Radha and Krishna Walking at Night, folio from the Tehri Garhwal series of the Gita Govinda

This exquisite painting was the opening miniature, after cat. no. 77, of the famous Series
to which it once belonged, the so­called ‘second’ , or ‘Tehri Garhwal’, Gita Govinda Series.
(See also cat. nos. 77­78, 80­85.) For that reason, and because the painting is mostly dark, its
border is bright red as opposed to dark blue, the color of the surrounding border on most of the
other folios from the Series. “Nanda, the cowherd who was Krishna’s adoptive father, has urged
Radha to accompany Krishna home because he is afraid of the darkness. Graceful as dancers,
the divine lovers stop to embrace on the banks of the Yamuna River, while around them, in a
series of arboreal pas de deux, pairs of trees reenact the stages of their developing attraction
for each other.” (Stuart Cary Welch 1985, pg. 403) The river Yamuna is visible in the distance.
On its farther shore, a number of rounded hills are visible, beneath a star­filled sky. With its
“glamorous interpretation of the forest in spring”, this painting re­creates the rustic setting in
which other paintings from the romantically charged Gita Govinda Series will proceed. (l)
Hand and body gestures, as well as eye movements, are perhaps more important in
India than anywhere else in the world. This method of non­verbal communication was codified
in India at a very early date in the iconography of the gods, where hand gestures (mudras) were
developed to communicate with the devotee with defined exactitude. Later on, hand and body
gestures, as well as eye movements, became very important in understanding the meaning of
classical dance and drama. And they are very important here, as well.
In this painting “Krishna throws his left arm around Radha’s shoulder and gently reaches
out for her breasts with his right hand. Radha makes futile gestures, restraining his left hand,
and pointing with her own right hand to the path they must take according to Nanda’s orders.
But there is no conviction in her resistance, for she turns back and gazes lovingly into Krishna’s
eyes, standing like an elegant dancer, her left leg lightly crossed against the right, the toes
touching the earth.” (B.N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer 1992, pg. 320)
For another depiction of this same subject, but from nearby Garhwal and dating from
ca. 1790 or later, see W.G. Archer, The Loves of Krishna (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd,
1957), pl. 20.
(l) Ibid (W.G. Archer 1957, op. cit.)

Inscription: Inscribed in black ink on the verso with eleven lines of Sanskrit text (Part One, Stanzas 1­4) written in devanagari script (For an English translation, see Miller, trans. and ed. 1977, pg. 69); in this transcription, Stanzas 3 and 4 are reversed. (For textual evidence for the reversal of these Stanzas, see ibid, pg. 139.) Also inscribed on the verso in black ink with a two line gloss of the text in the Pahari dialect of Panjabi, or Brakbhaka, written in devanagari script.

Swiss Collection 1983

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Divine Pleasures: Painting from India's Rajput Courts—The Kronos Collections," June 13–September 11, 2016.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Seeing the Divine: Pahari Painting of North India," December 22, 2018–July 28, 2019.