Raga Darshan Manuscript
Title
Raga Darshan Manuscript
Description
Publisher: [India], A.H. 1214-1219 (1799-1804)
Format/Description: Manuscript, 43 leaves : paper, col. ill. ; 362 x 250 (290 x 198) mm. bound to 367 x 260 mm.
Subjects:
Music -- Early works to 1800.
Music theory -- India -- Early works to 1800.
Music in art.
Ragas.
Rāgamālā painting -- Specimens.
Miniature painting, Indic -- Specimens.
Form/Genre:
Codices.
Illuminated manuscripts.
Manuscripts, Digital.
Manuscripts -- India -- 18th century.
Manuscripts -- India -- 19th century.
Language: Dakhini (Nastaʻlīq)
Summary: Text on the modes of Indian music, with visual representations of each mode as 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. The text is followed by a commentary.
Contents:
1. f.1v-24v: [Rāgamālā text and illustrations]
2. f.25v-43v: [Commentary]
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
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).
Binding: 19th-century gilt morocco.
Origin: Written in the Deccan region of India, probably in one of the feudatory states of the Nizam of Hyderabad (pictured on f. 2r), in 1799 (f. 24v, 43v), with the miniatures added by 1804 (dated signature, f. 24r).
Local notes (University of Pennsylvania):
Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.
Provenance:
Unidentified bookplate (inside upper cover); at one time held in the Bīkāner royal library.
Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1996.
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2010.
Cited in:
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 33 (LJS 63).
Cite as: UPenn LJS 63
Contributor: Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Format/Description: Manuscript, 43 leaves : paper, col. ill. ; 362 x 250 (290 x 198) mm. bound to 367 x 260 mm.
Subjects:
Music -- Early works to 1800.
Music theory -- India -- Early works to 1800.
Music in art.
Ragas.
Rāgamālā painting -- Specimens.
Miniature painting, Indic -- Specimens.
Form/Genre:
Codices.
Illuminated manuscripts.
Manuscripts, Digital.
Manuscripts -- India -- 18th century.
Manuscripts -- India -- 19th century.
Language: Dakhini (Nastaʻlīq)
Summary: Text on the modes of Indian music, with visual representations of each mode as 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. The text is followed by a commentary.
Contents:
1. f.1v-24v: [Rāgamālā text and illustrations]
2. f.25v-43v: [Commentary]
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger.
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).
Binding: 19th-century gilt morocco.
Origin: Written in the Deccan region of India, probably in one of the feudatory states of the Nizam of Hyderabad (pictured on f. 2r), in 1799 (f. 24v, 43v), with the miniatures added by 1804 (dated signature, f. 24r).
Local notes (University of Pennsylvania):
Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.
Provenance:
Unidentified bookplate (inside upper cover); at one time held in the Bīkāner royal library.
Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, June 1996.
Gift of Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2010.
Cited in:
Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 33 (LJS 63).
Cite as: UPenn LJS 63
Contributor: Schoenberg, Lawrence J., former owner.
Contributor
University of Pennsylvania
