Maharao Kishore Singh watches Radha, Krishna, and the gopis, detail of Maharao Kishore Singh

~In the guise of a Brahmin priest, the young hero Madhavanala collapses, overwhelmed by the heroine Kamakandala’s extraordinary beauty, and her attendants hasten to revive him (fig. 5.1). The scene engages the shringara (erotic or amorous) rasa (taste...

~Meanings can be loosely associated with forms or they can be exact and concrete, and the lowest level of significance acquired in the daily life of a form often rises to become overt in a new context and even emblematic in its force. In the previous chapter, for instance, we saw how the relationships that sustained styles invested them with meaning and how these...