Plate 14
Krishna’s Favourite Deserted — Illustration to the Bhagavata Purana — Kangra, Punjab Hills, C. 1790 — National Museum, New Delhi
From the same series as Plates 13 and 15 by ‘the master of the moonlight.’
The girl’s request (Plate 13) that Krishna should carry her brings to a head the question of Krishna’s proper status. To an adoring lover, the request is not unreasonable. Made to God, it implies an excess of pride. Despite their impassioned love-making, therefore, the girl must be humbled and as she puts out her arms and prepares to mount, Krishna vanishes.
In the picture, the great woods overhanging the rolling Jumna are tilting forward as if to join the girl in her agonized advances while around her rise the bleak and empty slopes, their eerie loneliness intensified by frigid moonlight.