Todi Ragini

This is a Ragamala painting (Garland of Ragas), from an Indian school of miniature painting that developed in North India in the Rajput and Pahari traditions between the 16th and the end of the 19th centuries. Ragamala paintings depict ragas, which are musical modes and also the sentiments, times, seasons and moods related to each raga. According to the Indian aesthetic theory, each Raga was embodied in a masculine heroic form and its associated raginis or female manifestations were represented by heroines experiencing sentiments such as devotion, tenderness, love, longing or separation. These paintings are not a literal illustration of music; they use depictions of human figures, landscapes, animals and plants to convey the mood of the musical composition. Ragamala paintings thus represent the interaction of music, poetry and paintings. This painting depicts the Todi Ragini, one of the most famous female personifications in the Ragamala tradition. Here, a woman is shown dressed in a striped skirt and a pink veil adorned with ornaments. She is slightly bent against large flowering trees with soft pink blossoms in the background. One of her hands is raised towards her face. The setting is a beautiful garden landscape. Two deers are shown along each side of the woman, one black and one pale in colour. Two upright trees in the background contrast with the drooping branches and flowering shrubs. The elements harmonize into a total picture of gentle loveliness. The subdued tones of pink, gray, brown, and green add to this effect. Todi Ragini belongs to classical Indian music that expresses tenderness, longing, intropection and longing. In Ragamala paintings, Todi is often depicted by a woman with her flute captivating the deers. Deers are depicted as sensitive animlas which symbolise gentleness and emotional intelligence. In this painting, the deers are attentive to the woman's gesture, seemingly captivated by her musical performance. The woman in the painting reflects the aesthetic principle of shringara rasa (sentiment of love and beauty). The harmonious composition between the woman and natural world is significant. Nature as a motif is symbolical; flowering trees reflect fertilization and beauty, while its serene presence enhances the overall effect of calm and emotional response. The artist has relied on visual symbols to depict particular mood of the raga to the viewers by making them empathize with the subject. The painting therefore fulfils the aim of the Ragamala tradition; making music visible through art.