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

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Here a female mendicant makes a Vedic fire offering to the god Brahma who is represented with four overlapping faces and holds a text, rosary (mala), and flower. An earlier ragamala text of 1550 provides the following description of Brahma: “He [Brahma] teaches the Vedas . . . and causes other to perform the fire-oblation. A bright garment covers the beauty of [her] body; [her] fair colour gleams.”

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