Ragaputra Mishtang

The painting, as per classification by Kshemakarna in his Ragamala under the nomenclature of Rāgaputra Miṣṭāṅga, is executed in the Basohli style. Here, one can see a young couple sitting on a flower-bedecked carpet, partaking of sweet rice inside the palace. The chamber indicates a most intimate setting for exchange of emotions between two people in a relationship. Here, the focus of the artist lies in visualising the sentiment and so the other elements like sky and strip of a water body are willingly shunned. The plume adorning the young prince’s golden turban and his exaggerated size indicates his royal status. The shy princess is seen engrossed in eating the porridge. Gold vessels are placed nearby. Ragamala paintings are based on poetry and in many cases, it is hard to find connection between the poem and its depiction.

Bright colours, bold lines, beetle-wing cases and red borders are characteristically present in all Basohli paintings.