Gunakali Ragini

Paintings made in the city of Jaipur took on a confectionary palette that became popular among newly expanded markets around India and abroad. With the disintegration of centralized imperial power, the Rajput kingdom of Jaipur began independently producing art that had mass appeal. Sets of paintings by royal court artists, such as the Ragamala series from which this page came, were made for sale, rather than for the private collection of the king. The revenues from their sale ensured the prosperity of the kingdom. The verse associated with Gunakali Ragini, a wintertime raga, states that the heroine “sets mandara flowers in a golden jar and seated, plucks them, with her mind fixed on love’s sport.”