Sarat Purnima, the Autumn Festival: Gopis Dance in the Forest
Not on view
This pair (with .236) of temple hangings (picchavai) are expressions of Hindu devotionalism as told through the story of Krishna and the cowherd maidens (gopis). Mirrors of one another, they would have flanked a shrine image (typically a sculpture) of Srinathji Krishna and had the feeling of murals in terms of their scale and spatial organization. Picchavai with different themes were displayed according to the requirements of seasonal festivals. Sarat Purnima, the autumn festival in the month of Ashvin (September–October), celebrates the end of the monsoon, when maidens traditionally danced under the full moon, as seen here, in the hopes of securing a husband, just as the enamored gopis danced in a circle with Krishna in the rasalila festival, each believing that he partnered with them alone..
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