Lot Essay

In certain ragamalas from Hyderabad, this subject has been identified as Shyam Kalyan Ragini, which is a popular musical mode to be sung in the evening. It is however difficult to find a dhyana describing it in this form and there appears to be some confusion about the name. Kalyan is an auspicious male name and Shyama ‘black or dark’ is an epithet for the god Krishna, but the name of the ragini is sometimes rendered as Shyam (evening) Kalyan – appropriate for music to be played late in the day. Compare the present lot to two other Deccani Shyam Kalyan ragamala paintings, one sold at Christie's London, 24 May 2017, lot 12 and the other at the Brooklyn Museum (acc. no. 80.71.3).