This fine painting illustrates the plight of the Mugdha Niyaka, or the young, romantic heroine unskilled in the arts of love. The antelope that follows her represents both love and the lover. It is assigned to the Kangra school of Pahari paintings. Indian love poetry goes back to the 1st century BCE where heroes and heroines are typecast on the basis of Sanskrit prototypes. Many famous poets such as Bhanudatta, Keshava Das and Bihari have made elaborate presentation of the nayaka (hero or lover)-nayika (heroine or woman who is loved) classification. Such texts have often attracted Rajasthani and Pahari painters to translate the poetic verses into images.
