Purvi Ragini

This Deccani painting shows a woman pining for her lover. She is seated in a palace courtyard, supported by a bolster. Her female attendant, standing on the left, is holding a fan made of peacock feathers, an emblem of royalty, while the attendant on the right holds a crescent-shaped fan. The painting is an illustration to the Indian musical mode Purvi Ragini. The illustration of ragas and raginis was popular in the courts of the Deccan, in southern India, as well as further north. The woman’s 'crab's claw' gesture suggests physical ease and desire.