AN ILLUSTRATION FROM A RAGAMALA SERIES: KAKUBHA RAGINI
Pahari Provincial School, Northern India, ca. 1860 - 1880

Opaque pigments heightened with gold on wove paper, the vertical composition depicting a lonely maiden seated on a blossomed tree, with one hand holding an Indian sarod and with the latter plucking flowers, her only companions a pair of peacocks, both looking at her as the focus of the scene, set within red rules, and light blue and red-speckled pink borders, backed with wasli paper with black ink Devanagari inscriptions, mounted on a white cardboard frame, the folio 28cm x 20.5cm.

The Kakubha Ragini is one of the wives of the Hindustani classical musical mode called Megha Raga, which is mostly sung or played in the Monsoon season. The heroine Kakubha is often depicted wandering alone in the wilderness, either next to a stream or in a grove, her sole companions the surrounding nature and animals. After leaving her palace and all her comforts behind, she has been deserted by her lover.

Kakubha Raginis are often accompanied by pairs of peacocks, whose cries may sound as echoes of their feelings of dejection. That said, peacocks are also a powerful symbol of companionship, emphasising the loneliness of the heroine in the scene.