The Rasikapriya (Connoisseur’s Delights) was composed in 1591 in the Hindi dialect of Braj-Bhasa by the poet Keshavdas (1555–1617). He was the court poet of Kunwar Indrajit Singh and Raja Bir Singh Deo of Orchha (r. 1605-1627). The text portrays Radha and Krishna as ideal lovers and enumerates the eight archetypal male and female lovers (nayakas/nayikas) and their corresponding emotions and encounters.
This folio illustrates Radha’s adornment for the impending union (Milebo Kari Shringara) (Rasikapriya 13:405):
The bosom companion says to the nayika
‘I cleaned her feet with pumice stone,
And with red dye I did them deck,
And then her lovely eyes adorned
With collyrium: around her neck
A garland placed; ornaments on
Her body: now the glass she holds
Wherein her beauty she does gaze:
Who will now, as the nayaka throw
A sidelong glances on her, and take
Her gently in his lap; and out
Of deep affection, fondly place
A betel in her quivering mouth?’
(Translation by K. P. Bahadur.)
Here, on a lush terrace Radha is being adorned by six maidservants as she gazes at herself in the mirror. On the left under an arched verandah a maid greets Krishna. In the upper bedchamber Radha offers Krishna a betel nut (pan) quid.
Additional folios from this dispersed series acquired in 1951 are in the National Museum, New Delhi.
For an alternate translation by V. P. Mishra, see Harsha V. Dehejia, Rasikapriya: Ritikavya of Keshavdas in Ateleirs of Love (New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2013), pp. 108, 298, verse and fig. 13.13.
