Raga Madhava
Title Raga Madhava
Accession Number ngma-01327
Museum Name National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Object Type Painting
Medium Tempera Painting
Main Artist Rajput School
Country India
School Rajput
Dimensions 15.2x23.5cm
Brief Description

Ragamala painting were a part of most schools of Indian paintings, literally meaning the 'Garland of Ragas of the classical music' which became the visual depictions for the artists of Indian miniature schools. In these paintings, not just the Ragas, but also the wives of Ragas, the Raginis and their sons (Ragaputras) and Daughters (Ragaputris)  became the themes.  This painting depicts the Raga Madhava which represents the springtime.

Detailed Description

Rajput paintings evolved and flourished in the royal courts of Rajputana kingdoms. Each kingdom has its unique style and features and could be distinguished from the other depending on it visual composition, use of lines and colours defining the forms and the figures in the painting, the medium, etc. With these distinctions each style formed into a different school and each school further had several artists styles and substyles. There were four major school under the Rajput miniatures. They being, Mewar school which consists regional styles like the Nathdwara, Devgarh, Udaipur. etc; the Marwar school comprising of the Kishangarh, Jodhpur and Bikaner styles; Hadoti school consisting of Kota, Bundi and Jhalawar styles; and the other styles from the regions like Jaipur and Shekhawati.

The Pahari school comprising of the Basoli, Kangra and other styles of miniature paintings was also out sprout of the Rajput miniatures. Considering the themes, the Pajput miniatures have the episodes from the epics, Krishna's life, beautiful landscapes, hunting and war scenes, and portraits in a very ornatamental style depicted in them.

Each school and artistic style paints the themes with their unique style, like the different dialects of the same language.