nother _nayika_, 'one who has been deceived') upbraids Krishna for
wandering about like a crow, picking up worthless grains of rice, wasting
his hours in bad company and ruining houses by squatting in them like an
owl.

Similarly when a married girl sits longing for her husband's return, her
companion comments not on an ordinary husband's conduct but on that of
Krishna. 'He said he would not be long. "I shall be back," he said, "as
soon as I have had my meal." But now it is hours since he went. Why does
he sit beside them and no one urge him to go? Does he know that her eyes
are wet with tears, that she is crying her heart out because he does not
come?'

Krishna, in fact, is here regarded as resuming in himself all possible
romantic experiences. He is no longer merely the cowherd lover or the hero
prince, the central figure of a sacred narrative. Neither is he merely or
only the lover of Radha. He is deemed to know love from every angle and
thus to sanctify all modes of passionate behaviour. He is love itself.

Such a development concludes the varied phases through which the character
of Krishna has passed. The cowherd lover supersedes the hero prince. Radha
becomes all in all, yet touches of Krishna's princely majesty remain
throughout. Even as a cowherd Krishna shows an elegance and poise which
betrays his different origin. And in the _Rasika Priya_ it is once again
his courtly aura which determines his new role. A blend of prince and
cowherd, Krishna ousts from poetry the courtly lovers who previously had
seemed the acme of romance. Adoration of God acquires the grace and charm
of courtly loving, passionate sensuality all the refinement and nobility
of a spiritual religion. It is out of all these varied texts that the
Krishna of Indian painting now emerges.

[Footnote 64: Plate 28.]

[Footnote 65: Note 21.]

VI

THE KRISHNA OF PAINTING

Indian pictures of Krishna confront us with a series of difficult
problems. The most exalted expressions of the theme are mainly from
Kangra, a large Hindu state within the Punjab Hills.[66] It was here that
Krishna, the cowherd lover, was most fully celebrated. Pictures were
produced in large numbers and the Kangra style with its delicate
refinement exactly mirrored the enraptured poetry of the later cult. This
painting was due entirely to a particular Kangra ruler, Raja Sansar Chand
(1775-1823)--his delight in painting causing him to spare no cost in
re-creating th