Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c10.251

c10.251

Enough quotations have been given from the work of Rādha Mohan Sen, to convey the nature and quality of the rāga-mālā texts composed in Bengali rhyming metre (payār) prevalent at the time. He adds many piquant accessories and details which make his portraits of the rāgiṇīs shine out in rich, vivid, attractive, and sensuous colours. No rāga-mālā paintings appear to have been painted in Bengal,¹ so that the text of Rādha Mohan Sen have had no other uses excepting conveying to practising musicians in Bengal, ignorant of Sanskrit, the systems of the classification of the melodies, and their individual characteristics in pictorial as well as musical form. "Sangīta-Taranga" appears to have acquired sufficient authority and the author of "Rāga-Kalpa-druma" pays it a compliment by quoting passages from this Bengali work in his anthology.