Bihari Satsai

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The painting is a marvellous representation of one of the couplets from the well known medieval Hindi classic the Bihari Satsai, a collection of Bihari's seven hundred couplets, or a two line verse cast in a specified meter. Bihari, known to condense a theme with wide and extensive implications into a two line couplet, has always been a challenge to artists seeking to visually render his verses into a painting. This has been more difficult when Bihari talked in metaphors, similes or seemed to be contradicting one set of his contentions with his own other ones as he has done in the couplet the artist has used here to base his painting on :

Tantri-nad, kavitta-ras, saras raga, rati-ranga, Unbude bude, tare je bude sawa anga.
Strange are the ways of this world. They who manage to escape from drowning into a lyre's Melody, poetry's essence, a song's sweet fervour, and a maiden's love do only drown mid-way. These are only such ones who headlong plunge into them, that wade across the sea and are saved and redeemed, that is, they who lose themselves into melodious music, sweet poetry and love's frenzy alone find the path to salvation. This apparent contradiction which Bihari has most powerfully conciliated in his verse the artist has to convey through forms and colours.

The artist's job was difficult. He had to paint a man's mad infatuation and at the same time give a feeling that such one was redeemed instead of engulfing into it. He personified man's infatuations into the figure of a noble and melody, song, poetry's essence and all shades and colours of love in the form of a maiden. She has love in her eyes, melody in her lyre and the song on her lips. The attitude of her left hand denotes that she is reciting in classical discipline an enduring rhyme. The bewitched prince, fully absorbed in song, symphony and the magic in her eyes, has his gaze fixed above into sky, the abode of the celestial bliss. His sensual infatuation is over. He has been transported into the kingdom of divine bliss. Where he had to drown he discovered the passage to salvation.

The painting has reflections of medieval Uniara and Bundi art styles. The faces and features of the two figures, trees and clouds have great resemblance with Uniara art school. The architecture has been drawn on Bundi model. It is finely and vividly composed and is excellent example of masterly strokes of the brush.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of ancient Indian literature. Dr Daljeet is the chief curator of the Visual Arts Gallery at the National Museum of India, New Delhi. They have both collaborated on numerous books on Indian art and culture.