Vasaka Sajja Nayika

This painting, like so many others made in northern India in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, depicts a woman pining for her absent lover. Probably from a series depicting nayikas, or types of female lovers, the image shows a woman making a bed, her bent posture suggesting that she is dejected. One can imagine that she remembers past lovemaking that took place there, and that she is preparing it in the vain hope that it will be occupied by her lover again soon. As is often the case, one of her friends is trying to cheer her up.