Yoginis, wandering female ascetics who have renounced the world, were among the favoured subjects of the provincial Mughal painting schools of the eighteenth century, particularly those of Lucknow and Murshidabad. The popularity of this theme, inherited from seventeenth-century Mughal painting, was associated with the development of the bhakti movement of personal devotion. Yoginis are frequently depicted seated on animal skins, the traditional seats of ascetics, amid rugged, rocky landscapes, meditating or playing music, as in the present example.