A Musician Charms a Mrig (Antelope)

1825-03-18T00:00:00Z

In the foreground, a female musician sits before a tower playing a stringed instrument called a vina, while a mrig stands transfixed before her; at the top of the tower, Krishna, attended by two maids, reaches out toward a tree. The scene is set in a type of landscape that is typical of Kota paintings—hilly and rocky and filled with stark trees and prowling animals. The suggestion that this is an illustration of Todi Ragini, a particular musical mode, is unlikely; in such images, a lady usually walks among several deer that she has already charmed with her playing.