Royal lovers watching rain clouds: The month of Bhadon, from a Barahmasa

c. 1790

Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

Medium

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper

Measurements

Image: 13 x 9 cm (5 1/8 x 3 9/16 in.); Overall: 20.7 x 15.2 cm (8 1/8 x 6 in.)

Credit Line

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1973.104

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Location

242B Indian Painting

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The oval format became popular after the 1760s with the expansion of British presence in India.

Description

A king enjoys a stormy evening in the women’s quarters of the palace. A woman guards the door; another holds the royal fly whisk. He gestures toward two women playing instruments, but the king and his beloved have eyes only for one another as they tenderly touch hands.

This painting comes from a series that depicts scenes associated with each month of the Hindu calendar. Bhadon straddles August and September toward the end of the monsoon season when rivers are swollen, and rainstorms prevent travel and warfare. For this reason, men remain at home, and Bhadon is famed as a month for lovemaking.