The Loves of Krishna in Indian Painting and Poetry Part 11

[Footnote 97: Plate 30. Coomaraswamy, _Boston Catalogue, V, Rajput Painting_, Plates 92-95.]

[Footnote 98: Note 23.]

[Footnote 99: Coomaraswamy, _Boston Catalogue, V, Rajput Painting, 171_.]

[Footnote 100: Ibid., 172.]

[Footnote 101: Ibid., 173.]

[Footnote 102: Plates 26 and 27. _The Art of India and Pakistan_, Plate 102.]

[Footnote 103: Archer, _Garhwal Painting_, 1-4.]

[Footnote 104: Gangoly, op. cit., Plate 35.]

[Footnote 105: Archer, _Indian Painting in the Punjab Hills_, Fig. 23.]

[Footnote 106: Mehta, _Studies in Indian Painting_, Plate 21.]

[Footnote 107: Plates 19, 20 and 35.]

[Footnote 108: Coomaraswamy, _Rajput Painting_, Plates 53 and 54.]

[Footnote 109: Archer, _Garhwal Painting_, Plate 1.]

[Footnote 110: Plates 7, 12 and 25.]

[Footnote 111: Archer, _Kangra Painting_, 2-5.]

[Footnote 112: Ibid., Plate 2.]

[Footnote 113: Ibid., Plate 1.]

[Footnote 114: Ibid., Plate 2.]

[Footnote 115: B.H. Baden Powell, _Handbook of the Manufactures and Arts of the Punjab_ (Lah.o.r.e, 1872), 355. Purkhu must now, most probably, be connected with the first of the two Kangra masters described in _Kangra Painting_ (p. 4)--Plates 3 and 4 being examples of his work.]

[Footnote 116: Plates 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 16.]

[Footnote 117: Archer, _Kangra Painting_, Plates 1 and 2; also p. 4 where the second of the two Kangra masters is described.]

[Footnote 118: Plate 36; Mehta, op. cit., Plates 25 and 26.]

[Footnote 119: Plate 21.]

[Footnote 120: Mehta, op. cit., Plate 22.]

[Footnote 121: Plates 13-15.]

[Footnote 122: Plate 18.]

[Footnote 123: _The Art of India and Pakistan_, Plate 79]

[Footnote 124: W.G. Archer, 'Maithil Painting,' _Marg_, Vol. III, No. 2.]

[Footnote 125: W.G. Archer, _Bazaar Paintings of Calcutta_ (London, 1953), Plates 8, 9, 14, 19, 30, 31 and 41.]

[Footnote 126: Ajit Mookerjee, _Art of India_, (Calcutta, 1952) Fig. 94.]

[Footnote 127: B. Dey and J. Irwin, 'Jamini Roy,' _Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art_ (1944), Vol. XII, Plate 6.]

[Footnote 128: For reproductions of Keyt's work, see Martin Russell, _George Keyt_ (Bombay, 1950), Plates 1-101.]

NOTES

Note 1, p. 13.

For a further discussion of these two main kinds of Indian expression, see my _Indian Painting_ (Iris, Batsford, London, 1956).

Note 2, p. 14.

In Indian painting, Krishna is normally blue or mauve in colour, though cases occur in which he is black, green or dark brown. Black would seem to follow from Krishna's name--the word 'Krishna' meaning 'black'--and may have been applied either because he sprang from a black hair of Vishnu or because he was born at midnight, 'black as a thundercloud.' It has been suggested that his dark complexion proves a Dravidian or even an aboriginal origin since both the Dravidian races and the aboriginal tribes are dark brown in colour in contrast to the paler Aryans. None of the texts, however, appears to corroborate this theory. So far as 'blue' and 'mauve' are concerned, 'blue' is the colour of Vishnu and characterizes most of his incarnations. As the colour of the sky, it is appropriate to a deity who was originally a.s.sociated with the sun--the sun with its life-giving rays according well with Vishnu's role as loving protector.

'Blue' is also supposed to be the colour of the ocean on which Vishnu is said to recline at the commencement of each age. In view of the variations in colour in the pictures, it is perhaps significant that 'blue,' 'mauve'

and 'green' are commonly regarded in village India as variants of 'black'--many Indians making no distinction between them. In Indian painting, the fact that Krishna is blue makes it easy to identify him, his only serious rival being another and earlier incarnation of Vishnu, the princely Rama. The latter can usually be distinguished from Krishna by the fact that he carries a bow (never a cowherd's stick) and is often accompanied by Hanuman, the monkey leader.

Note 3, p. 17.

For a comparison of Ghora Angirasa's teaching in the _Chandogya Upanishad_ with Krishna's precepts in the _Gita_, see Mazumdar, _The Age of Imperial Unity_ (432-4) and Basham, _The Wonder that was India_ (242-7, 304-5)

Note 4, p. 17.

Although the actual date of the _Mahabharata_ war has been variously a.s.sessed--'between 1400 and 1000 B.C.' (M.A. Mehendale in _The Age of Imperial Unity_, 251) 'the beginning of the ninth century B.C. (Basham, op. cit., 39)--the epic itself is generally recognized as being a product of many centuries of compilation. The portions relating to Krishna the hero may well date from the third century B.C. The _Gita_, on the other hand, was possibly composed in the second century B.C. 'but a.s.sumed the form in which it appears in the _Mahabharata_ today in the early centuries A.D.' (Mehendale, op. cit., 249).

Note 5, p. 24.

The implication is that the Pandavas have not been granted ultimate salvation i.e. final release from living but have reached the important transitional level of 'the heaven of the doers of good deeds.' They have also been granted the limited status of petty G.o.ds.

Note 6, p. 25.