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A heroine waiting for her lover: Vasakasajja Nayika, from the "Nurpur" Rasikapriya

c. 1750

Medium: Gum tempera and gold on paper
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Page: 28.4 x 20.2 cm (11 3/16 x 7 15/16 in.); Image: 24.4 x 16.7 cm (9 5/8 x 6 9/16 in.)
Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Credit line: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

About this work

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.