100 _Marg_, Indian art journal, 95, 103, 111, 117 _Masterpieces of Rajput Painting_, 104, 119, 121 Mathers, E. Powys, 121 Mathura, town in Northern India, 26, 29, 30, 38, 39, 44-55, 61, 74, 76, pls. 16 (comment), 17 (comment) Mazumdar, M.R., 94 R.C., 115, 121 Mehendale, M.A., 115, 116 Mehta, N.C., 95, 107, 110, 121, pls. 4, 21, 22, 36 Mewar, Rajasthan, 100, 103 Mira Bai, poetess, 84 Mithila, 111 _Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, The_, 121 Mody, J.K., pls. 3, 8, 11, 13, 15, 16 Monkey demon, 64 Mookerjee, A., 112 Moonlight, master of the, pls. 13-5 Moti Chandra, 96 Mukund, Mughal artist, pl. 2 Murari, pseudonym for Krishna, 116 Muru (or Mura), arch demon, 58, 117 Muslim artists, 99, 100 invasions, 73 rulers, 93, 96, 98 states, 97, 101 Mustaka, wrestler, 48

Nainsukh, Guler artist, pls. 3 (comment), 21 (comment) Nala, brother of Kuvara, 32, pl. 5 Nanda, wealthy herdsman, foster-father of Krishna, 27-32, 35-41, 44-53, 61, 62, 77, 107, pls. 5, 10, 12, 20 Narada, sage, 60 Naraka, demon son of Earth, 58, 117 Nasiruddin, Mewar artist, 100 _Nayikas_ and _Nayakas_, 90, 91, 102, pl. 28 New Delhi, National Museum, pls. 5, 9, 12, 14, 20, 28 New Testament, 15 Nihal Chand, Kishangarh artist, 103 Nude, the, pl. 11 Nurpur, Punjab Hills, 107, 111

Ocean, 69 Orchha, Central India, 84, 91, 99

Painting, Basohli, 104-7, pls. 4, 10, 18 (comment), 26 (comment), 27,
30, 31
Bengali, 111, 112
Bikaner, 99, 100
Bilaspur, 107, 111, pl. 18
Bundi, 101, 102, pls. 28, 32
Deccani, 97, pl. 34
European, pl. 1 (comment)
Flemish, 14
Garhwal, 107, 108, pls. 3 (comment), 7, 8 (comment), 12, 19, 20, 25, 35,
38 (comment)
German, 93
Gujarati, 94, 121
Guler, 107, 108, 117, 121, pls. 3 (comment), 21 (comment), 37
Italian, 14
Jain, 94-96, pl. 22 (comment)
Jaipur, 104, 120
Jaunpur, 96, pls. 23-24
Kalighat, 111, 112
Kangra, 93, 103-111, 117, 121, pls. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13-17, 21, 36
Kishangarh, 103, 104, pl. 39
Maithil, 111
Malwa, 97, 101, 102, pl. 33
Mughal, 13, 97-99, 103, 105, 107, 121, pls. 1, 2, 3 (comment)
Nahan, pl. 38
Persian, 97
Udaipur, Mewar, 100, 101, 103-105, pl. 28 (comment), 29
Western Indian, 94-96, pl. 22 (comment)
Western Rajasthani, pl. 22
Panchala, kingdom of, 20, 21
Pandavas, five sons of Pandu, rivals of the Kauravas (vide _Mahabharata_),
20-26, 51, 57, 62-66, 70, 116
Pandu, second son of Kuru, father of the Pandavas, 20
Parasurama, 'Rama with the Axe,' incarnation of Vishnu, 20
Parikshit, great-grandson of Krishna, 69
Parmanand Das, poet, 84
Parvati, consort of Siva, 37
Pavanarekha, wife of King Ugrasena, 26
Prabhasa, town near Dwarka, 68, 94, pl. 1 (comment)
Prabhavananda, Swami, 15, 24, 116, 121
Pradyumna, Krishna's son by Rukmini, 64
Pragjyotisha, city of the demon, Naraka, 58, 117
Pralamba, demon in human form, 35, pls. 9, 10 (comment)
Pratap Singh, Raja of Jaipur, 104
Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay, pls. 23, 24, 32
Punjab Hills, 4, 13, 93, 98, 104, 105, 107, 111
Purkhu, Kangra artist, 109, 110, pls. 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 16
Putana, ogress, 29, 42

Radha, Krishna's chief cowgirl love, 15, 16, 72-90, 96, 98, 103-105, 109-111, 113, 117, pls. 13 (comment). 20-29, 31-39 _Ragas_ and _Raginis_, modes of Indian music, 84, 101, 102, 107, pls. 33, 34 _Ragas and Raginis_, 121 Raghavan, V., 120 Rajasthan, 13, 95, 96, 99-105 _Rajput Painting_ (Coomaraswamy), 104, 108, 121, pl. 8 (comment) (Gray), 121 Ram Gopal, 15 Rama, incarnation of Vishnu, 20, 57, 115 _Ramayana_, 98 Rana Jagat Singh, ruler of Mewar, 100 Rana Raj Singh, ruler of Mewar, 100, 105 Randhawa, M.S., 121 _Rasamanjari_, Sanskrit treatise by Bhanu Datta, 9, 105, 106, 120, pls. 30, 31 _Rasika Priya_, Hindi treatise by Keshav Das (comment), 11, 90-92, 99-102, 105, 120, pls. 28, 30 (comment) _Razmnama_, Persian abridgement of the _Mahabharata_, 98, Pls. 1, 2 Re-birth, theory of, 17-19 Revati, wife of Balarama, 55 Rohini, a wife of Vasudeva, mother of Balarama, 27-31, 35, 44, 53, 99 _Roopa-lekha_, Indian art journal, 121 Roy, Jamini, 112 Roy, P.C., 121 Rukma, brother of Rukmini, 56, 64 Rukmini, Krishna's first queen, 15, 55, 56, 59, 60, 64, 66, 69-72, 118, pl. 18 Ruknuddin, Bikaner artist, 99 _Rupam_, Indian art journal, 118 Russell, M., 113

Saktasura, demon, 30 Sankhasura, yaksha demon, 44 Sansar Chand, Raja of Kangra, 13, 108-111 _Sat Sat_, poems by Bihari Lal, 110, pl. 36 Sattrajit, father of Satyabhama, 56, 57 Satyabhama, a queen of Krishna, 56, 57, 59, 60 Sawant Singh, Raja of Kishangarh, 103 Scroll paintings, 112 Sen, D.C., 121 Sen, R.N., 121 Sesha, serpent of eternity, a part of Vishnu, 27, 69, pl. 1 Shah Jahan, Mughal emperor, 99 Shahabaddin, Mewar artist, 100 Sher-Gil, Amrita, 112 Shiraz, 97 Sirmur, Punjab Hills, pl. 38 (comment) Sisupala, claimant to Rukmini, rival of Krishna, 22, 56, 59, 66, pl. 18 (comment) Sitwell, Sacheverell, 14 Siva, 17, 18, 37, 44, 58, 59, 64, 65, 67, pl. 2 Srinagar, Garhwal, 108 St. John of the Cross, 74, 75 Stchoukine, I, 121 _Studies in Indian Painting_, 121 Subhadra, sister of Krishna, 22, 64, 65 Sudama, brahman, early friend of Krishna, 62, 63, 108, pl. 19 Sudarsana, Celestial dancer, 40, 41 Sur Das, poet, 84, 86, pl. 29 Surabhi, cow of plenty, 40 Sursagar, Hindi poem, pl. 29 Surya, sun god, 18

Tagore, Rabindranath, 112 _Taking of Toll, The_, 121 _Ten Burnt Offerings_, 15 _Tess of the D'Urbervilles,_ 119 Trinavarta, whirlwind demon, 30

Udaipur, chief city, Mewar, 100, 101, 103-105, pl. 29 (comment) Udho, friend of Krishna, 52-54, 68 Ugrasena, king of Mathura, 26, 48, 54, 57, 67, 69 Ugrasura, snake demon, 33 _Upanishads_, 17 Usa, daughter of demon Vanasura, 64

Vaikuntha, heaven of Vishnu, 18, 59 Vallabhacharya, poet, 84 Vamana, dwarf incarnation of Vishnu, 20 Vanasura, demon with a thousand arms, 64 Varuna, god of water, 18, 38, pl. 1 Vasudeva, Yadava prince, father of Krishna, husband of Devaki, brother of Kunti, 21, 27-31, 44, 46, 48-53, 62, 69, pl. 3 Vatsasura, cow demon, 33 Vedas, 39, 46, 56, 117 _Vedic Age, The_, 121 Victoria and Albert Museum, 98, pls. 30, 33, 34 Vidyapati, poet, 84, 87, 90, 111 Vishnu, 17-20, 26-29, 36, 39, 40, 45-47, 49, 56-58, 67, 69, 70, 76, 115, 116, pl. 2 (comment) _Vishnu Purana_, 25, 116, 117, pl. 8 (comment) Visvakarma, divine architect, 54, 63 Vrishabhanu, father of Radha, 72 Vrishnis, kinsmen of Krishna, 23 Vyamasura, wolf demon, 45

Wellesz, E., 98 Williams, R.H.B., pl. 30 (comment) Wilson, H.H., 116, 117 Winternitz, M., 121 _Wonder that was India, The_, 19, 115, 117, 121 Wrestlers, Krishna's conflict with, 44, 45, 48, pl. 17

Yadavas, pastoral caste, Krishna's castemen, 21, 26, 27, 45, 49-57, 61, 62, 54, 66-69, 117, pls. 1 (comment), 2 (comment) Yasoda, wife of Nanda, foster-mother of Krishna, 27-33, 35, 49, 51-53, 61, 62, 72, 109 Yoga, 19, 23 Yudhisthira, leader of the Pandavas, husband of Draupadi, 21-23, 65, 66

THE PLATES

PLATE 1

_The Death of Balarama_

Illustration to the Persian abridgement of the _Mahabharata_, the _Razmnama_ (or Book of the Wars) By Basawan Mughal (Akbar period), c. 1595 Collection H.H. the Maharaja of Jaipur, Jaipur

Although illustrations of the Hindu epic, the _Mahabharata_, were rarely commissioned by Hindu patrons, the gigantic text possessed a unique appeal to Indian minds and for this reason the Mughal emperor, Akbar, chose it for translation into Persian. 'Having observed the fanatical hatred prevailing between Hindus and Muslims,' writes his biographer, Abul Fazl, 'and convinced that it arose only from their mutual ignorance, the enlightened monarch wished to dispel the same by rendering the books of the former accessible to the latter.' The work of translation was begun in 1582 and was probably concluded in 1588 when Abul Fazl wrote the preface. It is unlikely, however, that the illustrations were completed before 1595.

The present picture by one of Akbar's greatest Hindu artists illustrates the sensitive naturalism which from antecedents in Khurasan came to elegant maturity in Mughal India between 1585 and 1600. Certain details--the drapery with its shaded folds, the steeples rising in the distance--are modelled on the European Renaissance pictures which by 1580 had already reached the court. Other details such as the lithe squirrels gambolling in the tree, the rearing snakes and dense luxuriant foliage can only have been painted by an artist devoted to the Indian scene.

In subject, the picture represents what Krishna saw on his return from destroying the Yadavas at Prabhasa. Balarama, his half-brother, has gone down to the sea and has there yielded up his spirit. Sesha, the great serpent, who is part of Vishnu himself, is now issuing from the body Balarama having been his incarnation. Snakes come to greet him while Varuna, the god of water, stands as 'an old man of the sea' ready to escort him to his long home.

PLATE 2

_The Death of Krishna_

Illustration to the Persian abridgement of the _Mahabharata_, the _Razmuama_ (or Book of the Wars) By Mukund Mughal (Akbar period), c. 1595 Collection H.H. the Maharaja of Jaipur, Jaipur

Following the death of Balarama, Krishna prepares to leave the world. He sits in meditation and is shot in the sole of his right foot by Jara, a Bhil hunter--the arrow which kills him being tipped with part of the iron which has caused the destruction of the Yadavas.

The picture shows Krishna reclining on a platform of the kind still constructed in India at the base of sacred trees. An arrow transfixes his right foot while the hunter, dressed as a courtier in Mughal dress, is shown releasing the bow. In front of Krishna stand four awe-struck figures, representing the celestial sages and devotees of Vishnu who have come to attend his passing. In the sky four gods look down. To the right is Siva. Then, a little to the left, is four-headed Brahma, below him, Indra, his body spotted with a thousand eyes and finally a fourth god of uncertain identity. Around the platform surges the snarling sea as if impatiently awaiting Krishna's death before engulfing the doomed Dwarka.

The painting is by a colleague of Basawan (Plate 1) and illustrates the same great text.

PLATE 3

_The Slaughter of an Innocent_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

Following the expansion of Indian miniature painting in the early seventeenth century, illustrated versions of the tenth book of the _Bhagavata Purana_ began to be produced in parts of Hindu India. It was in the Punjab Hills, at the end of the eighteenth century, however, that romance and religion achieved their most delicate expression. The artist chiefly responsible was a certain Nainsukh who had arrived at the State of Guler in about 1740. His way of painting had marked affinities with that of Basawan (Plate 1) and represents a blend of early Mughal naturalism with later Hindu sentiment. The style founded by him influenced members of his own family, including his nephew Kushala and ultimately spread to Kangra and Garhwal where it reached its greatest heights. The present picture, together with Plates 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 16, is possibly by the Kangra artist Purkhu and with others of the series illustrates perhaps the greatest interpretation of the _Bhagavata Purana_ ever produced in Indian painting.

In the picture, the tyrant ruler Kansa is sleeping on a bed as a courtier prepares to break the fateful news of Krishna's birth. To the right, Devaki, Krishna's mother, nurses the baby girl whom her husband, Vasudeva, has substituted for the infant Krishna. Kansa is wresting the baby from her in order to dash its head against a boulder. As he does so, she eludes his grasp and ascends to heaven in a flash, being, in fact, the eight-armed goddess Devi.

PLATE 4

_Krishna stealing Butter_

Illustration to an incident from the _Bhagavata Purana_ Basohli, Punjab Hills, c. 1700 N.C. Mehta collection, Bombay

Besides illustrating the tenth book of the _Bhagavata Purana_ as a whole, Indian artists sometimes chose isolated episodes and composed their pictures around them. The present picture is an instance of this practice, its subject being the baby Krishna pilfering butter. As Yasoda, Krishna's foster-mother, goes inside the house, Krishna and the cowherd children stage an impudent raid. A cowherd boy mounts a wooden mortar and then, balanced on his shoulders, the young Krishna helps himself to the butter which is kept stored in a pot suspended by strings from the roof. A second cowherd boy reaches up to lift the butter down while edging in from the right, a monkey, emblematic of mischievous thieving, shares in the spoil.

The picture illustrates the wild and vehemently expressive style of painting which suddenly appeared at Basohli, a tiny State in the Punjab Hills, towards the end of the seventeenth century. The jagged form of Yasoda, cut in two by the lintel of the doorway, the stabbing lines of the churning pole, grazing sticks and cords, as well as the sharp angles of the house and its furniture, all contribute to a state of taut excitement.

PLATE 5

_The Felling of the Trees_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 State Museum, Lucknow

From the same great series as Plate 3, here attributed to the Kangra artist Purkhu.

The young Krishna, tied to a mortar to keep him out of mischief, has dragged it between two trees and thereby uprooted them. The cowherds, led by the bearded Nanda, Krishna's foster-father, have hurried to the scene and Balarama, Krishna's half-brother, is excitedly pointing out that Krishna is safe. In the foreground, emerging from the earth are two crowned figures--Nala and Kuvara, the sons of the yaksha king, Kubera, who, as a consequence of a curse had been turned into the two trees. Doomed to await Krishna's intervention, they have now been released. Reclining on the trunks, still tied to the mortar, the young Krishna surveys the scene with pert satisfaction.

PLATE 6

_The Road to Brindaban_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 National Museum, New Delhi

With Plates 3 and 5, part of the series attributed to Purkhu.

Led by Nanda, the majestic figure in the front bullock-cart, the cowherds are moving a day's march across the River Jumna to enjoy the larger freedom of Brindaban. Their possessions--bundles of clothes, spinning-wheels, baskets of grain and pitchers--are being taken with them and mounted with Yasoda on a second cart go the children, Balarama and Krishna. With its great variety of stances, simple naturalism and air of innocent calm, the picture exactly expresses the terms of tender familiarity on which the cowherds lived with Krishna.

PLATE 7

_Krishna milking_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Garhwal, Punjab Hills, c. 1800 G.K. Kanoria collection, Calcutta

Like Plate 4, an illustration of an isolated episode. Krishna, having graduated from tending the calves, is milking a cow, his mind filled with brooding thoughts. A cowgirl restrains the calf by tugging at its string while the cow licks its restive offspring with tender care. Other details--the tree clasped by a flowering creeper, the peacock perched in its branches--suggest the cowgirls' growing love. The image of tree and creeper was a common symbol in poetry for the lover embraced by his beloved and peacocks, thirsting for rain, were evocative of desire.

In style, the picture represents the end of the first great phase of Garhwal painting (c. 1770-1804) when romantic themes were treated with glowing ardour.

PLATE 8

_The Quelling of the Snake Kaliya_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

With Plates 3, 5 and 6, an example of Kangra painting in its most serene form.

Krishna, having defied the hydra-headed snake whose poison has befouled the River Jumna, is dancing in triumph on its sagging heads. The snake's consorts plead for mercy--one of them holding out bunches of lotus flowers, the others folding their hands or stretching out their arms in mute entreaty. The river is once again depicted as a surging flood but it is the master-artist's command of sinuous line and power of suffusing a scene of turmoil with majestic calm which gives the picture greatness.

Although the present study is true to the _Bhagavata Purana_ where the snake is explicitly described as vacating the water and meeting its end on dry land, other pictures, notably those from Garhwal[129] follow the _Vishnu Purana_ and show the final struggle taking place in the river itself.

[Footnote 129: Reproduced A.K. Coomaraswamy, _Rajput Painting_ (Oxford, 1916), Vol. II, Plates 53 and 54.]

PLATE 9

_Balarama killing the Demon Pralamba_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 National Museum, New Delhi

A further example from the Kangra series, here attributed to Purkhu.

As part of his war on Krishna and young boys, the tyrant Kansa sends various demons to harry and kill them, the present picture showing four stages in one such attack. To the right, the cowherd children, divided into two parties, face each other by an ant-hill, Krishna with arms crossed heading the right-hand group and Balarama the left. Concealed as a cowherd in Krishna's party, the demon Pralamba awaits an opportunity of killing Balarama. The second stage, in the right-hand bottom corner, shows Balarama's party giving the other side 'pick-a-backs,' after having been vanquished in a game of guessing flowers and fruit. The third stage is reached in the top left-hand corner. Here Pralamba has regained his demon form and is hurrying off with Balarama. Balarama's left hand is tightly clutched but with his right he beats at the demon's head. The fourth and final stage is illustrated in the bottom left-hand corner where Balarama has subdued the demon and is about to slay him.

The picture departs from the normal version, as given in the _Bhagavata Purana,_ by showing Balarama's side, instead of Krishna's, carrying out the forfeits. According to the _Purana_, it was Krishna's side that lost and since Pralamba was among the defeated, he was in a position to take Balarama for a ride. It is likely, however, that in view of the other episode in the _Purana_ in which Krishna humbles his favourite cowgirl when she asks to be carried (Plate 14), the artist shrank from showing Krishna in this servile posture so changed the two sides round.

PLATE 10

_The Forest Fire_

Illustration to an incident from the _Bhagavata Purana_ Basohli, Punjab Hills, c. 1680 Karl Khandalavala collection, Bombay

Under Raja Kirpal Pal (c. 1680-1693), painting at Basohli attained a savage intensity of expression--the present picture illustrating the style in its earliest and greatest phase. Surrounded by a ring of fire and with cowherd boys and cattle stupefied by smoke, Krishna is putting out the blaze by sucking the flames into his cheeks. Deer and pig are bounding to safety while birds and wild bees hover distractedly overhead.

During his life among the cowherds, Krishna was on two occasions confronted with a forest fire--the first, on the night following his struggle with Kaliya the snake when Nanda, Yasoda and other cowherds and cowgirls were also present and the second, following Balarama's encounter with the demon Pralamba (Plate 10), when only cowherd boys were with him. Since Nanda and the cowgirls are absent from the present picture, it is probably the second of these two occasions which is illustrated.

For a reproduction in colour of this passionately glowing picture, see Karl Khandalavala, _Indian Sculpture and Painting_ (Bombay, 1938) (Plate 10).

PLATE 11

_The Stealing of the Clothes_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

Despite the Indian delight in sensuous charm, the nude was only rarely depicted in Indian painting--feelings of reverence and delicacy forbidding too unabashed a portrayal of the feminine physique. The present picture with its band of nude girls is therefore an exception--the facts of the _Purana_ rendering necessary their frank inclusion.

The scene illustrated concerns the efforts of the cowgirls to win Krishna's love. Bathing naked in the river at dawn in order to rid themselves of sin, they are surprised by Krishna who takes their clothes up into a tree. When they beg him to return them, he insists that each should freely expose herself before him, arguing that only in this way can they convince him of their love. In the picture, the girls are shyly advancing while Krishna looks down at them from the tree.

PLATE 12

_The Raising of Mount Govardhana_

Illustration to an incident from the _Bhagavata Purana_ Garhwal, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 National Museum, New Delhi

With Plate 7, an example of Garhwal painting and its use of smoothly curving line.

Krishna is lifting Mount Govardhana on his little finger and Nanda, the cowherds and cowgirls are sheltering underneath. The occasion is Krishna's slight to Indra, king of the gods and lord of the clouds, whose worship he has persuaded the cowherds to abandon. Incensed at Krishna's action, Indra has retaliated by sending storms of rain.

In the picture, Indra, a tiny figure mounted on a white elephant careers across the sky, goading the clouds to fall in torrents. Lightning flickers wildly and on Govardhana itself, the torn and shattered trees bespeak the gale's havoc. Below all is calm as the cowherds acclaim Krishna's power.

PLATE 13

_Krishna with his Favourite after leaving the Dance_

Illustration to the _Bhagavala Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

Besides Purkhu, at least two other master-artists worked at Kangra towards the end of the eighteenth century--one, responsible for the present picture and Plates 14 and 15, being still unknown. He is here referred to as 'the master of the moonlight' on account of his special preoccupation with moonlight effects.

The present picture shows Krishna and a girl standing by an inlet of the River Jumna. The girl is later to be identified as Radha but in the _Bhagavata Purana_ she is merely referred to as one who has been particularly favoured, her actual name being suppressed. The moment is some time after they have left the circular dance and before their sudden separation. Krishna, whose hand rests on the girl's shoulder, is urging her forward but the girl is weary and begs him to carry her. The incident illustrates one of the vicissitudes in Radha and Krishna's romance and was later to be endowed with deep religious meaning.

PLATE 14

_Krishna's Favourite deserted_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 National Museum, New Delhi

From the same series as Plates 13 and 15 by 'the master of the moonlight.'

The girl's request (Plate 13) that Krishna should carry her brings to a head the question of Krishna's proper status. To an adoring lover, the request is not unreasonable. Made to God, it implies an excess of pride. Despite their impassioned love-making, therefore, the girl must be humbled and as she puts out her arms and prepares to mount, Krishna vanishes.

In the picture, the great woods overhanging the rolling Jumna are tilting forward as if to join the girl in her agonized advances while around her rise the bleak and empty slopes, their eerie loneliness intensified by frigid moonlight.

PLATE 15

_The Quest for Krishna_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

By the same 'master of the moonlight' as Plates 13 and 14.

Krishna's favourite, stunned by his brusque desertion, has now been met by a party of cowgirls. Their plight is similar to her own, for, after enjoying his enchanting love, they also have been deserted when Krishna left the dance taking his favourite with him. In the picture, Radha holds her head in anguish while to the right the cowgirls look at her in mute distress. Drooping branches echo their stricken love while a tree in the background, its branches stretching wanly against the sky, suggests their plaintive yearning.

PLATE 16

_The Eve of the final Encounter_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 J.K. Mody collection, Bombay

From the same series as Plates 3, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 11, here attributed to the Kangra artist Purkhu.

Invited by Kansa, the tyrant king, to attend a festival of arms, Nanda and the cowherds have arrived at Mathura and pitched their tents outside the walls. Krishna and Balarama are eating their evening meal by candle-light, a cowherd, wearing a dark cloak to keep off the night air, is attending to the bullocks while three cowherd boys, worn out by the day's march, rest on string-beds under the night sky. In the background, Krishna and Balarama, having finished their meal, are peacefully sleeping, serenely indifferent to the struggle which awaits them the next day. The moon waning in the sky parallels the tyrant's declining fortunes.

PLATE 17

_The End of the Tyrant_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

In the same style as Plate 16, but perhaps from a different series.

The festival of arms is now in progress but has already taken an unexpected turn. Set on by the savage elephant, Krishna and Balarama have killed it and taken out the tusks. They have then engaged two giant wrestlers, Krishna killing his opponent outright. In the picture Balarama is about to kill the other wrestler and Krishna, holding an elephant tusk under his arm, looks at the king with calm defiance. The king's end is now in sight for a little later Krishna will spring on the platform and hurl him to his death. Gathered in the wide arena, townspeople from Mathura await the outcome, while cowherd boys delightedly encourage the two heroes.

PLATE 18

_The Rape of Rukmini_

Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_ Bilaspur, Punjab Hills, c. 1745 British Museum. London

Compared with Krishna's life among the cowherds, his adventures as a prince were only scantily illustrated in Indian painting--his consort Rukmini being totally eclipsed in courtly favour by the adored cowgirl, Radha. The present picture--one of the very few to represent the theme--shows Rukmini and her maids worshipping at the shrine to Devi, the earth mother, on the morning of her wedding. Her proposed husband is Sisupala and already he and his party have arrived to claim her hand. In despair Rukmini has apprised Krishna of her fate but does not know that he will intervene. As she worships, Krishna suddenly appears, places her on his chariot and, in the teeth of Sisupala's forces, carries her away. The picture illustrates the dramatic moment when after descending on the shrine, Krishna effects her rescue.

The picture is in an eighteenth-century style of painting which, from antecedents in Kashmir and the Punjab Plains, developed at Bilaspur. This small Rajput State adjoined Guler in the Punjab Hills and shared in the general revival of painting caused by the diffusion of artists from Basohli.

PLATE 19

_Krishna welcoming the Brahman Sudama_

Illustration to the Sudama episode in the _Bhagavata Purana_ Garhwal, Punjab Hills, c. 1785 Chester Beatty Library, Dublin

Sudama is a poor Brahman whose devotion leads him to go to Dwarka, and seek out Krishna. Krishna remembers the time when they had shared the same preceptor and warmly welcomes him to his princely palace. The picture shows Sudama in rags seated on a stool while Krishna washes his feet and hails him as a Brahman. In close attendance are various ladies of the court, their graceful forms transcribed with sinuous delicacy and suave poetic charm.

Although an episode in Krishna's later career as a prince and one designed to buttress the priestly caste of Brahmans, the story--with its emphasis on loving devotion--is actually in close accord with Krishna's life among the cowherds. For this reason, it probably continued to excite interest long after other aspects of his courtly life had been ignored. In this respect. Sudama's visit to Krishna is as much a parable of divine love as Krishna's dances with the cowgirls.

PLATE 20

_The Beginnings of Romance_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Garhwal. Punjab Hills, c. 1790 National Museum, New Delhi

The first poem to celebrate Radha as Krishna's supreme love is the _Gita Govinda_ of Jayadeva, written at the end of the twelfth century. The poem recounts Radha's anguish at Krishna's fickleness, his subsequent repentance and finally their passionate re-union.

The present picture with its glamorous interpretation of the forest in spring illustrates the poem's opening verse and re-creates the setting in terms of which the drama will proceed. Nanda, the tall figure towering above the cowherd children, is commanding Radha to take Krishna home. The evening sky is dark with clouds, the wind has risen and already the flower-studded branches are swaying and bending in the breeze. Krishna is still a young boy and Radha a girl a few years older. As Radha takes him home, they loiter by the river, passion suddenly flares and they fall into each other's arms. In this way, the verse declares, the loves of Radha and Krishna began. The left-hand side of the picture shows the two lovers embracing--the change in their attitudes being reflected in their altered heights. Krishna who originally was shorter than Radha is now the taller of the two, the change suggesting the mature character of their passionate relations.

The picture with its graceful feminine forms and twining lines has the same quality of rhythmical exaltation as Plates 19 and 35, a quality typical of the Garwhal master-artist in his greatest phase.

PLATE 21

_Krishna playing on the Flute_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790 N.C. Mehta collection, Bombay

As Radha wilts in lonely anguish, a friend describes how Krishna is behaving.

'The wife of a certain herdsman sings as Krishna sounds a tune of love
Krishna here disports himself with charming women given to love.'

In the picture, Radha sits beneath a flowering tree, conversing with the friend while, to the right, Krishna plays the flute to a circle of adoring girls.

The painting is by a Kangra master, perhaps Kushala, the nephew of the Guler artist, Nainsukh, and illustrates the power of Kangra painters to imbue with innocent delicacy the most intensely emotional of situations. It was the investment of passion with dignity which was one of the chief contributions of Kangra painting to Indian art.

PLATE 22

_Krishna dancing with the Cowgirls_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Western Rajasthan, c. 1610 N.C. Mehta collection, Bombay

Besides describing Krishna's flute-playing, Radha's friend gives her an account of his love-making.

'An artless woman looks with ardour on Krishna's lotus face.'
'Another on the bank of the Jumna, when Krishna goes to a bamboo
thicket,
Pulls at his garment to draw him back, so eager is she for amorous
play.'
'Krishna praises another woman, lost with him in the dance of love,
The dance where the sweet low flute is heard in the clamour of
bangles on hands that clap. He embraces one woman, he kisses
another, and fondles another beautiful one.'
'Krishna here disports himself with charming women given to love.'

The present picture illustrates phases of this glamorous love-making--Krishna embracing one woman, dancing with another and conversing with a third. The background is a diagram of the forest as it might appear in spring--the slack looseness of treatment befitting the freedom of conduct adumbrated by the verse. The large insects hovering in the branches are the black bees of Indian love-poetry whose quest for flowers was regarded as symbolic of urgent lovers pestering their mistresses. In style the picture illustrates the Jain painting of Western India after its early angular rigidity had been softened by application to tender and more romantic themes.

PLATE 23

_Krishna seated with the Cowgirls_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Jaunpur, Eastern India, c. 1590 Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

After flute-playing and dancing (Plates 21 and 22), Krishna sits with the cowgirls.

'With his limbs, tender and dark like rows of clumps of blue lotus
flowers.
By herd girls surrounded, who embrace at pleasure any part of his body,
Friend, in spring, beautiful Krishna plays like Love's own self
Conducting the love sport, with love for all, bringing delight into
being.'

And it is here that Radha finds him.

'May the smiling captivating Krishna protect you, whom Radha, blinded
by love,
Violently kissed as she made as if singing a song of welcome saying,
"Your face is nectar, excellent," ardently clasping his bosom
In the presence of the fair-browed herdgirls dazed in the sport of love.'

The picture shows Krishna surrounded by a group of cowgirls, one of whom is caressing his leg. To the right, Radha and the friend are approaching through the trees. The style with its sharp curves and luxuriating smartness illustrates a vital development of the Jain manner in the later sixteenth century.[130]

[Footnote 130: For a first discussion of this important series, see a contribution by Karl Khandalavala, 'A _Gita Govinda_ Series in the Prince of Wales Museum,' _Bulletin of the Prince of Wales Museum. Bombay_ (1956), No. 4.]

PLATE 24

_The neglected Radha_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Jaunpur, Eastern India, c. 1590 Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

Following his revels with the cowgirls, Krishna is smitten with remorse. He roams the forest, searching for the lovely Radha but finding her nowhere. As he pursues his quest, he encounters the friend and learns of Radha's dejected state.

'Her body is wholly tormented by the heat of the flame of desire;
But only of you, so loved, she thinks in her langour,
Your extinguishing body; secluded she waits, all wasted--
A short while, perhaps, surviving she lives.
Formerly even a moment when weary she closed her eyes.
The moment's parting she could not endure, from the sight of you;
And now in this long separation, O how does she breathe
Having seen the flowery branch of the mango, the shaft of Love?'

In the picture, Radha is sitting in the forest, lonely and neglected. Trees surround her, suggesting by their rank luxuriance the upward surge of spring while cranes, slowly winging their way in pairs across the blackening sky, poignantly remind her of her former love.

PLATE 25

_Krishna repentant_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Garhwal, Punjab Hills, c. 1790

Learning of Radha's plight, Krishna longs to comfort her. Before approaching her, however, he spends a night passionately dallying with another cowgirl and only in the morning tenders his submission. By this time, Radha's mood has turned to bitter anger and although Krishna begs to be forgiven, Radha tells him to return to his latest love.

'Go, Krishna, go. Desist from uttering these deceitful words.
Follow her, you lotus-eyed, she who can dispel your trouble, go to her.'

In the picture, Krishna is striving to calm her ruffled feelings while Radha, 'cruel to one who loves you, unbending to one who bows, angry with one who desires, averting your face from this your lover,' has none of him.

According to the poem, the scene of this tense encounter is not a palace terrace but the forest--the Garhwal artist deeming a courtly setting more appropriate for Radha's exquisite physique. The suavely curving linear rhythm, characteristic of Garhwal painting at its best, is once again the means by which a mood of still adoration is sensitively conveyed.

PLATE 26

_The last Tryst_

Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_ Basohli. Punjab Hills, c. 1730 State Museum, Lahore