The realm of Indian Art and Literature is profusely amalgamated, interwoven and innately connected. The translation of poetries into paintings was a profound form of art associating words with their visuals. Around 200 BCE, Bharat Muni’s Natyashastra, a compilation of Music, Dance, and Drama literature, intrinsically characterizes emotions as Rasas. He enunciated them into eight Rasas, out of which the Sringara Rasa, widely used in poetry, was favoured by many great poets. Amongst the poets of the 15th century Keshavdas in his poetical compilation of Rasikpriya, binds the theory of Sringara Rasa with Nayika Bhed and elucidates archetypes of lovers portrayed in nine different types of Nayikas (Heroine). The poetry was immediately adapted by numerous schools of miniature paintings, including Rajasthani and Pahari ateliers, where artists created multiple series of pictures during the 16th to 18th centuries.
The poetries of Rasikpriya that were translated into paintings exhibited the details of the text through metaphors, whereas the Nayika, with their intrinsic emotions, are characterized through symbolic expressions. Amongst the various themes, the scenes with an intense dramatic narration were those during the monsoon, also known as the season of love. The Varsha Ritu is profoundly shown as imagery captivating the heroine’s emotions.
Monsoon captivates the mood of people, fills their hearts with a sense of belonging and attachment to the soil and devotion to the clouds, with the character of the ideal monsoon with swirling clouds, lightening, thunder, lush green flora and dancing peacocks. Where lovers take shelter under the Canopy of the Trees, a translated poetry from, A Theology of Feeling: The Radhavallabhi Monsoon in the 18th Century by Richard David Williams, an essay published in Monsoon Feelings narrates the meeting of Radha and Krishna beautifully as,
The clouds gather, and the lightning flashes
The cuckoo and the peacock cry out
Standing in the white mansion, delighted
The princely pair are watching
The two of them praise the good fortune of the rainy season
Even the clouds and lightning are ashamed when they see the beauty of this couple
The forest trees and creepers become verdant
The earth turns green with affection
The Yamuna flows so very deeply
The clouds rain down with a pitter-patter
Against the Alap of Rag Malara
Light and dark drape their arms over each other’s shoulders
As though a flock of wild geese were singing over the glorious lakes of Vrindavan
The Walters Art Museum
Metaphorical depiction of the Utka Nayika, the anxious heroine, her eagerness and despair to meet her lover is reflected in the thunderous cloud and lightning. Here the lovers are depicted through the mating of peacock and peahen. While Abhisarika Nayika, the heroine braving the night, goes into the dark forest amidst the stormy rain to meet her lover, she is not scared by the heavy lightning and thunder.
Kalidasa beautifully narrates the anticipation of the waiting lovers:
“Even in the blinding darkness
Of sombre, beclouded nights,
Despite the pouring rain and thunder,
Romantic women seeking adventure
Hie to their trysting place,
While flashes of indulgent lighting
Guide them on their dar way.”
“The Young wives of voyagers
In despair and fevered unrest
Wait and fidget
For the golden hour of the loved ones’ return
They discard the Chaplets of flowers
Their trinkets and knick-knack beauty
Like pearly dew on tender foliage
The tear drops fall from their lotus eyes
And moisten the twitching lower lip
Red ripe like the Bimba fruit.”
The story of lovers in monsoon, widely shown in cinema as a season of romance, traces back its inspirational imagery from the scenes of poetry and visuals of Indian art. The heroine, frightened by the thunderous clouds, takes refuge in her lover’slover’s arms. The shared painting shows Radha frightened by the shadows, hugging Krishna, and watching the dark clouds under an architectural pavilion.
“Often, the sheeted lighting
Followed by a loud crash of thunder,
And it’s its lingering terrifying sound
Scare the young wife into longing
She nestles close and embraces her lover
He forgives the errors of his ways.”
Excerpt from Kalidasa’aKalidasa’a Ritusamhara
Along with poetry and painting, what comprehends the essence of monsoon is Raga Megh Malhar, visually represented through Ragamala Paintings and sung during monsoon. Ragamala – “The Garland of Ragas” was a prevalent genre of painting which personified the musical notes as Ragas and Raginis, which illustrated poetry as lyrical sentiment representing themes of love and separation.
The musical melody portrays the joyful feeling of the onset of rain. The composition shows the dancing Lord Krishna—two Gopis (cowherd girls) on either side, one of each side with a musical instrument.
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Legendary modernist vocalists, instrumentalists and musicians mastered the Raga Megh Malhar and created unique compositions. Pandit Jasraj’s Gaud Malhar, Raga Miyan Malhar by vocalist Kishori Amonkar and Pundit Bhimsen Joshi are jewels of monsoon music. Pundit Ravi Shankar’s rendition of Raga Miyan ki Malhar on Sitar and Bismillah Khans’s tunes on Shehnai stand testimony to the profound connection of music with poetic literature and art.
As captivating as the visuals of monsoon depicted in miniature paintings are the moods, senses and emotions of the rains weaved in words through poetry. Amongst the great canons of poetries of ancient Indian literature, Kalidasa’s Ritusamhara is one of the oldest poems compiled on changing seasons. The poetries in Ritusamhara give a vivid narration of the characteristics of the monsoon season, where Kalidasa introduces the delightful gush of rains on the soil, calming it after the hot summer months. Where the cracked earth feels the wet moist rain drops turning the atmosphere into a lush green scarlet of monsoon, he writes,
“The approaching season of rain, dear love
Ones like a king in pride of power
The rain-laden clouds are its rutting war elephants
The lambent flashes of lightning
Serve for its streaming of pennos
And the reverberating thunder
Is the rattle of its kettle drums
It is hailed by a host of lovers
As the Royal Cavalcade is acclaimed
By crowds of suppliants.”
“Clouds with thunder like the best of drums
And Indra’s colourful bow
Across the heavens to which, the streak
Of lighting serves for a string
And the flowing streams of water
Like the fall of nimble arrows
Assail the mind of the lonely traveller.”
Dhara Mayavat is an Art Historian who graduated from Baroda’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
