A leaf with two Ragamala Illustrations: ASAVARI RAGINI AND MEGHA (?) RAGINI, India, Deccan, Hyderabad, circa 1760

Gouache heightened with gold on paper, a double-sided leaf, each page with text above the miniature in red and black nast’aliq script on cream paper, red borders, recto numbered in lower border in Persian '206'
recto painting: 24.3 by 17.3cm.
verso painting: 23.8 by 18cm.
leaf: 36.3 by 26cm.

Asavari is a plaintive mode, said to originate in a snake charmer’s melody and usually performed in the early morning hours. The ragini is depicted as a dark skinned tribal girl wearing a skirt of leaves…In the absence of her lover she communes with the entranced cobra held in her hand.

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Source: www.sothebys.com