Page from the Ragamala Series: Mevada Raga, Son of Malakausha (Primary Title)
Page from a Ragamala Series: Mevada Ragaputra (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
Kshemakarna’s 86-page system was most frequently employed in the courts of the Punjab Hills, but its use was not entirely restricted to those mountainous states. This vibrantly colored page comes from a Kshemakarna-scheme ragamala painted in the Indian plains, in the northern part of the country’s vast central plateau called the Deccan. It shows one of the sons of Malkos Raga, Mevada. As the Sanskrit poetry above describes, Mevada is imagined as a handsome young prince with a sword, wearing colorful clothes and a crown of flowers. From the garden below, to the carpet, throne, attendants’ robes, archways, and domes, flowers cover nearly every surface, infusing the picture with the youthful energy these verses ascribed to Mevada.
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