Accession Number
1981/2.173

Title
Court Ladies and Deer

Artist(s)
Artist Unknown, India, Punjab Hills, Kangra School

Object Creation Date
circa 1970

Medium & Support
ink and opaque watercolor on paper

Dimensions
8 13/16 x 6 3/16 in. (22.3 x 15.7 cm);14 1/2 x 11 in. (36.8 x 27.9 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Harry and Rose Jacobs

Subject matter
This could very well be a contemporary rendition of the Todi Ragini. This ragini has a tender and melancholic mood, echoing the anguish of separation. A woman who is in deep thought about her lover's absence is shown dallying with deer in the forest. Her attendant stands beside her and plays the veena. The presence of the deer and the attendant further highlight the woman's loneliness.

Ragamala paintings draw from aspects of human experience in order to visualize specific moods, emotions, and qualities such as love, anguish, valor, weakness, and strength. A raga in Indian music is a melody consisting of a string of notes in a particular arrangement. Raginis are derivations from or variations of ragas in feminine mode (the basis of these classifications remains unexplained in many cases), and could have different or similar musical structures as ragas. Specific ragas are associated with specific times of the day, seasons, and emotions. When visualized, as here, ragas and raginis are meant to evoke the same affective responses that are allied to their musical modes.

Physical Description
Two women are shown standing near a group of deer in a forest. One plays a stringed instrument while the other feeds leaves to one of the deer close by. A lotus pond is shown towards the bottom portion of the image.

Primary Object Classification
Painting

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
deer
modern and contemporary art