Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c10.127

c10.127

Lachiman: Now, the dohā quoted on a Vibhāṣā rāginī in the Boston Museum (Plate LXXXV) appears to be the concluding couplet of a string of verses, quoted on a Vibhāṣā rāginī in the Fogg Art Museum (Plate LXXXVI). The author of these verses, as appears from this text and the text quoted on Plate LXXVIII, was a poet of the name of Lachiman: ‘Lachiman (the poet), describes king Vibhās’ (“Lachiman varnai bhūpa Vibhās”). ‘This is suggested by Lachiman’ (“Karai Lachimana iha upadeś,” describing the Pañcama rāginī). Three poets of this name are known to Hindī Literature, (Miśra-Vandhu-Vinod, Pariśiṣṭh, p. 1566), but we have no sure evidence to identify the author of the verse in question. The style of our Lachiman is very terse and sometimes inclined to be archaic and obscure in idea, reminding one of the obscure diction of Keśavadās’ Rasikapriyā (c. 1591). The merits and demerits of the style are best studied in considering the translation of the dohā describing Lalita [identical couplets quoted on examples in Ghosh Col-