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{{Short description|17th-century Indian painting}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image = Yogini with a Mynah Bird, by the Dublin Painter. Bijapur, early 17th century, 44x32cm, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (cropped).jpg
| height_metric = 44
| width_metric = 32
| dimensions_ref = <ref name=":0"/>
| museum = [[Chester Beatty Library]]
| city = [[Dublin]]
}}

'''''Yogini with a Mynah Bird''''' is a [[Deccan painting|Deccan]]-styled painting located in the [[Chester Beatty Library]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Haidar |first1=Navina Najat |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oi4nBwAAQBAJ&dq=Yogini+with+a+Mynah+Bird&pg=PA98 |title=Sultans of Deccan India, 1500–1700: Opulence and Fantasy |last2=Sardar |first2=Marika |date=13 April 2015 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-0-300-21110-8 |pages=98–100 |language=en}}</ref>

== Background ==
It is dated to the early 17th century, and presumably commissioned for the court of [[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

== Description ==
The principal subject is a woman, who has the characteristic features of a [[yogini]], with ash-coloured skin and top-knotted hair. She is wearing a red ''[[peshwaj]]'', with a golden ''[[dupatta]]'' and gold jewellery.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Goswamy |first=B. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1-rfrQEACAAJ |title=The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works, 1100–1900 |date=2014 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-08657-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Goswamy |first=B. N. |author-link=B. N. Goswamy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2TgxEQAAQBAJ&dq=Yogini+with+a+Mynah+Bird&pg=PT315 |title=Ruminations: 101 & more short essays on the spirit of Indian art |date= 30 October 2024|publisher=Penguin Random House India Private Limited |isbn=978-93-6790-887-7 |language=en}}</ref> A [[myna]] bird is perched upon her right hand.<ref name=":1" />

On either side of the woman are lotus and peony plants, the design of which was likely copied from Chinese porcelain or textiles.<ref name=":0" /> In the background is a golden sky, beneath which are rocks characteristic of the Deccan, and a hill, atop which is a palace. The painting is surrounded by poetic texts in Persian, on all four sides.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Brainerd |first1=Madeleine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1xzh12b |title=Mocking Bird Technologies: The Poetics of Parroting, Mimicry, and Other Starling Tropes |last2=Kitao |first2=Kaori |date=2018 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-7848-0 |chapter=Yogini and Mynah Bird: On the Poetics and Politics of Transspecies Meditation|jstor=j.ctt1xzh12b }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Dundoo |first=Sangeetha Devi |date=14 April 2021 |title=Navina Najat Haidar, Kathleen James-Chakraborty and Abeer Gupta to discuss the intersection of art and rock formations of Hyderabad and Deccan |url=https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/art/an-online-session-to-decode-deccan-rock-formations-in-medieval-art/article34316674.ece |access-date=19 December 2024 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harle |first=J. C. |title=The Art and Architecture of The Indian Subcontinent |pages=400}}</ref>

==Analysis==
[[File:A_Yogini_with_a_Veena,_c._1600,_Jagdish_and_Kamla_Mittal_Museum,_Hyderabad.jpg|thumb|Another depiction of a princess-like yogini in a Deccan painting, dated to about 1600, located in the [[Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art|Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum]].]]
The woman's appearance gives rise to conflicting interpretations. Her top-knotted hair and ash-besmeared skin identify her as a yogini. The elongated shape of her body also points toward her status as an ascetic, as her leanness may be due to fasting.<ref name=":1" />

However, her attire consisting of the ''[[peshwaj]]'', golden ''[[dupatta]]'', and lavish gold jewellery suggest that she belongs to the aristocracy. In South Asian literature, myna birds are associated with noble ladies, who keep them as pets. The palace in the background gives rise to the interpretation that she has left behind her past life.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hutton |first=Deborah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAvqAAAAMAAJ&q=yogini+myna |title=Art of the Court of Bijapur |date=18 December 2006 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-34784-8 |language=en}}</ref>

This depiction of princess-like yoginis is common in Deccan art. Examples of this include a painting in the [[Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian Art|Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goswamy |first=B. N. |author-link=B. N. Goswamy |title='Art & soul: Yoginis from the Deccan |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/remembering-bn-goswamy/art-soul-yoginis-from-the-deccan/ |access-date=19 December 2024 |website=The Tribune |language=en}}</ref>

Mark Zebrowski interprets her to be a sorceress. He describes her face as "[[Medusa]]-like" and points out that the bird could represent an ill omen. He says that the dark theme of the painting may represent the "seductive heresies" that enticed Ibrahim II away from orthodox [[Islam]].<ref group="note">[[Ibrahim Adil Shah II]] was fascinated by Hinduism as well as mysticism, and described himself as a Hindu god in one of the poems he composed in the [[Kitab-i Nauras]].{{harvnb|Zebrowski|1983|pp=67, 70}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last1=Michell |first1=George |url=https://the-deccan.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cambridge_history_michell_zebrowski_art_architecture_deccan_sultanates.pdf |title=Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates |last2=Zebrowski |first2=Mark |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=[[The New Cambridge History of India]] I : 7 |pages=173–174 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230718003730/https://the-deccan.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/cambridge_history_michell_zebrowski_art_architecture_deccan_sultanates.pdf |archive-date=18 July 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Sfn|Zebrowski|1983|p=104}}

== References ==

=== Notes ===
{{reflist|group=note}}

=== Citations ===
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book |last=Zebrowski |first=Mark |year=1983 |title=Deccani Painting |publisher=Roli Books International, New Delhi |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.25577/mode/2up}}

[[Category:17th-century paintings]]
[[Category:Indian paintings]]
[[Category:Paintings in Ireland]]
[[Category:Paintings of birds]]
[[Category:Paintings of women]]
[[Category:Indian artefacts held abroad]]

Yogini with a Mynah Bird - Revision history

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