Opening June 27, 2026

As the production of illustrated books became popular from the twelfth century, artists began to take up the challenge of giving visual form to music by depicting melodic modes, or ragas. The emotional content (rasa) of each raga became connected with the seasons and the times of day appropriate to its performance, as well as the activities that its sounds evoked, such as offering prayer to Shiva or picking flowers in a garden. By the sixteenth century the ragas had begun to personify the actions of heroes, heroines, and gods. The narratives that resulted formed the basis for a new kind of musical illustration known as the Ragamala (Garland of Ragas).

Most Ragamala sets consist of thirty-six paintings organized into six raga families. Each family has a male head, playing the role of the raga, accompanied by wives, known as raginis. When placed together in a “garland,” the paintings of each raga form a narrative, which conveys the arc of a day, a season, and an emotional state. The sets of paintings present a progression from early morning to midday to evening, through images in which the sun rises over the horizon, bleaches the sky, and then retreats, replaced by lamps burning in the night. They follow the passage of the year through the course of the six seasons unique to the Indian climate, from cold and barren to warm and blooming, from hot and dry, to the wet monsoon. And, they follow the tribulations of lovers: forced apart, longing for reunion, and finally joined in bliss.

Featured at top right: The Musical Mode, Todi Ragini (detail), Leaf from a Ragamala series, Deccan, Hyderabad, ca. 1775-1800. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold paper. Edwin Binnery 3rd Collection, 1990.545.