'Longing to behold your path, my inmost heart--like a lotus-leaf when a new rain-cloud has appeared--mounts to your neck. My eye, too, takes wing, soaring in the guise of a lotus-bird, to regard the moon of your face.'[131] [Footnote 131: Translation R.H.B. Williams.] In the picture, the lotus imagery is retained but is given a subtle twist--the lotus-leaves themselves, rather than the lover's inmost heart, being shown as mounting to the lady's neck. [Illustration] PLATE 31 _Radha extinguishing the Lamp_ Basohli, Punjab Hills, c. 1690 Bharat Kala Bhawan, Benares Although no inscription has so far been published, it is likely that this picture is an illustration to the _Rasamanjari_ of Bhanu Datta. The lover is once again Krishna and the girl most probably Radha. Krishna is inviting her to extinguish the lamp so that they may better enjoy the excitements of darkness. With its air of violent frenzy, the picture is typical of Basohli painting at the end of the seventeenth century--the girl's wide-flung legs and rushing movements symbolizing the frantic nature of passionate desire. [Illustration] PLATE 32 _The Month of Asarh (June-July)_ Illustration to a _Barahmasa_ (or Cycle of the Months) Bundi, Rajasthan, c. 1750 Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay In Hindi poetry, lovers were sometimes described against a background of the twelve months--each month suggesting a different kind of mood or behaviour. Such poems known as _Barahmasa_ (barah, twelve; masa, month) were sometimes illustrated--a princely lover and his lady being shown seated on a terrace with the sights and scenes appropriate to the month going on around. When this lover was identified with Krishna, any aspect of love was regarded as, in some degree, expressive of his character. The present picture portrays the beginning of the Rains. The sky is black with clouds. On a lake lovers dally in a tiny pavilion, while in the background two princes consult a hermit before leaving on their travels. The rainy season was associated in poetry with love in separation and for this reason a lonely girl is shown walking in a wood. In a garden pavilion Krishna dallies with Radha, the approaching rain augmenting their desire. [Illustration] PLATE 33 _Radha and Krishna swinging_ Illustration to the musical mode. _Hindola Raga_ ('the swinging music') Malwa, Middle India, c. 1750 Victoria and Albert Museum, London