Ragamala Painting

Basel: Ravi Kumar, 1973. Presumed first; no prior printings indicated. Folio in rustic cloth and black color-illus jacket; 305 pages illustrations (some color) 32 cm; bibliographical references (pages 298-299). Printed on high quality coated stock. Many color illustrations. Fine in partly chipped and edge-worn good(+) jacket with a few closed edge tears and protective layer of jacket peeling in places. Hardcover.

"Ragamala paintings are a form of Indian miniature painting, a set of illustrative paintings of the Ragamala or "Garland of Ragas", depicting variations of the Indian musical modes called ragas. They stand as a classical example of the amalgamation of art, poetry and classical music in medieval India. Ragamala paintings were created in most schools of Indian painting, starting in the 16th and 17th centuries, and are today named accordingly as Pahari Ragamala, Rajasthan or Rajput Ragamala, Deccan Ragamala, and Mughal Ragamala. Also it originated in Rajasthan. In these painting each raga is personified by a colour, mood, a verse describing a story of a hero and heroine (nayaka and nayika), it also elucidates the season and the time of day and night in which a particular raga is to be sung; and finally most paintings also demarcate the specific Hindu deities attached with the raga, like Bhairava or Bhairavi to Shiva, Sri to Devi etc. The paintings depict not just the Ragas, but also their wives, (raginis), their numerous sons (ragaputra) and daughters (ragaputri). The six principal ragas present in the Ragamala are Bhairava, Deepak, Sri, Malkaunsa, Megha and Hindola and these are meant to be sung during the six seasons of the year – summer, monsoon, autumn, early winter, winter and spring" —Wikipedia. ¶ Miniature painting, Indic. Rāgamālā(Peinture) Miniature de l'Inde. Rāgamālā (Peintures) Miniature (Peinture) de l'Inde. Miniature painting, Indic. Rāgamālā painting. Miniature painting, Indic Rāgamālā painting