Unknown
The Reversal of Roles, Episodes from the Krishna Lila (The Play of Krishna), Folio from a Sur Sagar (The Ocean of Sur Das)circa 1725-1735

Not on view

Illustrated manuscript page with Devanagari text above three stacked registers of blue-skinned divine figures seated in crimson-lined arched niches against dark rockwork, painted in orange, gold, and white

Indian manuscript painting with Devanagari text panel at top in saffron yellow. Three horizontal registers depict groups of figures with blue skin seated within red-arched niches against dark foliage. Richly dressed attendants in orange, red, and gold surround the central figures in each scene, with lotuses and flowering plants scattered throughout.

Manuscript page with multiple lines of Devanagari script in red and black ink on a saffron-yellow ground, with a narrow decorative border below depicting dark rounded foliage forms against a blue-gray sky.

Indian miniature painting depicting multiple blue-skinned divine figures and attendants gathered on a white terrace, flanked by three red arched niches, with dark flowering foliage in the background; figures wear gold and orange garments with elaborate jewelry and crowns, rendered in fine detail with flat planes of color.

Indian manuscript painting with opaque watercolor and gold; multiple scenes across registers showing blue-skinned figures and richly dressed women in orange and gold garments within dark arched garden niches with red interiors and star-patterned foliage; lotus flowers and pavilions in the upper register.

Indian wall painting, likely Rajput style, depicting figures with halos and blue skin among cows in a dark forest with red arched niches; a celestial register above shows figures amid lotus plants and orange sun motifs; cracked and worn surface visible throughout.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: The Reversal of Roles, Episodes from the Krishna Lila (The Play of Krishna), Folio from a Sur Sagar (The Ocean of Sur Das)
Place Made: India, Rajasthan, Mewar, Udaipur
Date Made: circa 1725-1735
Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and ink on paper
Dimensions: Sheet: 16 1/4 x 11 1/2 in. (41.28 x 29.21 cm); Image: 11 1/4 x 8 5/8 in. (28.58 x 21.91 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number: M.71.1.11
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Images of Radha and Krishna wearing each other’s clothes and grooming each other in role-reversal scenarios, such as in this painting, portray their divine love-play (lila) as archetypical female lovers (nayikas) and male lovers (nayakas) long described in the Indian literary tradition. They also brilliantly express the intrinsic identification of the worshiper and the worshiped as theorized in Vaishnava Bhaktism.

The poetic verses in the header are drawn from the enormous corpus of the preeminent Hindi poet Sur Das (1478–1573):
Darling, just a little, let me play your flute.
The notes that you’ve been singing out, Love—
let me produce them all.
The jewelry you’ve been wearing, I’ll put on—
and dress you up in mine.
You’ll sit aloof, a woman angry with her lover;
I’ll come and plead with you, touch your feet.
You’ll retreat to a hut in the forest;
I’ll tug at the edge of your clothes to lure you out.
I’ll pull back the veil from the love of my life
and hold you close, take you in my arms.
You’ll be Radha; I’ll be Madhav [Krishna], Madhav—
everything upside down.
I’ll make a braid in the hair on your head
and on that head I’ll place a crown.
Lord of Sur Das [the poet], you’ll become Radhika
and Radha—let me call her Nanda’s son [Krishna].
(Translation by John Stratton Hawley.)

Additional folios from this dispersed set of illustrations to the Sur Sagar are in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne (AS78-1980) and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (23.586). See also M.80.232.4.
Selected Bibliography: El Universo de la India: Obras Maestras del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, 2012.
Markel, Stephen. "The Enigmatic Image: Curious Subjects in Indian Art." Asianart.com, July 28, 2015. http://asianart.com/articles/enigmatic.

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