Bhairava Raga
Painting
1591 (made)
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 | |
| Title | Bhairava 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 |
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| 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 |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.40-1981 |
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| Record created | February 3, 2003 |
| Record URL |
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