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Representation of Maru

The ragamala paintings owe their origin to the initial classification of ragas as masculine and feminine. The earliest iconography of ragas is seen in an eighth century treatise attributed to Narada and Dattila. A formal gender based classification of ragas was given in the 16th century, first by Meshakarna, also known as Kshemakarna, and later by Pundarika Vittala. Pundarika Vittala classified Suddha Bhairava, Hindola, Deshikara, Shree, Suddhanata and Natanarayana as male ragas, each having five wives and five sons. Others who gave such classifications include Shubamkara, Bhavabhutha, Kallinatha.

The beautiful miniature paintings that resulted from such gender classification of ragas are known as ragamala paintings. Every raga evokes a rasa or an emotion in the listener. These paintings capture on canvas the emotions that the ragas and raginis evoke.

Ragamala paintings are often organised in a system of “families” of modes. Each “mode family” is headed by a male raga, who has several raginis (wives), rajaputras (sons), rajaputris (daughters) and wives of the rajaputras.

The paintings show man-woman love, or worship of a deity. Male ragas are usually depicted as performing feats of valour. Raginis are shown as women in love. We see both types of sringara rasa - sambhoga and vipralambha in the ragamala paintings. Raga Gambhir shows man and woman together and therefore represents sambhoga – fulfilment. Vipralambha sringara - the woman experiencing the pangs of separation – is seen in the portrayal of Thodi and Ahiri.

Nature does not merely provide a backdrop to the men and women in the paintings. The flora and fauna are a metaphoric part of the emotion that the raga or ragini portrays. In the Rajasthani paintings, the ragini Asavari is shown playing the lute, while there are snakes coiled around a sandalwood tree. The coiling bodies of the snakes are symbolic of the emotional upheaval the woman is experiencing at the thought of her lover.

Rajasthani, Kangra, and Pahari — ragamala paintings — sometimes portrayed the same ragas and raginis differently. In the Rajasthani paintings, raga Dhanasri is represented as a woman crying while she paints the portrait of her husband, for whom she is pining.

In the Kangra paintings Dhanasri is portrayed as a lady seated on a carpet playing with a couple of rabbits, while in the background her husband is shown riding a horse.

The monkeys is a favourite subject in Rajasthani paintings, but never seen in the Pahari paintings. There are also ragas that celebrate the seasons. Bilawal, for example, celebrates spring.

The raga ragini scheme is a derivative classification like the janaka- janya raga scheme. The difference between the two is that while the janaka-janya scheme is a more rational, analytical approach to music, the raga-ragini classification typifies a more emotional, creative approach.

But the question arises — is it possible for someone to experience music inter-dimensionally? How can an auditory input result in visual imagery? In other words, can someone see Thodi?

It doesn’t seem so far-fetched, if one studies recent research by neuro scientists on what is called synaesthesia, first described in 1880 by Francis Galton, Darwin’s cousin. Synaesthesia comes from two Greek words — “syn” meaning ‘together ’and “aesthesis” meaning ’to perceive.’

In synaesthesia the areas of the brain responsible for visual image processing and sound processing are both activated when there is a sound. Simon Baron Cohen, an experimental psychologist at Cambridge University, has shown that synaesthesia can be measured using positron emission tomography and functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Recent research by neurobiologists at Duke University shows that the inferior colliculus, a tiny structure in the brain important for hearing, transmits visual as well as auditory signals. The researchers guess that there could be other regions in the brain where similar simultaneous processing of different sense data takes place. We all use or at the very least understand metaphors. It’s quite common for us to say, “That’s a loud colour.” As if a colour can be ‘loud’! Synaesthesia is a more vivid manifestation of this process. Dr. Vilayanur Ramachandran, neurologist, says synaesthesia is due to “cross-wiring” between the areas of the brain responsible for processing different sensory perceptions.

It is therefore within the realms of possibility that the raga-ragini classification, and the ragamala paintings that this classification resulted in what might have been the result of synaesthetic experience.

The ragamala paintings have dhyana slokas, which are contemplative verses on the melodies. They embody the sentiments associated with the ragas and raginis. Thus we see in the ragamala paintings a confluence of three types of aesthetic enjoyment — music, art and poetry.

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