a.k. coomaraswamy - the rasikapriya of kesava das

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The Rasikapriya of Kesava Das

Author(s): A. K. C.Source: Museum of Fine Arts Bulletin, Vol. 18, No. 109 (Oct., 1920), pp. 50-52Published by: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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XVIII,

50

MUSEUMOF FINE

ARTS BULLETIN

Radha

with her

confidante

Mughal,

about

A. D. 1600

Ross-Coomaraswamy

ollection

The

Rasikapriya

of

Kesava

Das

THE

Museum

possesses hree

leaves

of

a

manuscript

f

the Rasikapriya

f

Kesava

Das (Ross-Coomaraswamy

ollection),

ndeight-

een detached

llustrations

y

the samehand

rom

the same

manuscriptRoss

Collection).

Two

other eaves

arein the

Metropolitan

useum

f

Art,New

York.

Thedates

f KesavaDas

arenotexactly

nown.

His

firstwork was issued

n

1543

A.

D.,

the

Rasikapriya

n

1

591

A. D.,

and a third

work

n

1601 A. D.,

norwasthis

he last

of his writings.

We

may

ake t therefore

hathe

wasborn bout

1520, thatthe periodof his activitymorethan

coveredhe

reignof

Akbar,

nd

that he died

an

old

man.

The Rasikapriya,

ike

mostof

Kesava

Das'

works,s a

treatisen

rhetoric

nd iterary

nalysis.

It is by

far the most

authoritative

f

the many

Hindi

workson this

subject

which s

alsodealt

withat length

n the

Sanskrit

iterature

n which

the Hindiworks

re

founded),

nd texts

from t

are

requently

ound nPahari

aintings

llustrating

the

various lasses

f

Nayakas

heroines).

The

work itself is long

and

detailed,

and classifies

heroes

and heroines ccording

o their

circum-

stances,haracter,ge,etc.;it also ubdividesery

minutely

he

differentmotions

nd

illustrates

heir

expression.

The work

tself

s,

of

course,

n

verse,

andby

no means

asy

reading;

ut Kesava

Das

is a truepoet,

and

many

of

his

descriptions

re

lyrical

ems.

Illustratedmanuscripts f

Persian versions of

Indianbooks forexample, heJaipurRaznamah,

a

translation

f

the

Mahabharata

-

are not

uncommon

f

the Akbar

period; but so far as I

know the Rasikapriya from

which our eaves are

derived

affords a

unique example of a purely

Hindu work,written n Hindi in

Nagari haracters,

and

lavishly

llustrated

y

a

Mughal artist. And

Hindi manuscripts

ith

illustrationsf any kindare

very rare.

This

was perhapsa special copy

prepared

or

Indrajit hah,

Kesava Das' patron;

or forRaja Birbal,

n the

occasion

of

the author's

mission

o the

Mughal

ourt

on

behalf

of

his

patron.

The separation

f

most

of the

picturesrom their

text is much o be regretted, s the subjects annot

now be preciselydentified.

The

subjectmatter,

f

course,

s

purelyHindu;

and the

persons

of Radha and

Krishna

with

the

sakhi (confidante)

nd

dutika(messenger)

re the

types

in

which the situations

are

exemplified.

The

pictures,moreover,

re

applied

o the

page

in

the Indian

ashion,

n the

form f

rectangularanels

not organically

combined

with the text. The

manner

f the

work,however,

s

distinctlyMughal,

and

must

be so classed. It

is similar o that of

many

books-

usually

Persian

ranslations

f

Hindu

stories

prepared

or

Akbar

during

he

latter

part

of his

reign;

an exampleof the same kindwill be

found

n a Mahabharata

cene,

M. F. A. 1

7.75,

illustrated

n

the

Bulletin

f

the

Museum,

No.

93.

*Reproductions

n

T.

H.

Hendley, Memorialsof the Jeypore

Exhibition,1883,

Vol.

IV.

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MUSEUM

OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN

XVIII, 51

,at~~*05Wra

iBiE

i

T9

tatwbllWw~~~RosCmaswamy

Collection

RVl> w f

i

ii

I ~ ~

~~~~

i

The

lavor of

wthat

s

hard

to

reconcile

Mughal,

aboutA.

D.

1600

Ross.Coomaraswamy

ollection








XVIII,

52 MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BULLETIN

Krishna's

Toilet

Mughal,

aboutA. D.

1600

Ross

Coomaraswamy

ollection

The

trees

are especially

characteristic

nd

repre-

sented

byformulw

uite

distinct

rom

hose

of

Rajput

art; so,too, the suggestionsf relief n the drawing

of the

figures,

he

treatment

f the drapery,

and

the

generally

dry handling.

The

tonality,

too,

is

in

a lowered

key, entirely

different

rom

that

of contemporary

Rajput

art.

That Krishna

s

represented

s light

brown

rather

han

blue

may

be due

to

the

realistic

endency

of Mughal

art.

On the

otherhand,

t

should

be

noted

that

certain

purely

Indian

features

appear,

not

merely

as

of

necessity

in

details

of

costume, gesture,

and

circumstance,

ut

also

in

formulae

f representation;

this is

especially

rue

of the treatment

f

clouds

and

falling

rain

(see Fig.

2,

also

Coomaraswamy,

Rajput Painting, P1. XVIII A.). We must

suppose

that

a Mughal

artist

who may

well

have

been

a Hindu

was

working

here

for

a

Rajput

patron.

The

subject

illustrated

n

the

full

page

re-

production

s

The

flavor

of what

is hard

to

reconcile

(Duksandhana

rasa),

defined

by

Kesava

Das

as

follows:

When

one

consents

and

the

other

refuses,

Kesava

declares

that

it is

the

'

flavor

f

what is

hard

to reconcile,'

aily

and

fully

represented.

The

versefollowing

his

gives

a dialogue

between

Krishna

and

a

milkmaid;

he

asks

for curd,

which

the

milkmaid

refuses

with

much sarcasm. The picture shows the same

situation.

Of

the

two

reproductions

acking

ext,

one

shows

Radha speaking

probably

omplain-

ing

of Krishna's

bsence

to her

confidante,

who

holds

her

finger

to

her

mouth

in

a

gesture

of

astonishment;

he

emotional

situation

s

further

definedby the

heavy

rain that

is falling

without.

As in

Vidyapati's

poem

Impenetrable loudsarethunderingncessantly

And all

the world is

full

of rain;

Krishna s

stone and Love

is

cruel;

A

rain

of

arrows

piercesmeI

The second

example

hows

Radha

holdingup

the

mirrorwhile

Krishnaties

his

turban, he sakhi

looking

on;

a

single

word

of

the text survives n

the

upper eft-hand

orner.

A. K. C.

Leaf of

a Koran

THE Museum as

recentlycquirednexceed-

ingly handsome

eaf of a Koran,Arabicor

Egyptian, hichmaybe assignedo thethirteenth

century

r

earlier.

Both sides of the leaf are

illustratedpposite.

The text ncludeshe portion

Sura

XCIII,

verse

5, to

the titleofSuraXCIV

(thenext).

The

manuscipt

s

writtenn paper n

Kufic

characters,he

marginal ritingbeing n

Nashkh.

Kufic

writing

ad

gone utofgeneral se

long

before

he thirteenth

entury, nd may be

regarded

ereas an

archaism. A.

K. C.

Copleys

and

Stuarts

in

Boston

7OR the

past

wo

years

he

group

of

portraits

byJohnS. Copley ndGilbert tuartwned

in

Boston,

whichhave beenshown n the

galleries

of the

Museum,

as

attainedhe

proportion

f a

special

xhibitionf the

work

f

these

artists. At

present

he

galleries

ontain

orty paintings y

Copley

and

fifty-sixy

Stuart.






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