Krishna Paints Radha's Breast

While the Buddhists aimed at achievement of spiritual bliss by extinction of passion, the Vaishnavas believed that passion was a natural force, and that instead of being extinguished, it should be sublimated into prema, or divine love. Thus the emotions are transformed from the sensual to the spiritual, and human passions merge into the great sea of mystic love. Jayadeva's epic poem the Gita Govinda illustrates this very sentiment through the love games of Radha and Krishna, the divine couple.

This painting illustrates the following verse from the Gita Govinda.

"Paint, O Krishna, with fingers cooler than sandalwood, leaves and flowers with musk on this breast, which resembles a vase of consecrated water, crowned with fresh leaves, and fixed near a vernal bower, to propitiate the God of Love".

Gita Govinda Canto XII