Kangra painting of Gita Govinda series.
Early 18th century.
Radha and Krishna have spent a joyous night together in the bower. In the morning, Radha is disarrayed. Krishna looks at her. Radha tries to hide her embarrassment. Krishna thinks, " Though her tress-knot is loosened, her cheeks perspiring, the lustre of her lips faded, her necklace of pearls dimmed in beauty by her jar-shaped breasts, and though she hides their place with her hands, looking towards me with modesty, yet even thus disarrayed, she fills me woth ecstatic delight." ( Canto XII of Gita Govinda).
The ideal of feminine beauty had changed in medieval India. While in ancient India a woman had large buxom, in medieval India she has small ones; in Kangra paintings, women are depicted as delicate, shy and almost like porcelain dolls. Here we see Radha in semi-nude. She does have translucent cloth to hide her modesty. The artist has subtly caught her embarrassment and Krishna's delight.
Once we mingle with godhead, there are no illusions left. Shorne of our dilutions, we stand 'naked' before Him. It is a moment of ecstasy and bliss.
The ideal of feminine beauty had changed in medieval India. While in ancient India a woman had large buxom, in medieval India she has small ones; in Kangra paintings, women are depicted as delicate, shy and almost like porcelain dolls. Here we see Radha in semi-nude. She does have translucent cloth to hide her modesty. The artist has subtly caught her embarrassment and Krishna's delight.
Once we mingle with godhead, there are no illusions left. Shorne of our dilutions, we stand 'naked' before Him. It is a moment of ecstasy and bliss.
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