ABSTRACT
The themes of can very broadly be divided into two categories: those in which the woman expresses longing for her absent lover, and those which describe Krishna’s shenanigans with the milkmaids of Braj. The division between these two categories
corresponds to some extent to the division between bol banāv and bandiś
However, such a broad classification suggests that a large number of texts have the same content; although this is true in general terms, each text does have its own particular motivation. The smallness of the variations between thematically linked texts provides an impetus to identify rather than gloss over the exact idiosyncrasies of each individual text. In the present section, a brief discussion of the Sanskrit literary model which classifies the numerous heroine-types of Indian art will help contextualise the
relevance of nuance as found in the lyrics of In the aesthetic theories relating to nāyikā-bheda an archetypal heroine may be described as ‘a woman whose husband or
lover has been unfaithful’ or ‘a woman disappointed by her lover’s breaking his appointment’ (vipralabdhā). The existence of such finely tuned
specifications creates a framework in which to situate the nuances of lyrics and provides a model-albeit not an exhaustive one-for the variety of emotional
expression found in Whether a Sanskrit literary model per se has any direct
bearing on the creation and performance of is an area open to debate; I shall present diverging views on this subject, and discuss their implications.
