- Title
- Celebrations of the Swing Monsoon Festival (Teej Utsava) in The Month of Shravana (July-August) (recto), The Month of Phalguna (February-March) (verso); Folio from a Barahmasa (The Twelve Months)
- Date Made
- circa 1750-1775
- Medium
- ink and opaque watercolor on paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 9 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (24.77 x 19.05 cm); Sheet: 11 1/2 x 7 7/8 in. (29.21 x 20.0 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.77.154.11
- 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 lunar months of the year and their correlating climates, emotional states, and social activities. The most popular text for painters to illustrate was Chapter 10 of the Kavipriya (Poet’s Delight) composed in 1601 in Braj-Bhasa by the poet Keshavdas (1555–1617) of the Orchha court.
Recto: Shravana (or Sawan; July-August)
Poet Keshav(das) says that during this month of (Shravana), the rivers (being in spate due to rains) meet sea making a pleasant scene. The creepers (freshened by rains) have clung to trees. The lightning meets the clouds and shine all around. The peacocks (listening to the thundering of lightning and knowing the rains around) make happy sounds announcing the meeting of earth and sky. Thus, all the lovers are meeting their beloveds. In Shravana, what to say of going out one should not even listen to the talk of going out.
Verso: Phalguna (February-March)
Rich and poor are merry-making together without caring for anyone. They are speaking without any restraint and there is no sense of shame. Young men and women in every home play Holi with great abandon, snatching each other’s garments and smearing each other’s face with gulal. The fragrance of the scented powders (gulal, abira, etc.) fills the air. “In such a season of merry-making, you should not think of leaving home, my Love”, so says the Beloved to the Lover.
(Translations by V. P. Dwivedi.)
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya and Catherine Glynn. The Sensuous Line: Indian Drawings from the Paul F. Walter Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1976.
