A Woman Charms Snakes in the Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala (early 1700s): Art, History and Details

A Woman Charms Snakes in the Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala (early 1700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Wearing a blouse and skirt made of leaves, the heroine retains her jewelry and diaphanous veil. She speaks to a snake, and others approach, charmed by her beauty. The multiple colors used for the rocks add to the otherworldly quality of the scene, and even they seem drawn to her spiritual magnetism.

Object facts

• Title: A Woman Charms Snakes in the Wilderness: Asavari Ragini, from a Ragamala
• Date: early 1700s
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Sirohi
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 22.2 x 16.5 cm (8 3/4 x 6 1/2 in.); Miniature: 18.4 x 13.3 cm (7 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.199

A detail from the museum

Unafraid, she offers a flower to one cobra and allows another to wind its way up her leg.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.