Ramakali Ragini: A Woman Offering Milk to a Snake

1690–95

Not on view

On loan to The Met

This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.

This folio from a Ragamala (‘Garland of Raga’) series depicts an ancient theme in Indian culture, the accommodation of snakes. The worship of deified snakes (nagas and naginis) is amongst the oldest form of religious worship recorded in India. Snakes are also imbued with erotic symbolism and hence the theme of this ragamala, in which a beautiful woman awaits the arrival of her lover. Richly attired, she sits beneath of slender flowering tree on a woven rug and rests on a green bolster. From an adjacent tree a serpentine cobra unwinds itself from the trunk reaching out to drink milk from stem-cup held aloft by the woman. As the tryst is set to happen in a forested landscape that is the snake’s abode, extending such courtesies to the host is in keeping with maintaining the harmony of nature. The gesture also foretells the lover’s arrival.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

References

Title: Ramakali Ragini: A Woman Offering Milk to a Snake
Date: 1690–95
Culture: India, Basohli
Medium: Opaque watercolor on paper
Dimensions: Image: 7 11/16 × 7 11/16 in. (19.5 × 19.5 cm)
Framed: 11 7/8 × 11 7/8 × 7/8 in. (30.2 × 30.2 × 2.2 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: The Howard Hodgkin Collection, on loan from the Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust
Object Number: L.2022.30.7
Curatorial Department: Asian Art