whatsoever. In 1678, however, Raja Kirpal Pal inherited the tiny state of
Basohli and almost immediately a new artistic urge became apparent.
Pictures were produced on a scale comparable to that of Udaipur thirty
years earlier and at the same time a local style of great emotional
intensity makes its sudden appearance.[93] This new Basohli style, with
its flat planes of brilliant green, brown, red, blue and orange, its
savage profiles and great intense eyes has obvious connections with
Udaipur paintings of the 1650-60 period. And although exact historical
proof is still wanting, the most likely explanation is that under Rana Raj
Singh some Udaipur artists were persuaded to migrate to Basohli. We know
that Rajput rulers in the Punjab Hills were often connected by marriage
with Rajput families in Rajasthan and it is therefore possible that during
a visit to Udaipur, Raja Kirpal Pal recruited his atelier. Udaipur
painting, however, can hardly have been the only source for even in its
earliest examples Basohli painting has a smooth polish, a savage
sophistication and a command of shading which suggests the influence of
the Mughal style of Delhi. We must assume, in fact, a series of influences
determined to a great extent by Raja Kirpal Pal's political contacts, his
private journeys and individual taste, but perhaps above all by an urge to
express his feelings for Krishna in a novel and personal manner. The
result is not only a new style but a special choice of subject-matter. The
_Rasika Priya_ and the _Bhagavata Purana_, the texts so greatly favoured
at Udaipur, were discarded and in their place Basohli artists produced a
series of isolated scenes from Krishna's life--the child Krishna stealing
butter,[94] Krishna the gallant robbing the cowgirls or exacting toll,
Krishna extinguishing the forest-fire,[95] Krishna the violent lover
devouring Radha with hungry eyes. Their greatest achievements, however,
were two versions of Bhanu Datta's _Rasamanjari_, one of them completed in
1695,[96] shortly after Raja Kirpal Pal's death, the other almost
certainly fifteen years earlier.[97] The text in question is a treatise on