The Heroine Who Waits Anxiously for Her Absent Lover (Utka Nayika) – Indian Miniature Painting

The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—

(Percy Shelley, Love’s Philosophy)

The Heroine Who Waits Anxiously for Her Absent Lover, Utka Nayika, 1760-65, Northern India, Himachal Pradesh, Pahari Kingdom of Chamba, Gum tempera and gold on paper, 25.2 x 16.6 cm

A beautiful young woman is seated all alone on a bed of leaves in a verdant landscape of hills and trees. Everything around her is thriving and alive; the flowers are blooming, the new leaves are sprouting on the trees, everything is bursting with vibrancy and richness. One cannot count all the flowers and leaves, for they are innumerable. Nature is awoken and so is the woman’s heart from which love is flowing freely like a wild, vast river. Still, despite all the liveliness about her, the woman is heavy hearted, for she is waiting and yearning for her lover. She does not know when he will arrive, nor will he arrive at all, nor what might have prevented him, a change of heart perhaps? Or has he seen another pair of pretty eyes on the way through the forest and forgotten all about her? The woman is lifting her rosy veil to see better whether her darling is coming. Oh, but she needn’t lift the veil, for the steps of her man she would recognise from afar, the beatings of his heart for her she would be hearing from a long distance, his loving thoughts of her would be travelling by the nocturnal breeze all the way to her ears.

What is softer? The bed of leaves underneath her, or the kisses with which she would welcome her man, if only he would come. In vain is the soft bed of leaves, in vain the cheerful colours of her clothes, in vain the earrings and the bangles, in vain the fragrant neck and silky soft hair, for her lover will not come and enjoy it. Instead of his breath on her neck, the woman will feel only the cold breath of the night, instead of his body being her cloak, the dark starlit sky will cover her with its veil, instead of his fine dark eyes all aglow with love and desire, only the stars will gaze and glow at her. Poor naayika! It is almost as if everything in nature is mocking her sorrowful state of solitude. Everything is painted in pairs; the love-birds are chirping in pairs on the tree branches, the deer is followed by his faithful mate, and even the trees are painted as couples, their branches embracing, their leaves kissing. Everything around her is murmuring and whispering and sighing with pleasure. Everything is sensual and awoken. Every little blossoms is whispering of the secret pleasures that are being denied this night to the woman. The breeze is bringing the dazzling scent of the flowers to the woman’s nose, but instead of the floral scent she would have prefered the scent of her man.

It brings to mind the verses of the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “Love’s Philosophy”:

“The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean,
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one spirit meet and mingle.
Why not I with thine?—

See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven

If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?“

–

Oh miserable night! Very soon the “Moon will fall at the feet of morning, loosened from the night fading’s embrace”, to quote Tagore’s poem “Unyielding”. I cannot help but wonder, at which moment will the tears, arosen in the heart, gather in her eyes and spill down her beautiful, soft cheeks, yearning for the touch of her beloved’s lips as the thirsty soil is yearning for drops of rain. If her lover were to come at last, he would have to ask himself: are those the eyes of my beloved or two beautiful clouds full of rain?

The title of the painting “Utka Nayika” refers to one of the eight different kinds of heroines or “nayikas” found in traditional Indian visual and performing arts. The heroine can be seen in many different states of love in relation to her hero or nayaka. In some paintings she will be waiting for him, in others she can be angry at him, she can be distressed by separation, or even deceived by her lover. “Utka Nayika” is an expectant heroine, the lady anxiously awaiting for her lover. The setting of this type of scene is usually a beautiful nature setting, a forest glade, with lush trees and flowers, but sometimes it can be a balcony or even a bed. The mood of these types of scenes is a that of distress, anxiety, yearning, of love-sickness. There is also a sense of mystery because we can only assume what had prevented the hero from coming to the meeting. The Utka Nayika doesn’t know, and neither do we.

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