Ragamala (mala or garland of Ragas) paintings, also known as a Ragachitra (a Chitra or pictorial representation of Raga) are a tradition of paintings that bloomed in the medieval period, in courts and corridors of the Indian royals. A raga or musical note is believed to represent and stir a particular mood or emotion in the listener's mind, ranging from divine devotion to seething love. Each Raga is related to certain Raginis (the feminine form of musical notes) who are addressed as the wives of the Raga, and Ragaputra (son or Putra of Raga) who are the manifestations of the modes through which a Raga is performed on a musical instrument. A raga is also associated with a time of the day, a phase of romance, and the emotions or Rasa that consequently emerge. The seventh-century text “Brihaddeshi” describes the Raga as having the ability “to tint the soul of the listener”, a facility best displayed in the lively Ragachitra or Ragamala painting.
This watercolor on paper Ragamala painting by Kailash Raj presents the Ragini Madhumadhavi (the wife of Raga Megha), a Ragini of blissful relief after a long separation from the beloved. Ragini Madhumadhavi in the painting is draped in traditional Rajasthani attire- a yellow lehenga, deep red translucent odhni tucked pleasingly to her lehenga, and a pink choli (blouse). She is adorned with various exquisite ornaments of pearls and precious gemstones. An eighteenth-century painting from Rajasthan in the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts has these lines inscribed at the back of a folio with Ragini Madhumadhavi- “Madhu Madhavi is a treasury of beauty among women, she wears a green robe over all her body, Many kinds of jewels adorn her limbs, whom to behold, a myriad of sages pale and faint.”
The gaze of this enchantingly youthful Ragini is fixed on her feathered companion, a peacock who sits on a branch extending from a leaf-laden tree drawn in the left half of this Ragini Madhumadhavi painting. Mayura or peacock in the Ragamala paintings represents the lover of the Ragini who with her henna-tinted hands, Madhumadhavi is feeding honey out of a cup. The flower-loaded branch that serves as the peacock’s seat, the feeding of honey (symbolic of the sweetness that oozes from the heart of the heroine in love), and the glistening form of Madhumadhavi, all these elements add a vibrant romantic emotion to the watercolor. Trees and hints of uneven land make the background of the painting, giving a space for the dramatic romance of Madhumadhavi to be revealed. Bordered by a Mughal-inspired vegetation pattern and broad sandalwood shades, this Ragamala painting can transport you to the palace of Madhumadhavi, where love and beloved are about to arrive.
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