_Krishna playing on the Flute_
Illustration to the _Gita Govinda_
Kangra, Punjab Hills, c. 1790
N.C. Mehta collection, Bombay
As Radha wilts in lonely anguish, a friend describes how Krishna is
behaving.
'The wife of a certain herdsman sings as Krishna sounds a tune of love
Krishna here disports himself with charming women given to love.'
In the picture, Radha sits beneath a flowering tree, conversing with the
friend while, to the right, Krishna plays the flute to a circle of adoring
girls.
The painting is by a Kangra master, perhaps Kushala, the nephew of the
Guler artist, Nainsukh, and illustrates the power of Kangra painters to
imbue with innocent delicacy the most intensely emotional of situations.
It was the investment of passion with dignity which was one of the chief
contributions of Kangra painting to Indian art.
[Illustration]