Todi Ragini, from a Ragamala Series
1762
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1762
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Todi Ragini, from a Ragamala Series is a 1762 unspecified by Unknown, a Baroque work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a woman in a red sari standing under a tree, a deer nudging her hand. This painting is one page from a *Ragamala*—a set of pictures that pair music with moods. Todi Ragini is the "wife" of a springtime melody; the verses say she’s so lovely that even deer forget to run away. If you like this quiet moment, look up *northwestern india, rajasthan, bundi or uniara, 18th century* for more paintings from the same place and time.
In the ragamala system, male ragas are "married" to female raginis. Todi Ragini is a "wife" of Hindola Raga, the name of a scene that features the male lover or lovers on a swing. Both Todi and Hindola are meant to explore the moods of springtime. Ragamala verses describe Todi as a woman with sharp eyes and a slim "extremely tender body, radiant as the frost" and smeared with saffron and camphor from Kashmir. She is said to "push back a deer from the edge of a forest glade."
Read the full account in the museum source.
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