Lalit Ragini, folio from a Ragamala

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  perhaps Marwar school

• Inscriptions

  Recto inscription in devanagari script: Praful sapt chad malya dhari … yuva ch gauro salochan sri. vinihi sratra vasre grahat pragyati. vilasivesho lalit pradishtah. Lalit Ragini

  The hero holds a a garland of seven blooming flowers (saptchad). He is young and fair with beautiful eyes. He leaves the house early morning in a (self-indulgent) state (remnant of the passionate night) and looks extremely beautiful. Lalit Ragini

• Label

  A lady sleeps in a bedchamber while her lover, holding a garland in each hand, steals away, glancing back longingly.

  Raga (Sanskrit, color or passion) is the term for a classical music mode, a set framework for improvisation. Having originated in the first millennium, ragas were systematized and classified during the thirteenth through sixteenth century, they were classified into ragamalas, meaning garlands of musical modes. A common system recognized six raga husbands, each "married" to five ragini wives for a total of thirty-six "families." Families of musical modes sometimes included sons or ragaputras as well. By the fifteenth century, ragas had become associated with specific moods, times, seasons, affective properties, deities, lovers, and heroes. Around 1590-1620, illustrated ragamala series became a favorite subject for Rajput patrons, as well as for some Mughals, such as Abd-ur Rahim, patron of the Freer Ramayana and the Laud Ragamala. Specific iconographies were developed for depicting each mode. These formulae lent themselves to variations, which were sometimes dependent on region.

  Illustrated ragas evoke mood and engender feeling, as do musical compositions. But the connection seems to be indirect. Although some connoisseurs of music may have internally "heard" a composition when viewing its image, ragamalas were probably more broadly valued for their poetic and pictorial pleasures. The commission of a ragamala series would also have been understood as a sign of a patron's cultivated sensibility.

• Provenance

  To 1969

  Sundaram, New Delhi [1]

  From 1969 to 2001

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Sundaram, New Delhi in November in 1969 [2]

  From 2001 to 2018

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim in 2001

  From 2018

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim

  Notes:

  [1] According to information from Catherin Glynn Benkaim.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Sundaram (India, active 1960's)

  Ralph and Catherine Benkaim

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

• Origin

  perhaps Marwar, Rajasthan state, India

• Credit Line

  Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1610s, 1600s

• Name

  Benkaim, Ralph and Catherine, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn, Sundaram

• Place

  perhaps Marwar, Rajasthan state, India

• Topic

  Pavilion, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Flowers, Ragamala, Gardens, Woman

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings