Unknown
Madhu Ragaputra, Third Son of Bhairava Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)circa 1715

Not on view

Indian miniature painting, two figures in court dress seated cross-legged on a striped platform, with a large blue and gold tree to the right and a pale landscape behind, framed in coral orange with floral border and script text above

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Madhu Ragaputra, Third Son of Bhairava Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)
Place Made: India, Himachal Pradesh, Chamba
Date Made: circa 1715
Period: 18th century
Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and ink on paper
Dimensions: Image: 7 1/4 x 7 in. (18.42 x 17.78 cm); Sheet: 8 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (22.23 x 20.96 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Jane Greenough Green in memory of Edward Pelton Green
Accession Number: AC1999.127.8
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: The Takri inscription of the border above this painting states it to be Madhu Ragaputra, a son of Bhairava Raga. According to Kshemakarna’s system of classification, the protagonist is described as a handsome and fair man, knowledgeable, skilled in the arts, and frequently dressed in red (verse 20). Here, however, as in most representations of the melody in the Himachal Pradesh or Pahari tradition, the hero is shown in white and fondling his beloved’s breast. They are seated outdoors on a carpet in the shade of an overhanging tree. Alternatively, the couple are depicted as drinking, with or without a female attendant.

This Chamba painting of c. 1715 exhibits strong stylistic influence from contemporaneous Basohli works. Figural and facial types are similar, and coloration schemes of deep intense hues and monochromatic backgrounds are analogous. In contrast, in slightly later Chamba painting figures are generally somewhat less stylized, drapery and fauna conventions differ, the palette is generally more subdued, and small sections of beetle thorax casing are never used for decoration as in the Basohli tradition. The Ragamala set of which this painting was once a part originally belonged to the Chamba royal family. It is now in the Bhuri Singh Museum of Chamba, except for some twelve dispersed pages.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya; Markel, Stephen; Leoshko, Janice. Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection. Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd.: Los Angeles, 1993.

Unknown
Madhu Ragaputra, Third Son of Bhairava Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)circa 1715

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: Madhu Ragaputra, Third Son of Bhairava Raga, Folio from a Ragamala (Garland of Melodies)
Place Made: India, Himachal Pradesh, Chamba
Date Made: circa 1715
Period: 18th century
Medium: Opaque watercolor, gold, silver, and ink on paper
Dimensions: Image: 7 1/4 x 7 in. (18.42 x 17.78 cm); Sheet: 8 3/4 x 8 1/4 in. (22.23 x 20.96 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Jane Greenough Green in memory of Edward Pelton Green
Accession Number: AC1999.127.8
Classification: Drawings
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: The Takri inscription of the border above this painting states it to be Madhu Ragaputra, a son of Bhairava Raga. According to Kshemakarna’s system of classification, the protagonist is described as a handsome and fair man, knowledgeable, skilled in the arts, and frequently dressed in red (verse 20). Here, however, as in most representations of the melody in the Himachal Pradesh or Pahari tradition, the hero is shown in white and fondling his beloved’s breast. They are seated outdoors on a carpet in the shade of an overhanging tree. Alternatively, the couple are depicted as drinking, with or without a female attendant.

This Chamba painting of c. 1715 exhibits strong stylistic influence from contemporaneous Basohli works. Figural and facial types are similar, and coloration schemes of deep intense hues and monochromatic backgrounds are analogous. In contrast, in slightly later Chamba painting figures are generally somewhat less stylized, drapery and fauna conventions differ, the palette is generally more subdued, and small sections of beetle thorax casing are never used for decoration as in the Basohli tradition. The Ragamala set of which this painting was once a part originally belonged to the Chamba royal family. It is now in the Bhuri Singh Museum of Chamba, except for some twelve dispersed pages.
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya; Markel, Stephen; Leoshko, Janice. Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection. Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Mapin Publishing Pvt. Ltd.: Los Angeles, 1993.