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Lot Essay
Another depiction of Deshavaradi Ragini of Bhairav raga, from a Mewar set, is inscribed with a verse that accurately describes our Bundi heroine: 'at ease and in silence, her body twisted as the creeper [vine], arms upstretched, and rolling eyes - such shall be Deshavaradi, the fair one'. The upraised arms of the heroine forming a circle are the expression of the lover's 'anguished need to be reunited and made one with her partner' (Ernst and Rose Leonore Waldschmidt, Miniatures of Musical Inspiration, II, Berlin, 1975, p.141 where the gesture is described as 'crab-claws' or 'karkata-hasta').
In her discussion of the painting, Glynn notes that the composition of this painting, dated circa 1680, is still indebted to the earlier Chunar ragamala set of 1591 and that the 'attention to convention for almost two hundred years' in Bundi is noteworthy (C. Glynn, R. Skelton, A. L. Dallapiccola, Ragamala, Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, p. 62 and Milo Cleveland Beach, Rajput Painting at Bundi and Kota, Ascona, 1974, fig.1 and 2). See a related Bundi ragamala set dated circa 1680 in Beach, op.cit., fig.32; paintings from that dispersed series display almost identical architectural and stylistic elements.
In her discussion of the painting, Glynn notes that the composition of this painting, dated circa 1680, is still indebted to the earlier Chunar ragamala set of 1591 and that the 'attention to convention for almost two hundred years' in Bundi is noteworthy (C. Glynn, R. Skelton, A. L. Dallapiccola, Ragamala, Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, p. 62 and Milo Cleveland Beach, Rajput Painting at Bundi and Kota, Ascona, 1974, fig.1 and 2). See a related Bundi ragamala set dated circa 1680 in Beach, op.cit., fig.32; paintings from that dispersed series display almost identical architectural and stylistic elements.