Vasakasajja Nayika, a lady dressed and awaiting her lover

There are eight types of nayikas (heroines) in traditional Indian visual and performing arts, each representing different states or moods in relation to her nayak (hero).

Vasakasajja Nayika stands on a palace threshold with a companion in attendance and smokes a hookah pipe as she looks up at a flight of sarus cranes (symbols of fidelity) against the monsoon sky. A peacock perched on the roof follows her gaze.

The style of painting and its borders associate it with the artists of the Punjab Hills in the early 19th century.