File:Indian - The Musical Mode Kanara (?) - Walters W882.jpg

English: "His body perfumed with delicious scents of various flowers, clothed in yellow robes, Kanara, extremely versed in musical entertainment, fascinates the dwellers of heaven."

This picture belongs to a large Ragamala series that is now dispersed in various public and private collections (see Ehnbom et al. 1985, p. 212, for another example and full bibliographical references). The series contains representations of the ragas and raginis as well as their sons ("ragaputra"), one of which is portrayed here. Although these pictures are not inscribed, a comparison with the later Bilaspur Ragamala, now in the Berlin Museum, suggests that the most likely candidate for the subject of this painting is Kanara (see Waldschmidt and Waldschmidt 1967, part 1, fig. 68 and p. 136-7).

As is characteristic of this series, produced in a Bilaspur workshop, this painting is rendered generally in the Basohli style of the second half of the 17th century, with a bright and monochromatic background, usually a mustard yellow as here, against which the figures are defined with bold clarity. The velvety green and red baldachin and the durrie-covered floor are, however, rendered in perspective and show Mughal influences, which were relatively strong in Bilaspur in the late 17th century. This influence explains why a Muslim figure is used for Kanara, his naturalistic posture with his head in three-quarter profile, and the expressive interaction of the figures.