Page 83 - Indian and Himilayan Art
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274 The fgure of the devotee is very close to depictions of Raja
AN ILLUSTRATION TO A RAGAMALA SERIES: Man Dhata of Nurpur, who was a devout Hindu. For his portrait
BHAIRAVA RAGA depicting him as a yogi (circa 1690-1700), see D. Diamond, et
INDIA, MANKOT, CIRCA 1720-1730 al., Yoga: The Art of Transformation, Washington DC, 2013, p.167,
cat.no.11A.
Opaque pigments on paper
8 x 6 in. (20 x 15.2 cm.), painting For two closely related paintings of a single divinity standing
10 x 7√ in. (25.5 x 20.4 cm.), folio against a bright yellow ground, see a depiction of the Goddess
Annapurna (L.V. Habighorst, Blumen, Baume, Gottergarten in
$12,000-18,000 indischen Miniaturen, pp.116-119, cat.86, and sold at Sotheby’s
London, 8 April 1975, lot 166) and a depiction of Brahma riding
The iconography is very close to that of Bhairava Raga his crane vehicle in the Howard Hodgkin collection (Andrew
as appearing in Klaus Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, Basel, Topsfeld, ed., Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard
1973, cat.307, p.275. The three-headed Shiva wears a snake Hodgkin, Oxford, 2012, p.128, no.52 and p.18, illus. p.129). Both
necklace, riding his Brahmin bull, Nandi, and carries in his four are attributed to Mankot, circa 1730.
hands a rosary, a trident, a beggar’s bowl and a hand drum.
He is worshipped by a devotee standing in front of him. The 81
absence of the leopard skin on the present fgure is the only
noticeable diference.
