Lot 292
Todi ragini: a maiden playing a vina to an audience of deer Malwa, circa 1725-50
25 October 2021, 11:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£8,000 - £12,000
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Todi ragini: a maiden playing a vina to an audience of deer
Malwa, circa 1725-50
Malwa, circa 1725-50
gouache and gold on paper, silver and red borders
275 x 202 mm.
275 x 202 mm.
Footnotes
Provenance
The collection of Jane Greenough Green, USA.
Private UK collection.
Published
P. Pal, S. Markel, J. Leoshko, Pleasure Gardens of the Mind: Indian Paintings from the Jane Greenough Green Collection, Los Angeles 1993, pp. 114-115, no. 39.
To quote Pal et al: 'Todi ragini is a late morning melody characterised by a mood of gentle adoration. Tradition holds that it was originally a song sung by young girls to lure deer and keep them from foraging in the village fields. Illustrations of Todi Ragini created in the Rajasthani tradition, which is followed in Malwa Ragamalas, typically depict a young woman in a forest carrying or playing a vina with an attentive audience of deer and/or antelopes'. They also note that the ragini has taken on the attributes of a goddess, namely Gauri, a form of Parvati in her aspect as a corn goddess. 'This identification is suggested by the long floral garland she wears and the gesture of benevolence she displays with her left hand'.