Topic: Vilaval

[Nichi]

Hyderabad Vilaval Ragini

[Nichi]

Vilaval is a beautiful woman, assisted by her companions, adorning herself for her beloved. A text associated with this ragini is Preparing herself for her love-tryst and with jewels on her person, The fair-hipped one, praying ever to her god of love --Such, beautiful as the blue lotus, is Vilavali. While Nathu is not known to have painted at the Mughal court, his work shows that he was trained in the Mughal tradition. During the 16th and 17th centuries painting at the Rajput courts was of two types: one close to (if not in imitation of) the highly refined Mughal court tradition (such as this painting) and the other robust, forceful and more traditionally Indian.

Power & Desire, 04/00

A raga of the early morning, Vilaval is shown as a woman preparing to meet her lover. The sheerest muslin and cloth of gold, the fattest pearls do not compare with her own self, beautiful as a blue lotus.

In an individual woman, this mirror-gazing would be narcissism. In Vilaval, one category of the classical canon of heroines, it becomes decorous and even selfless behaviour. By adorning heself she gives due honor to the beauty god has granted her; to her worthy lover who deserves such careful preparation; to love itself, whose fleeting presence in our lives must be treated with attention and respect.



Domains of Wonder

A beautiful woman seated on a terrace gazing at herself in a mirror is a poetical conceit often found in collections of paintings depicting musical modes. Having just completed her toilette, the lady checks to see that she is ready to receive her husband. This painting is from a Rajput court that had close ties with the imperial Mughal center, and the artists adopted many naturalistic elements from Mughal painting.

Marks: English: A Lady is sitting in an isolated and very lonely place and her mood is a reflection of where she sits.
Signature below in center: Work of Nathu
This legend is just a couplet from a longer poem known as a Doha of poetry.Its meaning is that even if the place where you may be sitting is lovely if you are melancholy or forlorn you cannot see the beauty around you....."
Bibliography: Flower from Every Meadow #30
Repository: The San Diego Museum of Art

[Nichi]

[Michael]

fair-hipped eh? that's a nice way to put it.

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Michael]

I agree with the premise. Just because a woman, or man for that matter, looks pleasingly at her reflection is a mirror, does not necessarily imply narcissism. It can be taken as a pure joy in having presented oneself beautifully to the world, and thus why shouldn't one also gain delight in one's achievement? In that last picture, her lover also want her to share in the beauty she has offered him.

But it is walking a dangerous edge. Like anything inherently addictive, we need to remain on guard against slipping into the entrapment of the ego on both sides: self-pleasure and self-pity.

[Michael]

BUT ... the question remains - why have so many cultures refused to display female pubic hairs in art?

[Nichi]

But it is walking a dangerous edge. Like anything inherently addictive, we need to remain on guard against slipping into the entrapment of the ego on both sides: self-pleasure and self-pity.

I agree there is the potential there for it to be entrapment.

It's of greater interest to me why Indian men find it to be so erotic.

There are deep-seated ideas about female narcissism too, which edge on the dark side. I knew a man once who ended up being a transvestite, and his interpretation of female "narcissism" was not joyful or playful by any means; it was an intense cry for help at best.

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Michael]

It's so typical of the Hindus to have such a theme. The Muslims or Christians would never allow this public display of female gratification in self-appreciation of beauty. And the Muslims didn't in India at the time of these paintings - their themes were totally different.