Rāgmālā – The Dancing Melodies

Abstract

This paper examines Ragamala paintings--illustrated manuscripts from the 15th to 17th centuries that visually interpret the melodic and emotional essence of ragas in the Indian classical music system. It explores how these paintings evolved as a confluence of visual, musical, and poetic traditions within Rajput courtly culture, revealing the synthesis of aesthetic, spiritual, and philosophical dimensions inherent in Hindu art. Methodologically, the research adopts a comparative visual and textual analysis supported by art-historical, iconographic, and hermeneutic approaches, combining primary visual case studies with secondary scholarly discourse. Through formal examination of exemplary miniatures such as Bhairava Raga, Bhairavi Ragini, and Baramasa, the study investigates how artists visualized sound and emotion through color, gesture, and symbolic form, guided by the Rasa theory and Natya Shastra. The paper situates Ragamala within broader debates on the “Art and the Real” in Indian philosophy, emphasizing its role as a medium of transcendence and aesthetic experience. Lastly the current research investigates how Ragamala paintings synthesize the auditory, poetic, and spiritual dimensions of Indian classical aesthetics to visually express the moods (rasa) and philosophies underlying the raga system.