The Ragamala paintings of India give Indian ragas or melodies human forms and attributes, which might be either male or female. The picture you see here depicts Ragini (female raga) Sorathi, who is regarded as the wife of raga Megha Mallar. She is shown to be in viraha, pining for the love of her beloved. Sitting on a huge lotus flower, she sits by the bank of a river, tenderly running her fingers over a peacock lying on her lap. His peahen is perched on the branch of a tree nearby and watches her mate. She is sometimes shown to be seated on the Ragini’s lap as well. The peacock, in Indian mythology, symbolizes the absence of a lover.
The beautiful, youthful, Ragini’s entire body language suggests extreme distress on being separated from her lover and the pangs she experiences as a consequence of that. Sorathi sits quietly, deep in thought, hanging her head down, not even so much as noticing the sheer beauty of the landscape around!
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