Topic: Lalita

[Nichi]

In the fifteenth or sixteenth century, a new genre of painting developed that attempted to capture in imagery the moods of famous passages of classical music. The music, known as ragas or raginis, inspired artists to create little scenarios—happy or sad, fierce or quiet, taking place in the daytime or nighttime, the summer or winter—that were illustrated over and over again.

The rulers of Bundi and their cousins, the rulers of Kota, were particularly fond of these musical paintings, and they commissioned hundreds of them. This relatively early example from Bundi depicts the musical theme Lalita, in which a male lover leaves a passionate tryst early in the morning. He looks back fondly at the woman, and one senses that he would gladly have stayed for more.

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

[Nichi]

Lalita bothers me in much the same way that "vilaval" does... it goes to that image of female narcissism and laziness. Perhaps I've simply been with too many misogynists over my lifetime. Sure, some of the paintings convey the "longing" of the man who wishes he could stay, but that last-minute admiration can turn so easily on a dime to "you lazy bitch". Which is a double-blow, given the vulnerability and fatigue of the situation.

Perhaps in India, men are not the same villains.

</flashback>

[Michael]

I'm not sure the view of women being lazy would apply, as Indians didn't have the Protestant Work Ethic. But the idea of a woman lying around in luxury would only be a very wealthy social strata, where that kind of thing would be greatly admired. For the bulk of society, women's role was always the busiest, and still is. You would never see women sitting doing nothing in the way men do. Those pictures are of women in purda.

[Nichi]

Stumbled into this by Hariprasad Chaurasia.
A morning meditation.

<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RinfB6uaNvo/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RinfB6uaNvo"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RinfB6uaNvo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/RinfB6uaNvo</a>

[Nichi]

[Michael]

Stumbled into this by Hariprasad Chaurasia.
A morning meditation.

<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RinfB6uaNvo/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RinfB6uaNvo"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/RinfB6uaNvo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/RinfB6uaNvo</a>

Beautiful rendition by Hari. Lalit raga has an ancient (16th century) scale and a modern scale. The modern version has both a natural 4th and a sharp 4th (more like a flat 5th), but omits the natural 5th. And the 6th has been contentious: some using the natural, some the flat, and some a position half-way between. Rendered by musicians as devotional and serene, which does have some relationship to the ragmalas. You can't get a better exponent than Hari, of these unusual scaled ragas. He plays it beautifully.