Page from a Ragamala Series: Malashri Ragini (Primary Title)
Unidentified (Artist)
From the same ragamala set as the painting to the left—much of which appears in the adjacent gallery—this painting portrays Malashri Ragini. The third wife of Bhairava Raga, and thus the fourth painting in its series as noted in the inscription above, Malashri is invariably depicted as a lady with flower blossoms. Here, she sits on a palace terrace, cooled from the afternoon heat by the shade of an orange awning and an attendant with a fan. She holds pink lotus blossoms, of the sort growing in the nearby lake, in each hand, and listens absentmindedly to the plaintive strains of a female musician playing a bowed instrument. Staring into the deep distance, she laments her lover’s absence.
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