indian art - miniatures - archecticture - vedic philosophy
 
 
   

 
Classical - Mewari - Gita-Govinda - Series Two
 
Plate 37 - "Yadagandharva... kavya re vise hai."  

 

First Picture Series One

The last two verses return to the mood of devotion.
"His musical skill
His meditation concentrated upon Visnu
His graceful play in these poems
which display the truth of discrimination
in the creations of poetic works on srngara
 
He whose soul is solely directed to Krsna
Let blissful men of wisdom
Purify the world by singing his Gita-Govinda
And Bhojadeva's heir, Ramadevi's son Jayadeva
Expresses the power of poetry in the Gita-Govinda
Let his poem be in the voice of devotees like Sage Parasara."


The artist seats Krsna as Visnu in the upper right hand corner and then recreates the verse phrase by phrase pictorially. All pictorial energies converge upon the figure of Jayadeva seated in the center and the Visnu figure seated in the corner.
 
In two architectural frames are two different scenes. One a love scene, and another of a patron listening to the singing of the Gita-Govinda. In the center Jayadeva sits reciting his work to the joyful wise men. In the foreground several devotees hear the poem and purify the dark world. The sage Parasara sits in one corner.
 
The painting is divided into several zones and there is a dextrous play of planes and surfaces, which matches the verse. The painting comes as a befitting culmination to the twenty fourth prabandha - the pictorial summing up is an impressive counterpart to the poem.