Description

Pichhvais are textile paintings, mostly on cotton, depicting Vaishnavite themes, as we see here Krishnas Rasalila.

The literal meaning of the term is `behind' or 'what is at the back´, and this points to the original use of a cloth hangings. It would normally be behind the sanctum of a temple, behind the main deity icons.

We see Krishna dallying with the Gopis in a circle along a river bank with birds and flowers. Under the bright stars their dance is watched by other Gods and Goddesses, like Brahma with Saravati and Siva with Parvati, floating through the sky in their spaceships.

This type of cloth paintings is fragile and they do not last very long in daily use. Small size Pichhvais are very rare to find as opposed to the larger scale ones and we could not find any reference to these in known publications.