Ragamala series: Raga Malakosha
Artist Unknown, India, Rajasthan, Jaipur School
Description
Subject Matter:
Ragamala paintings draw from aspects of human experience in order to visualize specific moods, emotions, and qualities such as love, anguish, valor, weakness, and strength. A raga in Indian music is a melody consisting of a string of notes in a particular arrangement. Raginis are derivations from or variations of ragas in feminine mode (the basis of these classifications remains unexplained in many cases), and could have different or similar musical structures as ragas. Specific ragas are associated with specific times of the day, seasons, and emotions. When visualized, as here, ragas and raginis are meant to evoke the same affective responses that are allied to their musical modes. The text above the illustration refers to stories or incidents associated with the depicted raga/ ragini, but may not necessarily be narrative-like or descriptive. Drawn from literary tropes and tales that sophisticated writers and viewers would be aware of, the inscriptions are an integral part of the overall experience of this miniature painting. An illiterate viewer, however, could still enjoy the scene without reading the text.
In this image, the mortal hero Malkosa is shown with his beloved in the center. Attending to him are also other beautiful and ornamented women, drawn to him for his wisdom and beauty. Malkosa is a late-night melody of autumn representing lovers in union. Here, Malkosa is also being fed pan (betel leaves) by his beloved.
Physical Description:
A woman and her lover are seated on a large cushion below an orange and green hovering canopy. She feeds him a betel leaf lovingly, as he caresses her arm. An attendant stands close by with a fly whisk, another behind the man, holding a fan. A third attendant is shown crouched near the male figure too. Musicians take up the bottom-right corner of the image, where they are shown as seated on a decorated blue surface (carpet?), looking devotedly towards the couple.
Usage Rights:
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.