Myths, Monsters and Maharajas (Ellen Smart, 1992)

This early Bikaner manuscript is now known as a few scattered paintings. Like the Bundi ragamala painted at Chunar in the exhibition, the work demonstrates the influence of the Mughal school on Rajput painting. When Jahangir succeeded Akbar, many artists were let go from the Mughal atelier, as the new emperor's taste and demands were different from those of his father. The artists migrated to other courts, such as Bikaner, where their talents and Mughal training were put to work. A similar diaspora of Mughal artists occurred at the end of the seventeenth century.

Balarama drank of the celestial beverage and roamed intoxicated through the jungle with the gopis. Adorned with a wreath of flowers and wearing a necklace and earring, he summoned the Jamna to come near him so that he could swim in her water. Taking him to be drunk, the Jamna paid no heed to his command and did not come. Whereupon Balarama became enraged and, dragging the river with the point of his plough, said, O sinful one, since you have disobeyed me, I shall split you into a hundred streams! The goddess presiding over the Jamna fell at his feet and pleaded with him to forgive her. Thereupon Balarama released the Jamna and entered her waters along with the gopis.

Temple, Palace, Mosque: 2010

Balarama is the older brother of Krishna and understood to be another kind of emanation of the Hindu god Vishnu. According to the texts, he loved to get drunk and roam through the forest with the cowherd girls, one of whom holds a blue-and-white porcelain wine bottle. On one occasion he called the Jamuna River, who is personified as a goddess, to come to him so that they could go for a swim, but the river ignored him, thinking him to be intoxicated. Enraged, Balarama took his plow and dragged the river to him, forcing her to comply. One of the cowherd girls puts her finger to her mouth in a gesture of amazement.

This painting demonstrates the assimilation of imperial Mughal styles on Rajput painting with its use of shading and depiction of some spatial depth.

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Three paintings from the Gita Govinda both provide examples of the differences that define the regional schools of Indian painting and illustrate the nature of exchanges among them. For example, work produced at the Rajput court of Bikaner in the early seventeenth century evolved from the style of painting favored at the Mughal court, which featured a preference for pastel colors, figures depicted with a certain fullness, and the use of receding landscapes.

The Gita Govinda poem is about Krishna, but it begins with verses about the nine other avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu. The artist chose to illustrate the verse written at the top of the page, about the avatar Balarama, with details from a well-known story about him: one day, while frolicking with maidens, he is said to have demanded that the Yamuna River come near him so that he could swim in her waters. When she refused, Balarama became enraged and dragged the river closer with the point of his plow.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017