Opaque pigment on paper heightened with gold
Image 14.5 x 10.1 cm. Folio 34.8 x 25.4 cm.
Mughal, India
Circa 1610 - 1630
Ragamala paintings exhibit a complex and variable imagery at different periods throughout the art history of India. Among the earliest surviving examples are those painted at various Mughal ateliers in northern India. Their iconography accords with the majority of representations from Rajasthan and Central India. The current example depicts a prince kneeling in front of his lover with his hands reaching out in apology to touch her feet. The lover turns her head away in rebuke covering her face with her veil. The iconography suggests that the raginidepicted is Ramakari Ragini, but according to textual references the ragini should be clothed in white, which is not the case in the current painting making the eventual identification problematic. However several other published works that are termed Ramakari Ragini are treated in a similar manner.