e girl most probably Radha. Krishna is
inviting her to extinguish the lamp so that they may better enjoy the
excitements of darkness.

With its air of violent frenzy, the picture is typical of Basohli painting
at the end of the seventeenth century--the girl's wide-flung legs and
rushing movements symbolizing the frantic nature of passionate desire.

[Illustration]

PLATE 32

_The Month of Asarh (June-July)_

Illustration to a _Barahmasa_ (or Cycle of the Months)
Bundi, Rajasthan, c. 1750
Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay

In Hindi poetry, lovers were sometimes described against a background of
the twelve months--each month suggesting a different kind of mood or
behaviour. Such poems known as _Barahmasa_ (barah, twelve; masa, month)
were sometimes illustrated--a princely lover and his lady being shown
seated on a terrace with the sights and scenes appropriate to the month
going on around. When this lover was identified with Krishna, any aspect
of love was regarded as, in some degree, expressive of his character.

The present picture portrays the beginning of the Rains. The sky is black
with clouds. On a lake lovers dally in a tiny pavilion, while in the
background two princes consult a hermit before leaving on their travels.
The rainy season was associated in poetry with love in separation and for
this reason a lonely girl is shown walking in a wood. In a garden pavilion
Krishna dallies with Radha, the approaching rain augmenting their desire.

[Illustration]

PLATE 33

_Radha and Krishna swinging_

Illustration to the musical mode. _Hindola Raga_
('the swinging music')
Malwa, Middle India, c. 1750
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A poem celebrating one of the main modes of Indian music is here
represented by Radha and Krishna seated on a swing. The mode itself is
called 'the swinging music' but since swinging was symbolical of
love-making and also took place during the rains, the season of longing,
its spirit was sometimes impersonated not by an ordinary prince but by
Krishna himself. In the picture, peacocks, which were common symbols for
the lover, are shown against a storm-tossed sky--the battered clouds and
writhing lightning being symbolic references to 'the strife of love.' At
the foot, lotus plants, their flowers symbolizing the male, their leaves
the female, rise from a rain-filled river.

The picture represents one of the more poetic traditions of Indian
painting but at a comparatively la