Watercolour, gouache and ink on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/samuel-fyzee-rahamin-1136" aria-label="More by Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin</a>
Raagni Todi Goddess Tune
Presented by Sir Victor Sassoon 1925
actions: postures and motions
adults
animals: mammals
Asian
deer
ethnicity
fine arts and music
Indian
instrument, stringed
legs crossed
leisure and pastimes
lifestyle and culture
music
music and entertainment
musical analogy
nationality
objects
people
society
standing
tree
woman
paper unique watercolour gouache ink
25 November 2015 – 10 April 2016
2016-04-10
25 November 2015 – 10 April 2016
2016-04-10
2015-11-25
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
3 October 2016 – 29 January 2017
2017-01-29
2016-10-03
National Gallery of Singapore (Singapore, Singapore)
2015-11-25
Artist and Empire
Exhibition
25 November 2015 – 26 March 2017
2017-03-26
6 October 2016 – 26 March 2017
2017-03-26
2016-10-06
National Gallery of Singapore (Singapore, Singapore)
2015-11-25
Artist and Empire
Loan-out
7 October 2023 – 2 June 2024
2024-06-02
7 October 2023 – 28 January 2024
2024-01-28
2023-10-07
MK Gallery (Milton Keynes, UK)
17 February 2024 – 2 June 2024
2024-06-02
2024-02-17
The Box (Plymouth, UK)
2023-10-07
The Enduring Influence of South Asian Miniatures
Loan-out
Raagni Todi, Goddess Tune
support: 514 × 362 mm
Frame: 690 × 530 × 21mm
Presented by Sir Victor Sassoon 1925
<strong>S. Fyzee-Rahamin</strong> 1880-1964
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<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/fyzee-rahamin-raagni-todi-goddess-tune-n04095" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N04095</span></a> <strong>Raagni Todi (Goddess Tune)</strong> 1913
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Inscribed in the Urdu language, in Persian style, 'amal-i faizi rahamin' (work of Fyzee-Rahamin) b.l.<br/>
Watercolour, gouache, and pen and ink on paper, 20 1/4 x 14 1/4 (51.6 x 36)<br/>
Presented by Sir Victor Sassoon, Bt. 1925<br/>
<em>Prov:</em> Sir Victor Sassoon, Bt., London (purchased from the artist through Arthur Tooth and Sons 1925)<br/>
<em>Exh:</em> <em>Tableaux du Peintre Hindou Fyzee-Rahamin</em>, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, February 1914 (no catalogue traced); <em>Paintings by S. Fyzee-Rahamin</em>, Goupil Gallery, London, June 1914 (25) as 'Raagni Todi'; <em>Indian Paintings, Vedic, Mythological, Traditional, Homelife and the Mountains of Kashmir, etc. by S. Fyzee-Rahamin</em>, M. Knoedler, New York, November 1918 (6); <em>India: Vedic, Mythological and Contemporary Water-Colours by S. Fyzee-Rahamin</em>, Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, June-July 1925 (14) as 'Raagni Todi (Goddess Tune)'<br/>
<em>Lit:</em> Shahinda (Begum Fyzee-Rahainin), <em>Indian Music</em> (London 1914), p.61, repr. facing p.61; Atiya Begum Fyzee-Rahamin, <em>The Music of India</em> (London 1925), pp.5, 80-2, repr. facing p.80 as 'Ragini Todi'
</p><p>
This <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/w/watercolour" title="Glossary definition for 'Watercolour'"><span>watercolour</span></a> is one of a series of at least twelve made by Fyzee-Rahainin in 1913 in connection with a book by his wife on Indian music, which was first published by the Goupil Gallery in 1914, at the time of his exhibition there. In her foreword to the second edition of 1925, his wife recalled: 'It was in a tiny fishing village near the seaside, Bombay, in 1913 ... I sang the eternal limpid melodies. Rahamin immortalized them in a series of beautiful <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>, the <em>Ragas</em> and <em>Raginis</em> (the male and female melodies). I dashed off a few lines in explanation. We soon left for Europe, where the written text was brought out in book form, and helped to explain the symbolic significance of the <em>Ragas</em> and <em>Raginis</em>.'
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As she relates (op. cit., pp.80-2): 'The <em>Raginis</em> are represented as shy young maidens of surpassing loveliness, living in perpetual spring and seeking heavenly bliss in music ...
</p><p>
'Todi is represented as a young maiden of ravishing fairness. Dressed in white and gold with the sacred emblem marked in <em>Camphor</em> and <em>Saffron</em> on her brow. Seated on a hilltop in the midst of a lovely forest, wholly absorbed in playing of the <em>Vina</em>. Her pulses beat in a rhythmical whirl of emotion, causing a crimson tinge to rise on her lily-white cheeks. The dark depths of her eyes catch the gold of the rising morning sun. The time for the execution of this tune is morning.
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'The wild deer venture within the sacred precincts of the temple in meek submission and adoration, completely fascinated and subdued by so glorious a picture and such thrilling music.
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'N.B. - Certain tunes attract certain animals in nature. The <em>Todi</em> is always associated with the deer whom it subjugates.'
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, pp.229-30, reproduced p.229
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Catalogue entry
2004-09-13T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
actions: postures and motions adults animals: mammals Asian deer ethnicity fine arts and music Indian instrument, stringed legs crossed leisure and pastimes lifestyle and culture music musical analogy music and entertainment nationality objects people society standing tree woman