Following the Sanskrit practice of discussing poetic taste, Keshav Das produced in 1592 a Hindi manual of poetics.  In this book, poems on love were analysed with special reference to Krishna—­Krishna himself sustaining the role of nayaka or ideal lover.  During the seventeenth century, illustrated versions of the manual were produced—­poems appearing at the top of the picture and the subjects being illustrated beneath.  The present picture treats Radha as the nayika or ideal mistress and shows her about to visit Krishna, She is, at first, seated on a bed but a little later, is leaning against a pillar as a maid or friend induces her to descend.  In the left-hand bottom corner, Krishna sits quietly waiting.  The bower is hung with garlands and floored with lotus petals while lightning twisting in the sky and torches flickering in the courtyard suggest the storm of love.  The figures with their neat line and eager faces are typical of Bundi painting after it had broken free from the parent style of Udaipur.

[Illustration]

PLATE 29

Radha and Krishna making Love

Illustration to the Sursagar of Sur Das
Udaipur, Rajasthan, c. 1650
G.K.  Kanoria collection, Calcutta

Like Plate 28, an illustration to a Hindi poem analysing Krishna’s conduct as ideal lover.

Krishna is here embracing Radha while outside two of Radha’s friends await the outcome.  Above them, two girls are watching peacocks—­the strained advances of the birds and the ardent gazes of the girls hinting at the tense encounter proceeding in the room below.

The Udaipur style of painting with its vehement figures, geometrical compositions and brilliant colouring was admirably suited to interpreting scenes of romantic violence.

[Illustration]

PLATE 30

The Lover approaching

Illustration to the Rasamanjari of Bhanu Datta
Basohli, Punjab Hills, c. 1680
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (I.S. 52-1953)

Although the Rasika Priya of Keshav Das was the manual of poetry most frequently illustrated by Indian artists, an earlier Sanskrit treatise, the Rasamanjari of Bhanu Datta, excited a particular raja’s interest and resulted in the production at Basohli of a vividly illustrated text.  The original poem discusses the conventions of ordinary lovers.  Under this Basohli ruler’s stimulus, however, the lover was deemed to be Krishna and although the verses make no allusion to him, it is Krishna who monopolizes the illustrations.

In the present instance, Krishna the lover, carrying a lotus-bud, is about to visit his mistress.  The lady sits within, a pair of lotus-leaves protecting her nude bust, her hair falling in strands across her thighs.  A maid explains to Krishna that her mistress is still at her toilet and chides him for arriving so abruptly.