The Gita Govinda of Jayadeva was a favourite theme of Rajasthani painters. Given below are two statements, one labelled as Assertion (A) and the other labelled as Reason (R).
Assertion (A): In Gita Govinda paintings, the soul’s devotion to God is pictured through Radha’s self-abandonment to her beloved Krishna.
Reason (R): Krishna was seen as the creator, and Radha as the human soul who offers herself to God.
In the light of the above statements, choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Both (A) and (R) are true and (R) is the correct explanation of (A).
Assertion (A): In Gita Govinda paintings, the soul’s devotion to God is pictured through Radha’s self-abandonment to her beloved Krishna. — True. Radha giving herself up to Krishna is the image these paintings use for the soul’s devotion to the deity.
Reason (R): Krishna was seen as the creator, and Radha as the human soul who offers herself to God. — True. Krishna was perceived as the creator of all things, and Radha stood for the human soul.
Why R explains A? Radha stands for the human soul and Krishna for God. So when the paintings show Radha giving herself up to Krishna, they show the soul’s devotion to God. R gives the meaning on which the image in A rests.
NCERT (2026-27): “Themes of Paintings – An Overview …Krishna was perceived as the creator from whom all creation was a sportive emanation, and Radha, the human soul who led to offer herself to God. The soul’s devotion to the deity is pictured by Radha’s self-abandonment to her beloved Krishna epitomised in Gita Govinda paintings. Composed in the twelfth century by Jayadeva, who is believed to have been the court poet of Lakshmana Sen of Bengal, Gita Govinda, the ‘Song of the Cowherd’, is a lyrical poem in Sanskrit, evoking shringara rasa, portraying the mystical love between Radha and Krishna through worldly imageries.…” |