"Another with heavy hips (nitambavati) sways against him, leans face to face and
comes close to whisper secrets in His ear. She marks with kisses the tingling
cheeks of Hari."
This rich sensuous imagery, with the sense of touch pervading every word of the
verse, is recreated fully by the artist. Hari is tightly locked in the embrace
of the gopis. One holds him close, is face to face whispering in his ears. The
others are all interlocked with arms around one another. Another group of three
claps and sings. One of them plays on the vina. The passionate intensity of the
verbal description, condensed in a few words, can neither be translated nor
recaptured in full in another idiom. The Mewari artist does justice to it in as
large a measure as much as possible through pictorial form. The choreographical
pattern formed by the group of gopis, with their arms entwined with one another
and with Hari is almost as eloquent as the verse. Radha continues to listen
attentively to the sakhi in one corner. In the other, a vacant platform suggests
that we are still in the mood of separation.
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