Ragamala painting

A woman sits under the night sky, collecting petals from two tall vases on the terrace of a palace. A tree is visible behind a tall wall. The blue complexion of the lady is inspired by the couplet inscribed above (in Braj), likening it to a blue waterlily. The verse below is in Sanskrit. The composition is surrounded by a double black border and broad red margins.

The painting belongs to the Ragamala genre where the Gunakali is the fifth wife of Malkos raga. This musical mode is performed before dawn, during the winter months.