Shankarabharana Ragaputra, folio from a

Object Details

• School/Tradition

  Bilaspur school

• Inscriptions

  Verso: “Sri raga Sankarbharana” 6 6 in Takri

  Verso: “Sri raga Sankarbharana” 6 6 in Takri

• Label

  Ragamala series were popular in the Pahari hill kingdom of Bilaspur. This folio from the large dispersed Bilaspur ragamala was likely based on the verses of Mesakarna, a sixteenth-century priest from Rewa.

  The Sanskrit name of the raga, Shankarabharanam, means the ornament of Shiva. In this boldly colored ragamala folio from Bilaspur, two priests worship a Shiva Lingam within a temple's inner sanctum. On the right, a priest in a lavender dhoti lustrates the lingam by pouring water from a silver ewer, and the priest on the left bears a plate with offerings. The composition's symmetry and two dimensionality are common features of Bilaspur painting in its earliest phase at the end of the seventeenth century. The architectural structure, which is represented frontally and two-dimensionally, appears to be a fairly small shrine, particularly in relation to the height of the priests. However, its elaborate roof, which is topped with an amalika (ridged capstone) and finial, as well as the detail with which the relief carvings are rendered, indicate that it is a stone temple of the north Indian type.

  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 centuries 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. Ragamala treatises classify the raga as the son of Megha raga but differently identify its ideal performance time as dawn or noon.

  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.

  The name of the mode, Shankharabharana(m), is more common in Carnatic music; it is musically equivalent to Bilaval in the Hindustani system.

• Provenance

  ?-possibly 1940s

  Mandi royal collection, Mandi, India [1]

  Possibly 1940s-1977

  Ownership information unknown

  ?-1977

  Maggs Bros. Ltd., London, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  1977-2001

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001), purchased from Maggs Bros. Ltd., in London, England [3]

  2001-2018

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim, by inheritance from Ralph Benkaim [4]

  From 2018

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, purchase and partial gift from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [5]

  Notes:

  [1] See purple rectangular stamp with “2306” written in the center on the verso of work. This is the seal of the Mandi Royal Collection. According to Cathy Glynn Benkaim, a large cache of paintings was dispersed from the Mandi storerooms in the 1940s. The dealer Radha Krishna Bharany (ca. 1877-1942) – father of Chhotelal Bharany, also a dealer –

  worked in Amritsar and was one of two dealers who handled the dispersal. See also curatorial notes titled “Shankarabharana Ragaputra, folio from a Ragamala,” May 2019, p. 135, copy in object file

  [2] See note 1. On November 20, 2017, Debra Diamond, Curator for South and Southeast Asian Art, sent a letter to Maggs Bros. Ltd. on Curzon Street, in an attempt to gather more information about this object’s provenance. An unknown representative from Maggs Bros. Ltd. responded on November 28, 2017. Based on curatorial notes, the representative’s response appears to focus only focus on the markings on the verso of the painting. Two attempts were also made to contact Maggs Bros. Ltd. via email (unknown dates). By November 26, 2018, Maggs Bros. Ltd. had not responded to the emails.

  See also draft of the letter to Maggs Bros. Ltd., dated September 26, 2017, copy in object file.

  Maggs Bros. Ltd. is a London dealer of rare books and manuscripts that was founded in 1853 by Uriah Maggs.

  [3] See note 1. According to information provided by Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Ralph Benkaim purchased this object in London in January 1977.

  Ralph Benkaim was an entertainment lawyer from Los Angeles who started collecting Indian and Islamic art in 1961.

  [4] See “Archived Provenance and Provenance Remarks,” dated January 20, 2023, copy in object file.

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim is a collector and scholar in the field of Indian painting. Ms. Benkaim met her husband, Ralph Benkaim, in the 1970s when she was the curator of Indian painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The couple were married 1979 and together they amassed a collection of Indian paintings, which included examples from all genres. They collected objects for their collection through dealers and auctions. Objects from their collection may also be found in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Williams College Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Minneapolis Institute of Art, among others.

  [5] See “Appendix B Bill of Sale” and “Appendix C Donor Substantiation Letter,” dated January 2, 2018, copy in object file.

  Research updated January 26, 2023

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Mandi Royal Collection

  Maggs Bros. Ltd. (founded 1853)

  Ralph Benkaim (1914-2001)

  Catherine Glynn Benkaim

• Origin

  Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh 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

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1690s, 1670s

• Name

  Maggs Bros. Ltd., Benkaim, Ralph, Mandi Royal Collection, Benkaim, Catherine Glynn

• Place

  Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh state, India

• Topic

  Pavilion, South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, Fountain, Men, Ragamala

• Culture

  Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Paintings