Cleveland Museum of Art

Shri Raga: An Illustration from a Ragamala Series

Date

c. 1740

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Culture

India, Mughal, 18th century

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The verse associated with Shri Raga corresponds closely with this scene: His body, bluish in hue, is marvelously built. He is always graced with the company of auspicious Shri Lakshmi. He sits on a throne of gold, and before him Narada sits playing on his vina. He has decorated himself with garlands of flowers, and also with ornaments set with jewels. Shri raga is thus conceived in sentiment, of whom all learned men sing praises. The horse-headed figure claps his hands and accompanies the sage, wearing saffron garments and playing on the stringed instrument called a vina. He may be derived from the courtly commander of Indra, seen in the Jain manuscripts. Poppies bloom in the formal garden below the pure white terrace, and they are echoed by the oranges set on the windows of the house at the upper right.

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