Tilkayat Girdharji performing Aarti with his son on Sharad Purnima day
by Unknown Artist
Nathdwara
circa 1870
Opaque watercolour, gold and silver on paper
13 x 9.5 in. (33 x 24.1 cm.)
Sharad Purnima is one of the most celebrated festivals in the calendar of the Vallabha sampradaya which falls on the full moon of the autumnal month of October ‘Ashwin Shuka 15’.
This is a typical Nathdwara composition in which the shrine is decorated for the Sharad Purnima festival. Shrinathji is adorned in his swirling skirt kachchani, saffron pyjamas- suthan, blackish-blue upper garment and bejeweled crown. His saffron dupatta flies in gay abandon. The backdrop is that of the night sky with a full moon at the centre. Tilkayat Girdharji is shown offering the aarti while an adolescent Govardhanlalji is shown holding a fan.