Delicate color washes combined with rhythmic pictorial arrangements define Kshitindranath’s signature style, as seen in the present painting depicting the 16th century Vaishnava saint Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The spare geometric background with its vertical and horizontal planes offers a stimulating contrast to the lyrical and delicately rendered figures in the foreground. The youthful haloed saint has just announced his decision to embrace sanyas or the path of renunciation to his mother who kneels before him. A standing figure grasps the bare, gnarled tree trunk which heightens the pathos of the scene and serves as a metaphor for the hardships that lie ahead.

The precise yet soft and fluid outlines lend the images a weightless, ethereal quality. The influence of Ajanta is particularly manifested in the thin, attenuated contours of the figures. The luminous evenly-tinted surface is the result of repeated color applications using water, a technique over which the artist had particular mastery and which he used to great effect in infusing his works with spirituality or bhava – the essence of Indian art. The skillful use of white enhances the extreme finesse of the images.