Ragas and Raginis: A Pictorial and Iconographic Study of Indian Musical Modes Based on Original Sources c10.44

c10.44

'White in complexion, clad in white, carrying the crescent, and the horn and wearing a garland, Bhairava is born from the mouth of Śiva, and carries the poison on his neck and his eyes are red. He (also) carries the trident, the skull, and the lotus, and wears jewelled pendants on his two-ears and matted locks. This (melody) is sung by the gods in the morning in autumn.'¹ A name of a musical iconographer is alluded to in a single verse. In the Saṅgīta Mahodadhi, itself a treatise of uncertain date, the verse describing the rāginī Mallārikā (See plate LXVIII) contains a passage: "She is Mallārikā called by Nṛpa" (*Mallārikeyaṃ Kathitā Nṛpeṇa*). This seems to suggest that there was a musical authority named Nṛpa who had provided outlines for the portraits, or images for visualising some of the melodies. No other reference to Nṛpa has been traced, and it is impossible to say anything about this iconographer, on the basis of this single allusion.