Christie's, London, 6 July 1979, lot 192
The Ehrenfeld Collection, California
Sotheby's, New York, 21 & 22 March 1991, lot 9
Francesca Galloway, London, 2014
Conley Harris Collection, Boston
The artwork known as Mallara Ragini, made during the transition from the last years of Akbar’s reign to the early years of Jahangir’s reign, is a magnificent example from the majestic Berlin Ragamala series. Mallara (or Malhar) is understood to represent monsoon season along with the deep suffering of separation (viraha) caused by love or loss, and this theme is illustrated in this beautiful painting. The scene shown is very vivid, depicting a woman (virahini) who becomes a male hermit (rishi) on her spiritual journey due to the suffering caused to her by the separation of her lover. With her body smeared with ashes resembling a white lotus, the woman meditates under a roof of a beautiful dome, on a tiger skin. The upper border of the composition reads in two lines of Sanskrit in Devanagari script: “The sound of conch... the color of white lotus. Residing in a beautiful grove. This is the description of Malhar Ragini”. This folio, attributed to the Jain master artist Ustad Salivahana, is a prime example of the "Popular Mughal" or sub-imperial style. Salivahana fuses the sophistication of the Mughal imperial court and folk traditions of India. The subject's intense expression, the subtle rendering of the hair and beard, and the wool shading show the techniques of the Mughal court. On the other hand, the flat, geometric architecture, the vegetation, colors and the simple drawing of the tiger fur illustrate the tradition established by artists for their patrons in Agra and Rajasthan.
This is a beautiful Mughal-Persian style painting with a spiritual context of the Ragamala series. The subject\'s intense expression, the subtle rendering of the hair and beard, and the wool shading show the techniques of the Mughal court. On the other hand, the flat, geometric architecture, the vegetation, colors and the simple drawing of the tiger fur illustrate the tradition established by artists for their patrons in Agra and Rajasthan.
