Bhairavi Ragini, Illustration from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies) Series

In this visualization of Bhairavi Ragini—a devotional morning melody from a series of musical modes called a ragamala—a multi-domed shrine is situated between a lush forest and an internal courtyard. Bhairavi is the consort of Bhairava, a fearsome manifestation of Shiva. She is represented in the middle left of the painting as a kneeling devotee worshipping a linga, the emblem of Shiva. She sits on deer skin, also a reference to Shiva, and holds cymbals in her hand to keep time while she is chanting hymns. The prayerful mood and sensory experience are further enhanced by the trickling water from the linga fountain and the offerings of fragrant flower petals carried by two female attendants on the right. In the lower foreground, two Shaivite ascetics flank a lotus pond. The one on the right is seated in the lotus pose (padmasana) on a tiger skin, in emulation of Shiva. His right arm rests on a short crutch (fakir’s crutch), while he prays with his string of beads. The bull that faces him is a reference to Shiva’s vehicle, Nandi.