Vilaval Ragini: Page from a Dispersed Ragamala Series (Garland of Musical Modes)

1680-03-17T00:00:00Z

The Vilaval raga is to be performed in the morning, as suggested by the image of the sun rising in the dark sky. In poetry this raga is described as a lady preparing to meet her lover—here shown looking in a mirror and fixing her earrings. The pavilion is presented without depth and great emphasis given to surface patterning. The orange borders and the red and green color fields in the architectural frame link it to an exquisite Ragamala series attributed to the Sirohi court. Although distinct, the treatment of the figures and the flattened patterned conception of the architecture can be compared to paintings produced by late seventeenth-century Malwa workshops.