A Heroine Waiting for Her Paramour: Vasakasajja Nayika, from a Nurpur Rasikapriya
Unknown Artist
c. 1750
Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Dimensions
image: 24.4 × 16.7 cm · page: 28.4 × 20.2 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Accession Number
2018.116
About this artwork
Vasakasajja has been described as Nayika who arranges the bed for making love. She is seated on a bed of leaves by a pond, anxiously waiting for her lover. The painter has faithfully followed the poet’s description of the scene and depicted the fair-complexioned Nayika radiating against the otherwise dark surrounding, illuminating the tryst.