Mithuna (Loving Couple)
North India, Madhya Pradesh, Khajuraho Region
Chandella Period, mid-11th century
Sandstone
Dimensions: 23 x 13 ½ x 8 inches (58.4 x 34.3 x 20.3 cm)

This eleventh-century carving from Madhya Pradesh represents a loving couple (mithuna) locked for eternity in an amorous embrace. It is one of the most vital and ancient themes in South Asian art, dating back to the Neolithic period.

From the tenth- to the twelfth-century, the carvings at Khajuraho created form through dramatic line and rhythm rather than through modeling. The sculptures are composed of smooth, curving, abstracted shapes that do not conform to a naturalistic representation. Certainly, the movement of the body twisting and turning fits the period’s general aesthetic model of an abstracted, plastic conception of form in space. This was a departure from the earlier priority of portraying a naturalistic representation of anatomy, dress, and physiognomy. The representation of full, rounded, and solidly composed forms constructing an image of figures moving in space embodies fully the ideals of the period. At the highpoint of this style during the eleventh-century, curving lines and sinuous solids had become so dominant that the stone sculptures pulsate to the threshold of bursting with their representations of taut, ripe, sensual flesh. To further accentuate the bold physicality of the figure, incised or modeled detail was used sparingly. Yet, the carvings still maintained a tangible sense of weight, tactility, and compositional balance.

With a delicate touch, the princely man raises the chin of his voluptuous lover with two fingers for a kiss. She, in turn, grasps his wrist with intensity. They both wrap their other arm around each other’s neck. The resultant emotional exchange between the lovers is explosive. Their gazes are locked in each other’s slightly narrowed eyes. The potential energy of this sculpture crackles in the charged space between their intimately smiling lips.

Despite the importance mithuna images have played in their respective culture, sculptures representing this subject from the Medieval Period are rare. Perhaps the best-known example was from the Pan-Asian Collection. It is of a comparable quality to the illustrated example. Yet, however intimate and erotically charged the composition may be, the Pan-Asian piece lacks the powerful emotional depth of this example. It is this strength, communicated through gesture and glance, which elevates this Mithuna to the highest level of this subject’s symbolic meaning—that is, the ultimate relationship with the divine.