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

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Radha turns her head away and spurns her lover Krishna, who is only now returning in the early morning as he has spent the night with another. The original audience for this work would have also known that Radha is excited by Krishna’s presence, and it is this contradiction that charges the work with emotion. In the lower zone we see Ganesha as a charioteer. This work is part of a large ragamala series that preserves early architectural conventions and figure types that were distilled from Mughal painting conventions and shared by artists in both the Mewar and Malwa courts.

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