indian art - miniatures - archecticture - vedic philosophy
 
 
   

 
Classical - Mewari - Gita-Govinda - Series One
 
Plate 14 - "Radhaji sakhi agen kahe.... vyatha upajave he."  

 

Next Picture

"Wind from a lakeside garden coaxes new buds on asoka's branches to flower into scarlet flowers," says Radha, but she likes neither the wind nor the asoka's flowering. Both only fan the fire of her separation and anguish. The new mango blossoms and the humming of honey bees are little comfort to her. Indeed, they only intensify her longing.
 
The artist repeats the refrain of Radha and the sakhi as also the rasa of Krsna with the gopis. The winds arising from an adjacent lake are pictured with remarkable accuracy. The foliage is all wind blown. The lake and the trees are in an enclosure with a wall and minarets with typical Rajasthani architectural features. Instead of rich mango blossoms and humming bees mentioned in the text, peacocks are perched on trees. Outside the lake two men sit reminding us that the song is transcendental. Radha and the sakhi sit on a hillock and asoka trees surround them. As elsewhere the artist's technique is simple but effective. He divides his pictorial space in accordance with the poetic phraseology and attempts to transform the verbal into visual image.