[Rāg darshan]

Contributor:

Anūpa Saṃskr̥ta Pustakālaya, Bīkānera (former owner)

Name:

Khushhāl Khān

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1799

Description:

Treatise on the modes of Indian music, based on the fifth chapter of Mirza Khan's Tuḥfat al-hind. Visual representations of each mode depict a male Raga with between four and six female Raginis. The selection and sequence of Ragas and Raginis is according to the Hanuman system and the iconographic tradition of the images is that of Amber in Rajasthan. Other miniatures depict scenes at court and include images of the courtesan Māh-i Liqā, also known as Malaqa Bai; the author Khushhāl Khān; and the patron Rajah Rao Ranbha. The text is followed by a commentary, possibly added to it the 19th century when it was housed in its current binding (Savita Ananthan).

Language:

Urdu

Provenance:

Commissioned by Maratha military commander Raja Rao Ranbha (Savita Ananthan).; Unidentified bookplate (inside upper cover); at one time held in Anūpa Saṃskr̥ta Pustakālaya, the Anup Sanskrit Library in the Bīkāner royal library until it was sold in the 1960s (Sheth-Fogg correspondence).; Purchased by Sam Fogg (London), 1996 (Sheth-Fogg correspondence).; Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1996.; Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2010.; Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.

Relation:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366278; Digital facsimile for download (OPenn): https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0001/html/ljs63.html

Subject:

Music -- Early works to 1800; Music theory -- India -- Early works to 1800; Music theory; Miniature painting, Indic; Rāgamālā painting; Music; Music in art; Ragas; Rāgamālā painting -- Specimens; Miniature painting, Indic -- Specimens

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); illuminated manuscripts; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

43 leaves : paper, color illustrations; 362 x 250 (290 x 198) mm bound to 367 x 260 mm

Geographic Subject:

India

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Title supplied by cataloger.; Table of contents: 1. f.1v-24v: [Rāgamālā text and illustrations]; Table of contents: 2. f.25v-43v: [Commentary]; Collation: Paper, iv (19th-century paper) + 43 + iv (19th-century paper); 1⁸ 2² 3⁸ 4⁴ 5¹² 6⁸(+1); early foliation in ink (f. 2-24), 2-8, 11-12, 9-10, 13-24, lower center recto; modern foliation in pencil, [1-43], upper left recto. References in this record are to the modern foliation. Catchwords on each leaf, lower left verso.; Layout: Written in 4 columns of 19 lines; text block enclosed in narrow frame of silver and double lines in red ink, outer edge of margins delineated with single line of red ink..; Script: Written in nastaʻlīq script in black and red ink by a single hand.; Decoration: Illuminated headpiece (f. 1v) and 52 miniatures: 14 scenes of rulers or nobles (f. 2r-8r, 18r-24r), 1 of a lute (f. 5r), 36 of families of Ragas and Raginis (f. 8r-17r), and 1 group of 6 small landscapes (f. 17v). Paintings by court artist Haji Mir Ghulam Hasan (identified in painting on f. 24r (Savita Ananthan)).; Binding: 19th-century gilt morocco; binding label of Ghulam Qutabuddin Ahmad (label inside upper cover, transcribed and translated by Sudev Sheth), associated with Salar Jung III (also known as Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, 1889-1949) (Savita Ananthan).; Origin: Written in the former princely state of Hyderabad in the Deccan region of India (Nizam of Hyderabad pictured on f. 2r), in 1799 (f. 24v, 43v), with the miniatures added by 1804 (dated signature, f. 24r).; Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.; Dakhini (Nastaʻlīq)

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Oversize LJS 63

Collection:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)