Unknown
Jalandhara Ragaputra, Seventh Son of Megha Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)circa 1690

Not on view

Indian miniature painting, three figures under a pink canopy on an orange ground; a man kneels drinking from a bird-shaped vessel, flanked by two standing women in bright dress

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Jalandhara Ragaputra, Seventh Son of Megha Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)
Place Made: India, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur
Date Made: circa 1690
Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
Dimensions: Image: 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in. (20.95 x 14.92 cm); Sheet: 10 1/4 x 7 7/8 in. (26.03 x 20 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number: M.71.1.29
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Jalandhara Ragaputra is the seventh son of Megha Raga in the variant ragamala (garland of melodies) classification system known as Meshakarna’s system (developed by Meshakarna, a court priest from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, in his Ragamala of 1570), which was followed in Pahari ragamalas. Meshakarna’s system has six males (ragas), each of whom who has five or six wives (raginis) and eight or nine sons (ragaputras). The melodies are also compared to a sound in nature or a human activity. Jalandhara Ragaputra is likened to the sound of thunder and envisioned as Krishna lifting up Mount Govardhana. In this and commonly in other Pahari ragamalas, however, the melody is personified as a prince kneeling against a bolster under an awning. He is drinking fervently from a ewer while a maidservant offers him a towel. Another female attendant holds a fly whisk made from the white tail-hairs of a yak (cauri or chowri). The orange background likely indicates it is a daytime melody.

This folio and its series mates M.71.1.49 and M.77.19.31 have a red border and are from a slightly later Bilaspur ragamala than M.82.42.7 and M.83.105.10, which have a yellow border. Four folios from this dispersed series are in the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery (174–176). A comparable Bilaspur Jalandhara Ragaputra attributed to circa 1740-1750 is in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington (S2018.1.4).
Selected Bibliography: Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.

Unknown
Jalandhara Ragaputra, Seventh Son of Megha Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)circa 1690

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Jalandhara Ragaputra, Seventh Son of Megha Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)
Place Made: India, Himachal Pradesh, Bilaspur
Date Made: circa 1690
Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on paper
Dimensions: Image: 8 1/4 x 5 7/8 in. (20.95 x 14.92 cm); Sheet: 10 1/4 x 7 7/8 in. (26.03 x 20 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number: M.71.1.29
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Jalandhara Ragaputra is the seventh son of Megha Raga in the variant ragamala (garland of melodies) classification system known as Meshakarna’s system (developed by Meshakarna, a court priest from Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, in his Ragamala of 1570), which was followed in Pahari ragamalas. Meshakarna’s system has six males (ragas), each of whom who has five or six wives (raginis) and eight or nine sons (ragaputras). The melodies are also compared to a sound in nature or a human activity. Jalandhara Ragaputra is likened to the sound of thunder and envisioned as Krishna lifting up Mount Govardhana. In this and commonly in other Pahari ragamalas, however, the melody is personified as a prince kneeling against a bolster under an awning. He is drinking fervently from a ewer while a maidservant offers him a towel. Another female attendant holds a fly whisk made from the white tail-hairs of a yak (cauri or chowri). The orange background likely indicates it is a daytime melody.

This folio and its series mates M.71.1.49 and M.77.19.31 have a red border and are from a slightly later Bilaspur ragamala than M.82.42.7 and M.83.105.10, which have a yellow border. Four folios from this dispersed series are in the Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery (174–176). A comparable Bilaspur Jalandhara Ragaputra attributed to circa 1740-1750 is in the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington (S2018.1.4).
Selected Bibliography: Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.