AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: PANCHAMA RAGAPUTRA OF BHAIRAVA RAGA

This striking painting depicts a bearded prince seated in a landscape on a bed of leaves with his pet black antelope and two brown calves. The design on the prince’s jama has been compared to a turban and a jama worn by Raja Kirpal Pal of Basohli (r. 1678-93) in known portraits. He also wears a similar necklace. Although the facial profile is not quite the same, Catherine Glynn suggests that perhaps this might be Kirpal Pal as a young man. (C. Glynn, A. Dallapiccola, R. Skelton, Ragamala: Paintings from India from the Claudio Moscatelli Collection, London, 2011, pg. 50).

For other comparable Pahari representations of Panchama Ragaputra of Bhairava Raga, see Archer 1973, Vol.I, Kulu 14, pg. 334, Nurpur 3, pg. 391; Tandan 1982, fig, 49c, pl.XXII; Dye 2001, no. 142, pg. 338.