Shri Raga: An Illustration from a Ragamala Series

c. 1740

India, Mughal, 18th century

Medium

Measurements

Page: 33.2 x 23 cm (13 1/16 x 9 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection 2013.339

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Location

Not on view

Description

The verse associated with Shri Raga corresponds closely with this scene:

His body, bluish in hue, is marvelously built.
He is always graced with the company of auspicious Shri Lakshmi.
He sits on a throne of gold, and before him Narada sits playing on his vina.
He has decorated himself with garlands of flowers, and also with ornaments set with jewels.
Shri raga is thus conceived in sentiment, of whom all learned men sing praises.

The horse-headed figure claps his hands and accompanies the sage, wearing saffron garments and playing on the stringed instrument called a vina. He may be derived from the courtly commander of Indra, seen in the Jain manuscripts. Poppies bloom in the formal garden below the pure white terrace, and they are echoed by the oranges set on the windows of the house at the upper right.