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"yadi Hari... isi Jayadeva ri vani santalo..."
"If remembering Hari enriches your heart
If His love play arouses your curiosity
Then listen to Jayadeva's speech
In these sweet soft lyrical songs."
The artist divides his space so as to be able to communicate each of the phrases of the verse. Four different groupings are seen. In one Jayadeva sits with two disciples: this is the pictorial counterpart of the phrase, "Yadi Hari smarane" (If remembering Hari enriches or fills your heart). The architectural frame and the manner of portraying the floor area of the canopied verandah is effectively used. The architectural section is part of the total outdoor spatial area. In the second section Sarasvati, the power of Jayadeva's speech, appears. The third group comprises Krsna and the sakhis, the fourth portrays Krsna with a devotee sitting in front of Him. A clear double white line separates these four groups from the sky on the horizon. Trees are used as dividers for each of the groups. The banana tree is effectively used.
Besides this spatial division, which is a distinguishing feature of the whole set, there is remarkable use of different planes. In this particular painting it is particularly prominent. All these create a three dimensional visual effect which is absent in early Mewar paintings, restricted to one flat surface.
Notable also is the manner in which each of the figures in the group are placed against a different background and at different eye-levels. Thus Sarasvati on the swan and Krsna on a lotus-seat are on different levels, but placed in a diagonal. Krsna and the sakhis, whose tale the reader is curious to learn, constitute a group in the foreground, thus serving as prelude to what is to follow. The colors are vivid and clear with a remarkable use of brick-red, yellow and white.
The neat arrangement, the compositional pattern and the precise figure drawing are all indicative of a very high order of draughtsmanship. Equally effective is the artist's full comprehension of the verse at its multiple levels and his ability to transform it into a picture.
