Mixed Media on Paper

34.5 x 21.5 In.

Signed & Dated Lower Left

 Dated - 24/5/79

This hand-painted work by Mrinal Kanti Das portrays the 16th-century Bhakti poet-saint Mirabai, seated with a tanpura, offering devotional music to Krishna, who appears across from her playing the flute. Unlike earlier popular depictions—such as Rajasthani miniatures or calendar prints—where Krishna is imagined as a vision or divine presence, Das renders him as an equal and physically present figure, creating a quiet duet of devotion. Both are composed in parallel: Krishna beneath a shrine-like arch, Mirabai before a sanctum-like pillar, suggesting a shared spiritual space.

Das was trained in Kolkata and Santiniketan, and his work draws clear influence from the Bengal School tradition led by Abanindranath Tagore. Like his predecessors, he rejected the academic realism of colonial art in favor of lyrical linework, subdued palette, and a mood rooted in Indian ethos. Das's work from the 1970s onward often centered on solitary female figures—mythic, devotional, or domestic—framed in contemplative settings. In Mira (1979), these themes merge with historical narrative: Mirabai is not exalted or suffering, but shown mid-song, her focus inward. The muted tones, soft detailing, and simplified background all reflect Das’s Santiniketan training and the wash-painting techniques common to the Neo-Bengal style.

The inclusion of Vaishnavite symbols—incense, flower offerings, peacock—anchors the work in devotional iconography. Yet Das avoids dramatic gesture or overt mysticism. His depiction of Mirabai reflects both cultural memory and a modern painter’s interest in interiority, placing the Bhakti saint in a moment of human presence and artistic stillness.