 Harsha
V. Dehejia has gathered a galaxy of scholars from
around the world to take the reader on a journey that
celebrates the romantic heroine in the Indian arts. It
is a visually rich journey which takes us to opulent
havelis and bucolic groves. temples and courtyards,
where we meet kings and nobility and also artists and
artisans, as we hear whispers of gopis and the
footfalls of Krishna. We encounter the nayika in
miniature paintings and temple sculptures, pothis and
calendars, dance and music but above all hear
resonances of her heart throbbing longingly in our own
selves for ultimately the nayika in the Indian
tradition is a paradigm of the perennial quest of mankind
for a divine and transcendent love.
At
the heart of the many and varied artistic expressions
of the romantic Sentiment is the nayika or the
heroine. Her various adornments and trysts, the many
moods of her love realized through amorous moments of
longing or belonging, her strong presence in the
Krishna lore and equally in the Sufi narratives, her
portrayals in the Ragamala and the Barahmasa
traditions of poetry and painting, through the
beautiful depictions in miniature paintings as well as
popular arts, have captivated our attention through
the many centuries of Indian artistic representations.
Her footfalls have been heard in courts and temples,
she has been celebrated by the raja and the praja, she
has presence in homes and mansions and her persona
resonates in enchanted forests and groves. She is all
this and more, but above all she is the epitome of
perfect beauty and the paradigm of the seeker of
ultimate reality.
In
these essays, she comes alive in all her splendour and
radiance, she captures our attention through her sheer
sensuality as she looks into the mirror and prepares
for that special moment. She delights in the many
romantic situations and brings alive the concept of
bhakti shringara or a certain spirituality that can
only arise from indulging in love, but above all she
stands self-assured and dignified. Whispering that not
only is there truth in love but that love is truth.
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