This is a very finely executed painting from Kotah depicting Tilakayat Dauji II (r. 1797-1826) of Nathdwara holding a flaming lamp and performing arꦬati as he worships the icon of Shrinathji (a manifestation of the seven year old Krishna).

Dauji II was the revered Tilakayat (head priest) of the Krishna temple (or haveli) at Nathdwara in Rajasthan betwee﷽n 1797-1826. He was considered as a direct descendant of Vallabha - the founder of the Pushti sect of Vaishnavism. We see the Tilakayat in our present painting slowly waving a ceremonial lamp (arati) during the Snan Yatra ceremony - the bathing of Shrinathji with holy water from the Jamuna River - during the summer heat of Jyeshtha in the evening of the full moon. Shrinathji is dressed for the ceremony in a saffron dhoti as he stands with his arm upraised in front of a black painted stele. The walls of the shrine painted a delicate saffron yellow.

A poem written by Maharao Kishor Singh ꩲ(r. 1819 - 1827), the rao of Kotah when our

miniature was created this painting, seems to🐼 capture♔ the essence of the ceremony:

"Bathe beloved cowherd Krishna

Mother (Yashoda)

Fill the conch with cool pure Jamuna water

Bathe beloved cowherd Krishna".

The present painting is from Kotah during the reign of Maharao Kishor Singh and is executed in what may be conside🥃red the highest level of quality found in paintings depicting Shrinathji.

Though the vast majority of miniatures of Shrinathji were produced in Nathdwara, the center of the Vallabhacharya sect, some were also made in the neighboring Rajas🔯thani courts of Kotah, Kishangarh and Mewar. Related miniatures from the Maharao Kishor Singh's painting workshop are held in the Rao Madho Singh Trust Museum, Fort Kotah (Welch 1997) with several of those depicting the Maharao worshipping Brijrajji (another manifestation of the hild-god Krishna). A related example is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (accession no.: 1968-12-4) //philamuseum.org/collection/object/636.