- Title
- The Month of Ashadha (June-July), Folio from a Barahmasa (The Twelve Months)
- Date Made
- circa 1700-1725
- Medium
- Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 8 1/2 x 12 1/2 in. (21.59 x 31.75 cm); Image: 5 3/4 x 9 1/4 in. (14.61 x 23.5 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.71.1.26
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
The Barahmasa (The Twelve Months) is a collection of poems adapted from India’s vast oral traditions that describe the months of the year and their correlating climates and emotional states. The most popular text for painters to illustrate was the Kavipriya (Poet’s Delight) composed in 1601 in Braj-Bhasa by the poet Keshavdas (1555–1617) of the Orchha court. Chapter 10 of the Kavipriya describes the activities of people and animals in each of the twelve lunar months.
This painting illustrates the month of Ashadha (June-July), as described in the inscribed verses of the Kavipriya:
Strong winds are blowing all around. In such weather only a man of feeble mind will go out leaving his wife and house. Even the mendicants use only one asana [yogic position], i.e. they avoid going out for begging. What to talk of human beings, even the birds do not leave their nests. Lord Vishnu has taken Shri (Lakshmi) along with him to spend this time in bed. Poet Keshavdas says that during the month of Ashada, he has not heard anybody leaving his home, even in the Vedas and Gathas (ballads).
(Translation by V. P. Dwivedi.)
In a pavilion, Radha implores Krishna not to go out in the fierce storm. A woman strolls in the lush forest. Another is on the verandah. An ascetic sits in a yogic position beside a princely visitor. In the small pavilion, a prince reclines while being fanned.
See its series mate M.71.1.25. A comparable illustration attributed to Kota, circa 1720, is in the Municipal Museum, Allahabad.
- Selected Bibliography
- Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
- Trabold, J. The Art of India, An Historical Profile. Northridge, CA: California State University Press, 1975.
