The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 17, 2026

A vertically oriented tempera painting depicts a woman seated on a pink rock, holding a black cobra while six others surround her. To our right, a tree with yellow blossoms grows from a cluster of rounded pink, green, and yellow rocks. A dark blue sky occupies the top, and a thick orange border with black Devanagari script frames the scene, emphasizing the flat color fields and stylized, gold-accented forms.

A Woman Charms Snakes in the Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala

early 1700s

Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Sirohi

gum tempera and gold on paper
Page: 22.2 x 16.5 cm (8 3/4 x 6 1/2 in.); Miniature: 18.4 x 13.3 cm (7 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.199
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Unafraid, she offers a flower to one cobra and allows another to wind its way up her leg.

Description

Wearing a blouse and skirt made of leaves, the heroine retains her jewelry and diaphanous veil. She speaks to a snake, and others approach, charmed by her beauty. The multiple colors used for the rocks add to the otherworldly quality of the scene, and even they seem drawn to her spiritual magnetism.
  • {{cite web|title=A Woman Charms Snakes in the Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala|url=false|author=|year=early 1700s|access-date=17 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.199