Guler, India
c. 1780
Inscribed in Devanagari ‘8’ [Folio 8]
Further inscribed in Devanagari (in vernacular Pahari) ‘nayeka agyata jovana puchadi hoyi apni sasu ki je pati rati no kya sasuye karde han ta usadi sasu hasadi bhai’
‘The heroine of unknowing youth asks her mother-in-law: ‘What does my husband do at night?’ At this, the mother-in-law bursts into laughter.’
Inscribed in Braj ‘Atha agyata yovana lakshanam. apne tana mai jovana agama jo Nahin Janata bala tahi kahata agyata yovana Sundara guno rasala. Dhai so jadu kai dhai kahyo kahun dhai kai puchiye ka tain thai hai. Baithi rahau nihachinta kaha suni meri sabe sudhi bhuli gai hai. Sundara dekhi derati inhe upaji uara manjha upadhi nahi hai. Kanchi kali si hi kali paron ab chhati supari si aaju bhai hai. 20.’
‘The description of the Unknowing Youth (Agyata Yovana). A girl who does not yet know the ways of youth is called an ‘unaware maiden’—young, tender, endowed with beauty and full of sweetness. She begins to speak but then stops halfway, leaving her words unfinished. She remains unaware, lost in herself, having forgotten all attentiveness. Youth has quietly come upon her. Once like a tender flower-bud, she has now ripened; her waist is slender as a fresh shoot, her breasts rounded like betel-nuts. [verse] 20.’
The present illustration is from the Sundar Shringar, a poetic text composed in the early seventeenth century by the poet Sundar Das. The poem details the various moods of love and the classification of literary heroes and heroines (nayaka-nayika bheda)
The subject matter is comparable to other literary texts such as the Rasikapriya of Keshav Das and the Rasamanjari of Bhanudatta with Krishna and Radha as the protagonist lovers illustrating various stages of passion and romance. In the present series, the characters of Radha and Krishna are used to present idealized notions of courtship and romance between the hero and heroine, which are celebrated in the poem. An inscription on the first page of the manuscript confirms that the manuscript formed part of the Mandi Court library by the reign of Raja Vijay or Bijai Sen, the 16th Raja of Mandi, who was born in 1846 and reigned from 1851-1902.There is a striking similarity between the present series and the famous Tehri Garhwal Gita Govinda, which is rendered in the same exquisite palette and delicate style. The refinement of the present group suggests that the artist was at least aware of the other series and may have worked in that court atelier during the same period. Losty states ‘the spirit of Nainsukh pervades paintings from the series in their formal perfection and tranquility.’ (Losty, p.292.) He further suggests that the landscape format of the series may pay homage to the earlier Basohli or Nurpur Rasamanjari set which follows the same format.
For other illustrations from the same series see Sotheby’s New York, April 1, 2005, lots 110-113; September 20, 2005, lots 106-109; March 29, 2006, lots 149-152; September 19, 2006, lots 1-5, March 19, 2008, lots 205-208 and September 19, 2008, lots 201-204.