A PAHARI MINIATURE PAINTING FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES DEPICTING THE TODI RAGINI, LATE 18TH TO EARLY

A PAHARI MINIATURE PAINTING FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES DEPICTING THE TODI RAGINI, LATE 18TH TO EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Expert's note
The present painting is distinguished by the contrast between its spacious, lyrical landscape and the jewel-like refinement of its details. Particular attention may be drawn to the heroine's gold lower garment, patterned with minute blue motifs and enlivened by a brilliant red central panel, as well as the delicate ornamentation of her stringed instrument and crimson slippers. Equal finesse is evident in the finely bordered veil covering her hair, the translucent fabric of her blouse and the individual strands of pearls encircling her neck. The attentive deer and paired birds complete the composition, responding to the heroine's music and giving visual expression to the pensive mood traditionally associated with Todi Ragini. Several elements associate the present painting with the Pahari tradition of the Punjab Hills around 1800, particularly the delicately modeled figure, the lyrical treatment of the landscape, the slender, rhythmically arranged trees, and the Mughal-derived naturalism evident in the deer and birds. A particularly close comparison is provided by a depiction of Todi Ragini in the Royal Collection (see literature comparison), dated circa 1800 and attributed to Sajnu, which presents a closely related conception of the solitary heroine and enchanted deer within a sparse landscape; the Royal Collection further notes that both its painting style and borders associate it with artists of the Punjab Hills. The rich use of gold in the present work, while recalling Deccani painting, should be understood within this broader current of artistic exchange rather than as evidence of a southern origin.

North India, Punjab Hills. Ink, gouache, and gold on paper. Finely painted to depict a richly attired youthful woman seated on the branch of a willow tree, gracefully playing a sitar at dawn, as two young deer approach drawn by the melody, within a hilly landscape with birds in flight overhead.

Inscriptions: To the reverse, handwritten in Persian script, 'Ragini Todi'.

Provenance: British trade. By repute from a private collection in London, United Kingdom.

Condition: Very good condition with minor wear, light soiling, foxing mostly to the reverse, little rubbing to pigments, the vibrant colors very well preserved.

Dimensions: Image size 31.8 x 22 cm, Size incl. frame 43.2 x 32.5 cm

Mounted and framed behind glass. (2)

The present illustration depicts Todi Ragini, identified in the Rajasthani system of Ragamala classification as the second wife of Hindola Raga. Todi may have originated as a melody sung by village girls guarding fields from foraging deer, whose song was believed to mesmerize the animals. A tender early-morning melody associated with winter, Todi is described in Ragamala poetry as a lovesick woman who sings to the deer and is generally depicted carrying or playing a vina or sitar.

The presence of the deer also carries an erotic resonance, since the attraction of the male deer to a young woman has served as a recurring metaphor for sexual desire in Sanskrit poetry since antiquity, as noted by Pratapaditya Pal. Significantly, in the present image, the woman directs her attention towards the buck rather than the fawn, subtly reinforcing this established poetic association. See Pratapaditya Pal, Classical Tradition in Rajput Painting, 1978, p. 128.

Ragamala paintings constitute a distinctive genre of Indian miniature painting whose name, meaning 'Garland of Ragas', refers to series of images that give visual form to 'ragas', the melodic modes of Indian classical music. Produced by many of the principal schools of Indian painting from the sixteenth century onwards, these series organize musical modes into poetic and pictorial families in which a principal male raga is associated with a number of female raginis, conceived as his wives or consorts and, in some traditions, with sons and daughters who further extend the musical family.

Each raga or ragini is personified through a particular mood, color, setting, and poetic narrative, often centered on the emotional states of a hero and heroine (nayaka and nayika), while also evoking the season and time of day traditionally associated with its performance and, in certain cases, the Hindu deity connected with it.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Kangra painting of Todi Ragini, attributed to Sajnu and dated c. 1800, in the Royal Collection Trust, object number RCIN 1005127. Compare a closely related Pahari painting of Todi Ragini ascribed to a Master of the Second Generation after Nainsukh, dated between circa 1825 and circa 1830, in the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh, accession number 907, illustrated by B. N. Goswamy and Eberhard Fischer, "Pahari Masters: Court Painters of Northern India", Artibus Asiae. Supplementum, 1992, pp. 360-361. Compare a related North Indian miniature painting depicting Todi Ragini, dated late 18th century, image size 18.4 x 13.5 cm, in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, accession number 110.1986. Compare a related Garhwal miniature painting with a woman playing a sitar, possibly by Mola Ram, dated c. 1780, image size 15.1 x 9.6 cm, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, accession number IS.166-1955.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's London, 26 October 2022, lot 56
Price: GBP 18,900 or approx.

EUR 26,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An illustration to a Ragamala series: Todi Ragini, India, Deccan, circa 1680-1700
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and related manner of painting, similarly employing lavish use of gold. Note the different attribution and earlier dating.

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