@sundaralekhan Day 4: Rarepair
This time around, I'm posing a secondary theme for my Sundaralekhan works — Arts. In the coming week, I'll be posting art for Sundaralekhan prompts in the form of studies of various art forms that revolve around Hindu mythology.
A traditional Manipuri Basanta Raas choreography involves three characters - Radha, Krishna, and Sakhi. A minimum of two Sakhis are a must for the composition. The Basanta Raas begins with Krishna hiding and Radha searching for him with her Sakhis. Then Krishna rejoins, and the Radhakrishna pairing takes the central stage, as the sakhi who helped Radha through her times without Krishna takes a backstage.
But what about a Radha x Sakhi pairing? It's such an interesting dynamic to think of in the context of this traditional Manipuri choreography. Each time, the Sakhi must support Radha and then simply yearn for her and support Radha being with Krishna and be pushed to the periphery. Are the Sakhi's feeling onesided? Or is Radha as polyamorous as Krishna? Does Radha not notice the Sakhi at all Much to think about!
For those not familiar with Manipuri, Radha wears a red blouse and green poloi (on the left of this image) and the Sakhi wears a green blouse and red poloi (on the right of this image). Their colours complement each other!