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

A Painting of Abhisandhita Nayika, India, Punjab Hills, Kangra, c. 1800

This post is the third 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, the first part on Utka Nayika you can read here, the post on Vasakasajja Nayika you can read here.

Abhisandhita (also known as Kalahantarita) Nayika is the one estranged by a quarrel. There may have been a problem; some jealousy, a misunderstanding, arguments about missed anniversaries, or maybe… the nayika found out that what she thought was a blossoming love, opening slowly and shyly like a lotus flower actually meant nothing to the nayak (or the hero). Maybe he showered her with affection only out of kindness, or to simply pass the time. Maybe this was a situationship all along!? The mood is tense and bittersweet. The mind heard the words ‘we are just friends’ but heart doesn’t understand them. And his heart knows too that his lips are lying and that he is simply confused and avoidant, but still, this moment in love happens too. In this beautiful Kangra painting of Abhisandhita Nayika from c. 1800 we see Krishna and Radha, as nayak and nayika, both dressed in vibrant saffron yellow, but their mood is more pigeon gray than yellow. He is seen holding a lotus flower in his hand and slowly walking away, while she is sitting on the floor, her head bowed down, clearly wistful and regretful. Maybe she turned her head away to hide tears that are springing in her eyes like mountain streams. ‘Go’…’po’… she said quietly, but her heart was beating fast. He is leaving quietly too, not because he doesn’t care but because he knows he is guilty. She’s upset, disappointed for sure, but still deeply invested. And while he turns away, her whole being still aches for attention and reconciliation. Pride and longing are tangled together, just like in modern relationships where mixed signals and emotional withholding play such a big role.

And while he is leaving quietly, she still has love for him… Her anger is delicate, almost tender, only a flimsy veil draped over her love. She turns her face away, her body stiff with pride, yet every fold of her garment and every tilt of her form betrays her vulnerability. One alone, she reflects… How can she be angry when there is still so much love in her heart? When the memories of their time together are so sweet, so precious?… The mood of Abhisandhita Nayika is not the one of pure rage and anger, it is more anger laced with sadness… something bittersweet. This is a conflict that causes separation. Words unspoken but feelings still linger, that sort of thing.

The painter captures not just an external scene but an inner drama: the silence that follows harsh words, the ache of waiting for reconciliation, the storm of love disguised as indignation. Kangra art thrives on this kind of psychological subtlety. The soft lines, muted colors, and lyrical rhythms of the painting convey more than beauty, they mirror the poetry of classical Indian texts where the heroine’s anger is never just anger, but a gesture of intimacy, an invitation for the beloved to draw nearer, to coax, to persuade. Seen today, this painting resonates with a strangely modern truth: in love, emotions are rarely simple. Pride and yearning, rejection and desire, exist side by side.