A
Ragamala is a set of miniature paintings depicting var-
ious musical mode, Ragas, of north Indian Music. Each
painting is accompanied by a brief inscription in the
form of poems that suggests the mood of the Raga in its various
aspects and devotion.
Ragamalas were created in most centres of Indian painting, but
in majority of cases the identity of the painters and poets remains
unknown. Interpretation of inscriptions regional imagery helps us
identify Ragamalas of particular periods and localities.
Medieval Hindustani Musicians associated each raga with a
deity, naming the Raga, perhaps as the means of memorising
the melodic structure. Intrigued poets of late medieval period then
personified the ragas and elaborated their tales in vivid verbal
imagery. These stories, along with other influential texts on Indian
Classical Music, provided the poetic source of Ragamala paintings.
Hindu deities personify the ragas and their raginis, the ‘wives”
of the ragas. Sitting in the centre of the top row Bhairava Raga is
visualised as the many-armed god Shiva, his body smeared with
holy ash, with his bull Nandi at his feet. To the far top right,. The
green Megha Raga is identified with the deity Vishnu; he wears
a garland of flowers and a peacock rest rests at his feet.
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| APRIL 2018
Ragamala has proved to be an exact pictorial representation of
Indian Art and Music. In our edition, we have tried to revive this
tradition of Ragamala by b eautiful paintings of Ragas by an artist
Sushil Mishra and the inscriptions by art in herself Pragya Pyasi
whose writings/poems will take you to another realm of music
which has divine vibrations.