Hindola Raga

Description

To celebrate the coming of spring, Krishna sits on a swing with his beloved Radha as their companions, the cowherd boys and milkmaids, play music, dance, admire the idyllic couple, and keep their swing gently in motion.

In Sanskrit, hindola means swing, and this painting belonged to a set of ragas, which are paintings associated with a musical mode. Music played in the Hindola Raga elicits the fever of young love in springtime. Radha and Krishna represent the ideal of a young couple in love.

Provenance

(William Wolff, Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1975); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1975–)

Hindola Raga

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c. 1790–1800

Accession Number

1975.9

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Dimensions

Image: 20.5 x 15.3 cm (8 1/16 x 6 in.); with mat: 35.5 x 25.4 cm (14 x 10 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Edward L. Whittemore Fund