Page from a Ragamala Series: Megha Raga (Primary Title)
Unknown (Artist)
This painting must have originally belonged to the same ragamala set as the Bhairavi Ragini near the gallery’s opposite corner. Megha Raga celebrates the arrival of the rainy season, portrayed as a hero—shown here as the blue-skinned deity Krishna—dancing exuberantly in a monsoon torrent. He clutches a stringed instrument called a vina, and female musicians join him in his revelry, keeping time with a drum and cymbals. A pair of peacocks completes the festive group enjoying the rain, which falls in long streaks from dark storm clouds. The trees in which these birds perch are not yet in bloom. This is the first rain of the new season, which will soon reinvigorate the landscape.
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