Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c10.155

c10.155

Vrajanāth: Two stray examples of rāginī miniatures, Gunakalī (Plate XXIV, C) and Deśākhī (Plate XXXV) in the Collection of Mr. P. S. Nahar, furnish two interesting quartrains, one of them bearing the name of the poet Vrajanāth. It is a name known to Hindī literature and he is probably the same poet as is cited in Miśra-vandhu vinode (Vol. II, p. 167). He was born in Samvat 1780 (1727 A.D.) and his literary activity dates from Samvat 1810 (1757 A.D.). He was the author of a treatise on Rāgamālā, from which apparently the verses quoted on the reverse of the two miniatures have been quoted. The Miśra brothers characterise him as a poet of average merit (sādhāraṇ śreṇī). To judge from the two *coupaīs* available to us, the poet appears to have been capable of giving vivid descriptions, in strong and effective diction, not entirely devoid of some charm and an easy flow.