Untitled
Stone colour on cloth
65.5 x 42 in | 166.4 x 106.7 cm
This lot will be shipped in a roll
Few religious traditions present as rich a fare of sensuous delights as do Vaishnava rituals, especially those of the Pushti Marg at Nathdwara. True to the ideals of physical well-being that guide the taste and life style of the wealthy Gujarati mercantile community which forms the bulk of the devotees, the Lord is provided with all the pleasures, comforts and riches of life. The most outstanding pictorial manifestation of the Pushti Marg tradition are the pichhwais. Literally a dramatic backdrop around the sanctum, the pichhwais illuminated and extended the sumptuous fare of the darshana. Seen in glimpses, their often life-size figures and numerous details registered in brief oneiric flashes. The sparkling conglomeration of lotus flowers and leaves in a pool of blue around a tiny floating shrine comes as an impromptu floral Rasa Leela. (Amit Ambalal, Krishna as Shrinathji, Ahmedabad: Mapin Publishing Pvt.Ltd., 1995, p. 8) Pichhwais were hung behind the main idol of a shrine.