Indian and Himalayan Art A Woman with an Ascetic (Kedara Raga)
Artist/maker unknown, India Opaque watercolor on paper Currently
not on view 2004-149-53125th Anniversary Acquisition. Alvin O.
Bellak Collection, 2004 LabelThe ragamala (garland of musical
modes) is one of the most popular subjects of Indian painting.
Ragas are selections of musical notes and patterns that invoke
particular emotions, times of day, and seasons of the year.
Ragamala verses and illustrations are the poetic and visual
personifications of ragas. The system, however, is very complex
and the meaning of particular images is not always clear. This
scene is labeled on the painting as Kedara Raga, a melody to be
sung on wintry nights. Images of Kedara Raga usually depict an
ascetic and a musical instrument. Here a young ascetic is seated
on the right, his renunciation of the physical world shown only
by his matted hair and scanty clothing. The motif of the
instrument, however, is absent. This particularly elaborate
ragamala series shows the