TWO ILLUSTRATED FOLIOS FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: SHRI RAGA
PROPERTY FROM A CANADIAN COLLECTION
Possibly Bundi, Rajasthan, North-Western India, first half 19th century

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the two vertical compositions depicting one of the six chief musical modes of Hindustani classical music, Shri Raga, personified in these paintings as a blue-skinned prince (possibly a reference to Krishna) with pearl earrings, seated outside a courtly pavilion, surrounded by attendants and musicians, in the first illustration with a vina and in the latter with tamburas and drums, stormy weather and clouds approaching on the horizon, set within concentric white, black and red rules, and gold and black and bright red-painted borders, the reverse of each painting inscribed in black ink Urdu nasta'liq script reading Shri Raga, and in pencil the English translation and basic cataloguing information.

Each 32.7cm x 25cm

Each Hindustani raga is associated with a particular season, time of day, and emotion. The Shri Raga is normally associated with the fall harvest festivals, a time for relaxing and celebration, and the arrival of winter with shorter days and longer nights.