In the raagmala family system, each of the six parent raags has a set of raaginis — consorts, usually five or six each. Musically, a raagini was understood as a feminine mode related to its parent raag; in painting, she became a heroine whose scene carries the raag's mood: Bhairvi at worship, Todi charming deer with her vina, Gujri with her peacock.
The raagini names survive in today's performance repertoire — Bhairvi, Todi, Gujri, Basant — even though modern Hindustani theory organises raags by thaat rather than by family. The painted genealogy remains the richest visual record of how earlier centuries heard relationships between raags.