Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c10.226

c10.226

There can be no doubt that many such pictures must have been painted, and many more of such texts may have been rendered in Persian versions. For, we have, at least, one complete set of rāga-mālās with interpretations in Persian superscribed on the miniatures themselves. This is the admirable series in the Collection of the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. Their pictorial patterns are adaptations, if not copies, of finer and earlier series in the India Office (Johnson Album, Vol. 43 and Vol. 37) with the descriptive texts, in Persian, superscribed on rectangular panels at the top and at bottom. The correspondence in pictorial motifs and designs are evident from the juxtaposed examples (Plates CVI,-C and D: CVII-A, and B: CVIII-D and E: CX-C and D). On stylistic grounds, the series in the Prince of Wales Museum may be dated about the end of the 17th or the beginning of the 18th century; they, therefore, ante-date the album from Kabul discussed above. The descriptions inscribed on these series indicate the rāga to which each rāginī is assigned and also its appropriate time and season. This is followed by a somewhat bold recital of the details of the atmosphere related to the melody, but without any suggestion for the emotional background. The descriptions were put on more for the purpose of interpreting and enjoying the pictures for their own sake, rather than as graphic diagrams of musical concepts.