Vairati ragini two maidens seated in a pavilion visited by a grey bull Bilaspur, circa 1680-90Vairati ragini: two maidens seated in a pavilion visited by a grey bull Bilaspur, circa 1680-90gouache, gold and silver on paper, mustard yellow border, nagari inscription verso, detached cover paper with stamp of the Royal Library of Mandi 246 x 185 mm.ProvenanceFormerly in the Royal collection, Mandi.Private UK collection.The inscription verso reads: sri raga di vairati.According to Kshemakarna's ragamala system, Vairati is the first wife of Sri Raga. Pahari artists seem to have interpreted the system with a good deal of licence and fantasy: the sound of Vairati is that of a water buffalo (here represented by the bull), and Kshemakarna describes the visual image attached to it as a woman and a companion enjoying the cool draught of a fly whisk (hence the two women combined with a representation of the sound). For another Pahari version of this raga, see K. Ebeling, Ragamala Painting, 1973, p. 276, no. 311; see also no. 313, a drawing in which two women feed a donkey, in a depiction of Gaudi, another wife of Sri Raga.The present painting is from a dispersed ragamala series produced circa 1685 in Bilaspur, where ragamala paintings were especially popular. The colour scheme and the clear, ordered nature of the composition are notable features, both of the series and the school of painting. For other examples from the series and discussion of it, see J. Dye, Arts of India, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2001, p. 338, no. 142 (also with a mustard yellow border); W. G. Archer, Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills, London 1973, Kahlur (Bilaspur), vol. I, p. 231. no. 8, especially (ii), which has a very similar pavilion with turrets and cupolas; vol. II, p. 172; others are in the Los Angeles County Museum and the Catherine Benkaim collection.