Rati, the Goddess of Erotic Love, Takes Aim at Krishna, from a Rasikapriya

c. 1660

Rati, the Goddess of Erotic Love, Takes Aim at Krishna, from a Rasikapriya, c. 1660. Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Raghogarh. Gum tempera and gold on paper; page: 31.8 x 26 cm (12 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.); miniature: 26 x 23.5 cm (10 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.183 In a brightly lit chamber, the heroine (nayika) confers with her confidante (sakhi), perhaps to convey a message to Krishna, who sits in a grove near a lotus pond at the lower right. In the lower left corner, Rati shoots a flower arrow at Krisha to smite him with love for the nayika. The empty bower in the upper right awaits the lovers’ tryst. Most of the white pigment has flaked off of this painting.