N·A Approaches Ra¯Dha¯ and Her Confidante

95 Mirjam Westra KR. S. N. A APPROACHES RāDHā AND HER CONFIDANTE IN A GARDEN WITH TREES, PLAYFUL MONKEYS AND GLORIOUS blUE peacocks (1620-1640) Love, both human and divine, is a major theme in poetic and literary work in India. Of the nine main rasa (sentiments) that form the basis of · Indian aesthetics, śr. ngāra (erotic love) is regarded as the most important. · There are two main kinds of śr. ngāra, of which the first is sam. yoga – love in union – and the other viraha bhakti – love in separation. The latter has been an endless source of inspiration for art and literature.1 Keshavdas (Keśavadāsa) is one of the foremost poets who composed works that merged love poetry and analyses of the passion of love.2 One of the Rijksmuseum’s folios depicts Kr.s.n. a approaching Rādhā and her confidante in a garden (fig. 1). The miniature painting belongs to 3 an illustrated manuscript of the Rasikapriyā (‘The Lover’s Breviary’), 4 AND HER CONFIDANTE the most famous work by the poet Keshavdas. The Rasikapriyā is ¯ well described by Bahadur, who translated the versified poem in 1972: ‘Rasikapriyā is a panegyric of love and a mine of entertainment. Above all it is a book of pleasures.’5 According to Sternbach ‘Keshavdas was a master of Hindi poetry, of eroticism and of metrics. His poems are true DHA jewels of devotional and love poetry in its purest form’.6 Keshavdas was a ¯ A native of the Bundelkhand region, in today’s Madhya Pradesh. He became 7 R a court poet for the king of Orchha in the 16th century, and is a founding figure of the rīti tradition. Rīti poetry is ‘a constellation of courtly poetic and intellectual practices that flourished in a climate of mixed Mughal and sub-imperial patronage [...].’8 It leans heavily on Sanskrit courtly literary codes. Rīti poems have an important place in historiography of regional courts in India and can be used as a resource for Mughal history. However the poems are mainly known as decorative poems, comprising erotic and devotional themes.9 Keshavdas describes the most important two rasa in the Rasikapriyā: love and lovemaking.10 It is written in Braj Bhās. ā, a north Indian language of cultural and religious significance since most speakers of Braj Bhās. ā worship Kr.s.n. a and express their devotion through the language. Braj Bhās. ā has its foundations in folk literature and songs. It is usually written in the Devanāgarī script and its vocabulary contains many Sanskrit words. The language is in its purest form spoken in the Indian cities of Mathura, Agra, Etah and Aligarh.11 The inscribed text, composed in A APPROACHES nāgarī characters on the reverse of the painting, is in black ink (fig. 2) and · N seems to be from the third chapter of the Rasikapriyā, where Keshavdas · elaborates on the classification of nāyikās (beautiful young women). S · R K 96 Fig. 2 Nagari characters on the reverse of fig. 1.

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