Bhairava Raga thumbnail 1
Bhairava Raga thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Bhairava Raga

Painting
1591 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

A raga is a traditional Hindu musical form. This is a page from a dispersed set of paintings known as a ragamala ('garland of ragas'), which uses a particular scene or person to represent each raga. This painting represents Bhairava raga and shows the Hindu god Shiva (in the form of Bhairava) with his consort Parvati in a palace setting. This important set has a colophon (in a private collection) on the last miniature. A colophon is a short text at the end of a set of paintings that gives the date and place where it was completed. This one gives the date of 999 in the Muslim (Hijri) calendar (equivalent to 1591) and the place name of Chunar, near Varanasi. It also names the three artists involved, who were all pupils of Mir Sayyid 'Ali, one of the most famous artists at the court of the Emperor Akbar. The painting shows a remarkable combination of Hindu imagery and the Mughal painting style. Mir Sayyid 'Ali and his colleague 'Abd us-Samad developed this style at the end of the 16th century.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleBhairava Raga (generic title)
Materials and techniques
Painted in opaque watercolour and gold on paper
Brief description
Painting, Bhairava Raga, Shiva and Parvati, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Chunar, from a series dated 1591
Physical description
Painting, in opaque watercolour and gold on paper, Shiva in his terrifying form, Bhairava is shown in this Ragamala painting seated under an elephant-hide canopy. He is seated with ladies, holding a vina. Painted by three Mughal-trained artists, the set from which it comes was taken to Bundi in Rajasthan and influenced the local painting style there. Illustration to the Bhairava Raga musical mode.
Dimensions
  • Image within innermost painted borders height: 255mm
  • Image within innermost painted borders width: 114mm
  • Height: 260mm (maximum)
  • Width: 150mm (maximum)
29/05/2013 dimensions measured as part of Indian Paintings Cataloguing Project 2013; object irregular in shape
Content description
Shiva in his terrifying form, Bhairava is shown in this Ragamala painting seated under an elephant-hide canopy. He is seated with ladies, holding a vina.
Style
Production
Chunar is near Varanasi. The date, place of manufacture and artists' names are given in the colophon which is in a private collection. Proto-Bundi School, from a ragamala series painted at Chunar in 1591, from which the later Bundi ragamalas derive their iconography.
Subjects depicted
Summary
A raga is a traditional Hindu musical form. This is a page from a dispersed set of paintings known as a ragamala ('garland of ragas'), which uses a particular scene or person to represent each raga. This painting represents Bhairava raga and shows the Hindu god Shiva (in the form of Bhairava) with his consort Parvati in a palace setting. This important set has a colophon (in a private collection) on the last miniature. A colophon is a short text at the end of a set of paintings that gives the date and place where it was completed. This one gives the date of 999 in the Muslim (Hijri) calendar (equivalent to 1591) and the place name of Chunar, near Varanasi. It also names the three artists involved, who were all pupils of Mir Sayyid 'Ali, one of the most famous artists at the court of the Emperor Akbar. The painting shows a remarkable combination of Hindu imagery and the Mughal painting style. Mir Sayyid 'Ali and his colleague 'Abd us-Samad developed this style at the end of the 16th century.
Bibliographic references
  • Guy, John and Swallow, Deborah (eds.) Arts of India: 1550-1900. Text by Rosemary Crill, John Guy, Veronica Murphy, Susan Stronge and Deborah Swallow. London : Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990, reprinted 1999. 240 p. : ill. ISBN: 1851770224. p.133, pl.114
  • Skelton, Robert, et al, The Indian Heritage. Court life and Arts under Mughal Rule London: The Victoria and Albert Museum, 1982 Andrew Topsfield, cat. no. 138, p. 157
  • Topsfield, Andrew, An introduction to Indian Court Painting, H.M.S.O., London, 1984, 0112903835 p. 29, cat. no. 21.
  • Diamond, D. Yoga: The Art of Transformation, Smithsonian Institute, 2013, 978-1-58834-459-5 pp. 214-5, 18B.
Collection
Accession number
IS.40-1981

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Record createdFebruary 3, 2003
Record URL
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