Lot Essay

Abhisarika describes a nayika, or heroine, who goes out at night to meet her lover. The nayika here is crossing an open, golden hued- field in the dead of night, lit only by the waves of lightening. Lightening, in Sanskrit poetry is often personified as the wife of the clouds; her presence here is perhaps guiding the young woman to her lover, who struggles to avoid the snakes abound at her feet. Compare this painting to two similar Kangra compositions of the subject, one published by M.S. Randhawa in Kangra Paintings on Love, New Delhi, 1962, p. 116, pl. VII and one sold at Christie’s London, 12 June 2018, lot 24 for GBP 10,000 in which the nayikais encountering a demoness.