INDIA, RAJASTHAN, KOTAH, CIRCA 1770

In this unusual scene, a group of woman sit by a Shaivite shrine at sunset. One woman with matted plaits emulating Shiva’s hair, kneels facing a maiden holding a Mughal-style vina, Shiva’s favorite instrument. Another reads from a manuscript page, as her fellow devotee, wielding a bejeweled crutch, listens intently to her every word. A fifth woman, in a patchwork coat, sits in a balanced position with a yagapatta, yoga band, wrapped around her knees and waist. From within the wooden structure, another woman pours oils down a Shiva linga and yoni. While aspects of their dress, particularly the tattered robe and matted locks, might suggest the women are humble mendicants, they are, at the same time, all splendidly bejeweled in gold and pearls. The scene likely represents a group of noblewomen attempting to dress down to pay their respects to lord Shiva.
While this painting is of a similar subject to Bhairavi Ragini, a woman visiting a Shaivite shrine, the present painting is likely too elaborate and personalized to belong to the ragamala type, which generally adheres to a stricter composition. Bhairavi Ragini depictions themselves focus on a woman making an offering directly to the Shiva Linga, which in the present scene is only a secondary subject in the shadowy background. The present painting may have been commissioned as a standalone image.