Evoking both Indian and European style, the painting has been noted by critics for its symbolism regarding of the Nair matrilineal practices.

[4][5] Ravi Varma's paintings of Nair women were reflective of this newfound redefinition of societal roles, combining European influence and native tradition.

[7] Raja Ravi Varma was one of the leaders of this movement, and employed techniques from well-regarded European artists to represent the Indian ideals of domesticity and femininity.

The painting gathers the viewer's focus and evokes investment through participation,[11] while showing elements of Ravi Varma's imagination and European influence.

[12] The figure of his daughter, believed to be modeled from a photograph,[12] is dressed as was typical for an upper-class Nair, but the woman's stance is evocative of European styles.

Critic Niharika Dinkar notes: "With the dog on her right, it is clearly a bourgeois offshoot of contemporary Victorian images of the expectant mother waiting for the father to complete the picture of the small, happy nuclear family.

The central figure in the painting was Ravi Varma’s own daughter, someone whose own life was spent within the traditional tharavad, yet she is represented here as an icon for the new family ideal.