Setmalar Ragini: Folio from a ragamala series (Garland of Musical Modes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This ragini evokes the rainy season and is given dramatic expression by the bands of heavy clouds and snakelike bolts of lightning across the upper register. The associated text by Lachiman Das tells of a woman, who, stricken by separation from her husband, has dressed as a man and taken up asceticism: “[She] has rubbed ash on her body . . .[and] remembers, in her heart, [her] husband . . . [as she sits] in the courtyard of the hermitage. The dark clouds appeared from the four directions, followed by the birds and brilliant lightning.” The juxtaposition of flattened forms and color fields, which are typical of the Malwa painting style that flourished outside the Mughal sphere of influence, gives this work a forceful presence.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art