Raaga or attachment between lovers gives rise to many a contradiction. Even
a thorny rocky wilderness in blazing sun appears like a bed of cool
lotuses when you are waiting for Beloved. Scandalous false
rumours linking you with Beloved appear like hymns of some
esoteric ancient sacred texts to you. When attachment is
unconditional and secretive it appears blue like a clear crystal
sapphire. When attachment makes you drop your worst inhibitions
and fills you with heroic courage it appears deep blue. You have
fallen in love at very first sight, you have become obsessed, even
hearing Beloved´s name gives you the goose-bumps, yet when you
come face to face you are stunned like a statue. You appear
indifferent ! Experts see in such attachment the color safflower red.
When love appears self-sustaining, self-effulgent, everlasting, ever
new, soaring to ever-new heights, it appears bright red like the pigment
of the Bengal Madder, Manjishtha.
The misty eyed day-dreaming Manjishtha gopi here appears to be
hugging a golden peacock. Experts say that Radha and Krishna
are the real reservoirs of Manjishtha Raaga. In the heights of her
excruciating ecstasies of separation from Beloved Krishna, Radha
sometimes embraced a dark Tamaal tree mistaking it for the dark
beautiful Krishna. Great sages consider such ecstatic delusions to
be the most relishable state of affairs between Love and Beloved.
Such highly exalted state of attachment is called Prema Vivarta state
by authorities on Rasa Theory. This Prema Vivarta is the prevailing
state in Mumbiram’s art and spirituality.

Exotic red madder and bright gold leaf in this painting are a potently
powerful combination. Yet it doesn´t distract us from the other frugal
detail. The green bangles, the dark blouse, the ruby-red ear-studs.
She is sporting a peacock feather in her crest. She appears nearly
oblivious of the peacock she is hugging. Her face radiates divine
bliss. She is immersed in the highest Prema Vivarta mood of spiritual ecstasy.

This is a rare Rasa Masterpiece, a timeless icon. It makes you forget
all about Mumbiram and everybody else.