The Ragamala paintings belong to the medieval India. These paintings are very unique in their artistic creations and visualize music. The Ragamala paintings represent the pictorial versions of `oiragas` and `rajfinis` i, e, compositions of musical notes or `swaras`. These paintings also signify prevalent melodies of the time, which were personified resulting in beautiful paintings.

In the 12th century AD, the Sarigeeta Ratnakara, an important treatise first mentioned the presiding deity of each raga. The Ragamala paintings were created by all the major schools of painting of the medieval age such as the Mughal, Pahari, Deccani and Rajasthani. These were mostly practiced between the 16th to 19th centuries A.D. But now, they are found only in museums of our country and abroad. A very selective range can also be seen in several personal collections.

The Muslim kingdoms of the medieval Deccani Sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Golconda and Bijapur patronized all forms of the fine arts and literature. So, they produced numerous luscious paintings in South India during their age. According to some scholars, Ragamala paintings had its origin in the Deccan during 1580-1600 A.D. Romantic or devotional themes are mainly used in the Ragamala paintings. In these paintings, themes such as separation, anger, anxiety, devotion, etc. are beautifully highlighted. The heroines are painted as playing instrumental music to animals like the deer or to snakes, which appear mesmerized by this enchanting music.

The Ragamala painting also depicted the themes like the hero and heroine in various situations such as dancing, singing, the heroine waiting for her lover and later angry with him. These paintings mainly sketch the `Rasa` or flavour of a particular raga. The Ragamala artists of the Deccani schools were mainly guided by the Persian or Urdu text versions available during that period.