Cleveland Museum of Art

Ascetic Princess with Snakes in a Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala

Date: c. 1650
Medium: gum tempera and gold on paper
Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner
Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

According to a theme explored in various examples of Indian poetry and literature, a princess has fled her royal life to live alone on an island in the forest. She has skillfully made a skirt and hut of leaves and vines. Suffering deprivation and practicing yogic disciplines, she has achieved the power to peacefully commune with the water snakes, who are mystically drawn to her. This painting once belonged to the filmmaker James Ivory (American, b. 1928).

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