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Sāraṃga rāgiṇī

Nasiruddin

1605

paint

From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum

Baroque Mughal Painting Baroque

Dominant colour

Sāraṃga rāgiṇī is a 1605 paint by Nasiruddin, a Baroque work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.

Who painted this?: Nasiruddin
When & what style?: 1605 · Baroque
Where can I see it?: Victoria and Albert Museum

About this work

This painting shows a woman playing a stringed tanpura. She sits on a patterned rug against a plain background. Her sari is draped in soft folds of yellow, green and white. The painting comes from a set called the "Chawand ragamala." Made in 1605, it’s the oldest dated set from Rajasthan. The artist’s name, Nasiruddin, is written on the last page. If you like this, look up another artist from Rajasthan: Sahibdin.

The story of this work

Overview

This painting from the early 17th-century Chawand ragamala set depicts two musicians performing before a temple, accompanied by three peacocks facing them and another perched in a tree, illustrating the musical mode sāraṃga rāgiṇī. Executed in opaque watercolour on paper by the artist Nasiruddin in 1605 at Chawand, the capital of Mewar at the time, the work is the earliest dated ragamala series known from Rajasthan.

Read the full account in the museum source.

About the artist

Artist

Nasiruddin

Nisardin (fl. 1585–1609, also known as Nasiruddin) was an artist who is credited to have painted the earliest dated set of Rajasthani miniature paintings, called Chawand Ragamala. It is uncertain if he belonged to the…

See the richer artist page