The fine and performing arts in India form a unique association in the domain of Ragamala Painting. Here melodic modes (ragas) are portrayed through the visual medium of miniature painting.
Hindu Theism
The development of ragragini theory as a rag classification system corresponds with the rise in popularity of Hindu theism and more specifically with the appearance of bhakti (devotional) philosophy. According to Hindu bhakti philosophy, the individual soul and God are compared to the lover and the beloved in a romantic relationship. This emphasis on personification and symbolic relationships is also evident in the ragragini system.
Ragragini Theory
The first version of Ragragini theory is found in the Sangit Markaranda of Narada (written sometime between the seventh and eleventh centuries A.D.). The author of that work assigns gender to rag (either masculine, feminine, or neuter). In the later theories of Hanuman, Ragarnava, and Shiva mats (opinion-school) can be found a structured framework based on the principle of six male rags each having six female raginis for wives.
Poetic Couplets
The Sangit Darpana written sometime between 1450 and 1650, outlines an interpretation of ragragini theory and also includes poetic couplets describing each of the rags and raginis. The sources for Sanskrit language verse found in Amber, Rajasthani, and Plains-Pahari traditions of ragmala painting respectively are the Sangit Darpana, the poetic couplets of Kasyapa (written sometime prior to 1550) and Mesakarna's Ragamala dated at about 1570 (Ebeling 1973:114ff).
Ragamala Painting
Ebeling has identified a total of one hundred and twenty-seven sets of ragmala paintings from the Amber and Rajasthani traditions dating from 1475 to 1872, plus an additional six sets from the Pahari tradition dated between 1700 and 1790.
Poets composed couplets which attempted to express something about a given rag. These poetic verses in combination with the framework provided by the ragragini system were used by artists who painted sets of ragmala miniatures. Ragragini theory deals primarily with indigenous Indian rags, and as such contains little mention of rags with "foreign" names. Rag Yeman, for instance, is not mentioned.
It is only in rare instances that a depiction of a "foreign" rag can be found in a collection of ragmala paintings. This is probably due to the fact that the ragragini system and its counterpart, ragmala painting, evolved drawing upon Hindu mythology. The names of Indian rags were associated with characters and events in Hindu myth and these were portrayed in painting. Since "foreign" rags often had Arabic, Persian or Turkish names, these could not be readily visualized by native poets and painters.
Works of Art
The existence of ragmala paintings raises the question as to whether or not they served any function other than as being works of art. Fox Strangways writes that "the Chippewas [Indians of North America] draw a picture of a tune, by the help of which another man can sing it, and the Hindus set store by their Ragmalas, sets of paintings of gods or men affected by the passion which the particular Rag expresses" (Fox Strangways 1914:163). This implied comparison is questionable, for ragmala paintings are not used to teach music but are works of art which may or may not have used music as a source of inspiration.
Extra-musical Association and Sanskritization
What ragmala paintings do appear to depict, are some of the extra-musical features associated with given rags such as time of day or season and ras (sentiment). If the rag has the same name as a deity (i.e. Bhairav) then this God or Goddess usually becomes the central character of the painting. Likewise if the name refers to a specific object (i.e. Hindol=swing) then this object is portrayed in the manner in which it appeared in a mythological tale. As a result of this development a form of Sanskritization of many rags occurred whereby they came to be associated with beings and objects found in Sanskrit language texts.
Bibliography
Ebeling, K. 1973 Ragamala Painting. Basel, Switzerland and Paris: Basilius Press: New Delhi: Kumar Gallery.
Fox Strangways, A.H. [1914] 1965 The Music of Hindustan. London: Oxford University Press.
James Hamilton - James Hamilton has spent over twenty-five years studying the music of South Asia including fourteen years while living in India. He has ...
Join the Conversation