Sugrai Ragini

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From a Ragamala series
Telangana, Hyderabad, c. 1760 
Ink, opaque watercolor and gold on paper 
24cm high, 15cm wide
Stock no.: A4297

A number of Ragamala series were produced in Hyderabad during the mid-18th century. They offer iconography that is consistent with other sets in the North from Mughal and Rajasthani centres, however, the iconography of this example is unique to Hyderabad. Sugrai (also called Sukhrai) embraces her lover who holds a mala (garland). They walk towards the terrace of a marble pavilion where the maid lays out the bed.

A verse on a similar painting describes the scene:
'Six hours after sunrise. The lover with coquetry, takes the beloved into the bed chamber. The attendant, being ashamed of this act, turns away her face.'¹

These sets are noted for the heavy use of gold, note especially the gold sunset beyond the gateway to the garden, and massive marble architecture. The use of bold diagonals creating deep spatial settings is also a common feature to these sets. Heavily ornamented geometric shapes, the carpet and flower beds as well as the gold brocades of the pillow and garments of the lovers, flattens the composition and negates the recession into space suggested by the architecture.

¹For the quoted text, see the Sugrai in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay (accession no. 22.319), illustrated in Klaus Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel: Ravi Kumar, 1973, p. 146. For a related and illustrated full Ragamala set see: Toby Falk and Mildred Archer, Indian Miniatures in the India Office Library, London, Sotheby's Parke Bernet, 1981, #426 (Johnson Album 37), p. 228-31. Sugrai, no. 27 is illustrated on p. 513.