1. Utka Nayika – Love, Longing and Left ‘On Read’ – Kangra Paintings on Love Meet Modern Dating

“Will love come? Will love come?For me, for me — will you fall in love with me?

From dawn till dusk,it’s only you that I breathe and dream.At night, when I close my eyes,even the fan above whispers to me,‘Think of her, think of her…’

(…) Loneliness chases me,my heart stumbles restlessly.I search, I search,everywhere — for you, only you.

I thought of giving myself to you,so I sent you my heart, burning with desire.I thought of surrendering all of me,and with such yearning, I gave it away.”

Utka Nayika, Chamba (Kangra), 1800

This post is the first in my series on “Love, Longing and Left On Read: Kangra Paintings Meet Modern Dating” in which I am connecting these beautiful Indian miniature paintings with the various situations that can happen in modern dating, connecting the different times and culture, as I always love to do. The introduction to the series you can read here.

Utka Nayika, one of my favourites, is described as the one who is anxiously waiting for her husband or lover to come. She is expecting and yearning. Will he come or not? Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. The destiny of the Utka Nayika is undefined, we only know that she is in the stage of waiting, we don’t know how the situation will unfold, though we may wonder: what kind of a man is he to keep her waiting? Perhaps he is breadcrumbing her; giving her small bits of attention just to keep the hope alive, even when the connection is minimal and maybe not even fully real. Still, she is anxious because she can sense that but doesn’t want to give up the dream. In this painting from Chamba, painted around 1800, the Utka Nayika is shown wearing a beautiful vibrant red attire with a dusty pink dupatta, looking over her shoulder to see whether her man is coming or not. She can almost hear his footsteps, but maybe it is all in her head… She has arranged a bed of leaves for their night of love, but she is alone on it. The empty place on the leaf bed only emphasises his absence. A dark night sky stretches out over the forest, full of starts twinkling and smiling at the nayika. Nature in Kangra paintings is always so beautifully painted. Notice the little pink blossoms and the white lotus flowers bellow. Details such as these create an impossibly romantic mood, a perfect visual setting for these love-dramas of the nayikas. The stars seem to be playing in the sky, the lotus flowers gazing eagerly at the nayika, even the deer came to see what is happening. I love the way all these branches, heavy with pink blossoms, are leaning towards the nayika, as if the want to comfort her, soothe her, hug her, or even just show her: look, there are so many beauties around, who cares about him!

If she were a modern nayika at this point she would be checking her phone and thinking ‘Does it sound desperate if I text him ‘hey, I’m here when are you coming?’, but then she would text him anyway and she would see that he had seen the message but is taking time to reply. Then… a reply. A breadcrumb of love while she is there giving it her all. The lyrics of this Tamil song seemed to me to be a good match to describe how she may be feeling, the original and the translation both found online:

“Kaadhal varathaa kaadhal varathaa En mel en mel unaku kaadhal varathaa

Kaalaimudhal maalaivarai dhinamum Naanum unna dhaanae nenachu vaazhuren Kangal moodi iravu thoongum bodhae En bedroom fanum kilae vanthu enna ezhupudhae Unna nenaika solludhae

(…) Thanimaiyai thedudhae idhayamum odudhae Ennai nanae ennai nanae thedi thedi paarkiren Thedi thedi paarkiren paarkiren paarkiren

Unakae ennai koduka ninaithu Manasai naan anupinen romba aasaiyaai Unakae ennai ennai koduka ninaithu Manasai naan anupinen romba aasaiyaai”

“Will love come? Will love come?For me, for me — will you fall in love with me?

From dawn till dusk,it’s only you that I breathe and dream.At night, when I close my eyes,even the fan above whispers to me,‘Think of her, think of her…’

(…) Loneliness chases me,my heart stumbles restlessly.I search, I search,everywhere — for you, only you.

I thought of giving myself to you,so I sent you my heart, burning with desire.I thought of surrendering all of me,and with such yearning, I gave it away.“

(Loosu pennae)