Bangali Ragini
date: label: Date
content: ca. 1630
notes: label: School/Tradition
content: Marwar school
label: Inscriptions
content: Verso: 18 (in pencil)
label: Inscriptions
content: Recto: Ragini Bangalo [followed by an unclear word]
label: Inscriptions
content: Recto: Ragini Bangalo [followed by an unclear word]
label: Label
content: Enigmatic in the extreme, this painting depicts a hunting cheetah sitting squarely in the inner sanctum of a sandstone temple. To the left of the temple, a beautiful youth wearing a sacred thread worships a small icon of Vishnu. The young man may be a prince because he wears the pearl and ruby earrings that came into style during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir, and the cheetah may be his.
label: Label
content: The image embodies the musical mode of Vangala, which is meant to be sung in the morning in the autumn season. It is described in a verse from a ca. 1605 Marwar painting as a beautiful young man singing a sacred hymn:
label: Label
content: His body is decorated with a beautiful string of grass. He wears the skin of a young foe. He is a vigorous youth. His body shines with the brilliance of gold. He sings the sacred hymn, Vangala.
label: Label
content: Raga (Sanskrit, color or passion) is the term for a classical music mode, a set framework for improvisation. Having originated in the first millennium, ragas were systematized and classified during the thirteenth through sixteenth century, they were classified into ragamalas, meaning garlands of musical modes. A common system recognized six raga husbands, each "married" to five ragini wives for a total of thirty-six "families." Families of musical modes sometimes included sons or ragaputras as well. By the fifteenth century, ragas had become associated with specific moods, times, seasons, affective properties, deities, lovers, and heroes. Around 1590-1620, illustrated ragamala series became a favorite subject for Rajput patrons, as well as for some Mughals, such as Abd-ur Rahim, patron of the Freer Ramayana and the Laud Ragamala. Specific iconographies were developed for depicting each mode. These formulae lent themselves to variations, which were sometimes dependent on region.
label: Label
content: Illustrated ragas evoke mood and engender feeling, as do musical compositions. But the connection seems to be indirect. Although some connoisseurs of music may have internally "heard" a composition when viewing its image, ragamalas were probably more broadly valued for their poetic and pictorial pleasures. The commission of a ragamala series would also have been understood as a sign of a patron's cultivated sensibility.
label: Provenance
content: 1990
label: Provenance
content: Sale, London, Sotheby’s, Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, October 12, 1990, lot 41: “Bangali ragini: a girl dressed as an ascetic crouches on a stool before a shrine to the god Vishnu, a cheetah within the shrine, the roof decorated with elephants and faces” [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1990 to 2018
label: Provenance
content: Ralph (1914-2001) and Catherine Glynn Benkaim, Beverly Hills, California, purchased at auction, London, Sotheby’s, “Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures,” October 12, 1990, lot no. 41: “Bangali ragini: a girl dressed as an ascetic crouches on a stool before a shrine to the god Vishnu, a cheetah within the shrine, the roof decorated with elephants and faces.”
label: Provenance
content: From 2018
label: Provenance
content: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, partial gift and purchase from Catherine Glynn Benkaim [2]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See auction catalogue from Sotheby’s, London. Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures, October 12, 1990, lot 41.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See Acquisition Consideration Form, copy in object file, Collections Management Office.
label: Collection
content: National Museum of Asian Art Collection
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ralph and Catherine Benkaim
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Catherine Glynn Benkaim (born 1946)
place: label: Origin
content: Marwar, Rajasthan state, India
topic: label: Topic
content: temple
label: Topic
content: ragamala
label: Topic
content: cheetah
label: Topic
content: India
label: Topic
content: South Asian and Himalayan Art
label: Topic
content: boy
label: Topic
content: Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
setName: label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection — funds provided by the Friends of the National Museum of Asian Art
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: S2018.1.50
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 21 × 14.3 cm (8 1/4 × 5 5/8 in)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 26.7 × 18.8 cm (10 1/2 × 7 3/8 in)