Gauri Ragini
The
text above the painting identifies it as Gauri Ragini, a wife of Malkos Raga,
and describes the dark complexion and beautiful face of the heroine. The text
also gives the musical scale of the Ragini. Gauri Ragini is an evening melody
of autumn. Its alternate names, Gaudi and Gaudika, suggest that it may have
originated in Ganda (West Bengal). Representations of Gauri Ragini in the
Rajasthani and, as shown here, Amber traditions typically portray a lady
walking in the forest carrying two flower-wands and often accompanied by two
peacocks.
This
illustration of Gaud Ragini is from the earliest known Ragamala produced at
Amber, the capital of the Amber/Jaipur court prior to the founding of Jaipur in
1727. Comparisons with two Amber Ragamalas attributed to about 17oo and with
one dated 1709 (Ebeling 1973, pp. 185-87), point to a date of about 168o for
this painting, a date first suggested for this series in Spink 1987.
Characteristic of Amber/Jaipur painting are the distinctive vertical white
swath where the diaphanous robe of the heroine is gathered in front, the
personified sun in the sky, and the two Mughal-descended formalized flowering
plants in the right middle ground of the painting.
Amber
Ragamalas represent a distinct iconographical arrangement within the Rajasthani
tradition. They combine the painters system and Hanuman's system with
additional innovative variations in imagery (Ebeling 1973). Most Amber
Ragamalas are inscribed, as is the present painting, with identifications and
descriptive passages from a Hindi text by the poet Paida, which was based on
the early seventeenth-century Sanskrit verses of Damodara Misra's
Sangiladarpana (Ebeling 1973).
Dhanasri Ragini
This
illustration of Dhanasri Ragini exemplifies the superb Ragamalas produced by
the workshops active in the principality of Sirohi during the late seventeenth
century. Brilliant reds and yellows predominate. Figures are animated, and the
architecture is detailed and luxurious. The painting appears to be from a set
that has been published as dating from about 168o, The treatment of the figures
and architecture, the palette and color scheme, and rven the compositional
motifs and handwriting style are all identical. The only design difference
between this painting and the published Desvarari Ragini belonging to this set
is the reversal of the directional order oldie foreground motifs and interior
wall colors, a feature that is presumably indicative of the original left-or
right-side album page location. Moreover, the set of about 168o is recorded as
including a Dhanasri Ragini, number precisely what is inscribed on this painting.
Another Sirohi Ragamala set is also known, but it is attributed to a decade
later, about 1690, and is coarser in draftsmanship and expression than the
earlier set and the present work.
Writer – Janice Leoshko
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