Bangali Ragini

Object Details

School/Tradition

Marwar school

Inscriptions

Verso: 18 (in pencil)

Recto: Ragini Bangalo [followed by an unclear word]

Recto: Ragini Bangalo [followed by an unclear word]

Label

Enigmatic in the extreme, this painting depicts a hunting cheetah sitting squarely in the inner sanctum of a sandstone temple. To the left of the temple, a beautiful youth wearing a sacred thread worships a small icon of Vishnu. The young man may be a prince because he wears the pearl and ruby earrings that came into style during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, and the cheetah may be his.

The image embodies the musical mode of Vangala, which is meant to be sung in the morning in the autumn season. It is described in a verse from a ca. 1605 Marwar painting as a beautiful young man singing a sacred hymn:

His body is decorated with a beautiful string of grass. He wears the skin of a young foe. He is a vigorous youth. His body shines with the brilliance of gold. He sings the sacred hymn, Vangala.

Raga (Sanskrit, color or passion) is the term for a classical music mode, a set framework for improvisation. Having originated in the first millennium, ragas were systematized and classified during the thirteenth through sixteenth century, they were classified into ragamalas, meaning garlands of musical modes. A common system recognized six raga husbands, each "married" to five ragini wives for a total of thirty-six "families." Families of musical modes sometimes included sons or ragaputras as well. By the fifteenth century, ragas had become associated with specific moods, times, seasons, affective properties, deities, lovers, and heroes. Around 1590-1620, illustrated ragamala series became a favorite subject for Rajput patrons, as well as for some Mughals, such as Abd-ur Rahim, patron of the Freer Ramayana and the Laud Ragamala. Specific iconographies were developed for depicting each mode. These formulae lent themselves to variations, which were sometimes dependent on region.

Illustrated ragas evoke mood and engender feeling, as do musical compositions. But the connection seems to be indirect. Although some connoisseurs of music may have internally "heard" a composition when viewing its image, ragamalas were probably more broadly valued for their poetic and pictorial pleasures. The commission of a ragamala series would also have been understood as a sign of a patron's cultivated sensibility.

Provenance

1990

Sale, London, Sotheby’s, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, October 12, 1990, lot 41: “Bangali ragini: a girl dressed as an ascetic crouches on a stool before a shrine to the god Vishnu, a cheetah within the shrine, the roof decorated with elephants and faces” [1]

From 1990 to 2018

Ralph (1914-2001) and Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, purchased at auction, London, Sotheby’s, “Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures,” October 12, 1990, lot no. 41: “Bangali ragini: a girl dressed as an ascetic crouches on a stool before a shrine to the god Vishnu, a cheetah within the shrine, the roof decorated with elephants and faces.”

From 2018

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [2]

Notes:

[1] See auction catalogue from Sotheby’s, London. Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, October 12, 1990, lot 41.

[2] See Acquisition Consideration Form, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.

Collection

National Museum of Asian Art Collection

Previous custodian or owner

Ralph and Catherine Benkaim

Catherine Glynn Benkaim

Credit Line

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art

ca. 1630

Accession Number

S2018.1.50

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Painting

Medium

Opaque watercolor and gold on paper

Dimensions

H x W (painting): 21 × 14.3 cm (8 1/4 × 5 5/8 in)

H x W (overall): 26.7 × 18.8 cm (10 1/2 × 7 3/8 in)

Origin

Marwar, Rajasthan state, India

See more items in

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Topic

temple

ragamala

cheetah

India

South Asian and Himalayan Art

boy

Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection

Record ID

fsg_S2018.1.50

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye39065b0f4-8d42-436f-b6ed-5c12990ff8bc