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Vilaval Ragini, illustration from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies) Series
View through Harvard Museums
In the poetry accompanying the Vilaval Ragini, it describes a young heroine (nayika) preparing to meet her lover. She is commonly shown looking into the mirror as she puts on her jewelry. In this painting, she sits on a daybed putting on her earrings while a female attendant holds up a mirror for her. Two other female attendants are present, one holds up a fly whisk behind the heroine and the other peers at the scene from behind a door. This painting is a pictorial metaphor for a raga, a musical phrase that is used as the basis for improvisation. Rajput, Rajasthani, Mewar School.
Department of Islamic & Later Indian Art
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Bienstock
Title: Vilaval Ragini, illustration from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies) Series
Description:
In the poetry accompanying the Vilaval Ragini, it describes a young heroine (nayika) preparing to meet her lover.
She is commonly shown looking into the mirror as she puts on her jewelry.
In this painting, she sits on a daybed putting on her earrings while a female attendant holds up a mirror for her.
Two other female attendants are present, one holds up a fly whisk behind the heroine and the other peers at the scene from behind a door.
This painting is a pictorial metaphor for a raga, a musical phrase that is used as the basis for improvisation.
Rajput, Rajasthani, Mewar School.
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