_The Stealing of the Clothes_
Illustration to the _Bhagavata Purana_
Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790
J.K. Mody collection, Bombay
Despite the Indian delight in sensuous charm, the nude was only rarely
depicted in Indian painting--feelings of reverence and delicacy forbidding
too unabashed a portrayal of the feminine physique. The present picture
with its band of nude girls is therefore an exception--the facts of the
_Purana_ rendering necessary their frank inclusion.
The scene illustrated concerns the efforts of the cowgirls to win
Krishna's love. Bathing naked in the river at dawn in order to rid
themselves of sin, they are surprised by Krishna who takes their clothes
up into a tree. When they beg him to return them, he insists that each
should freely expose herself before him, arguing that only in this way can
they convince him of their love. In the picture, the girls are shyly
advancing while Krishna looks down at them from the tree.
[Illustration]