Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c14.24.2

c14.24.2

Plate X is a picture probably of the period corresponding to the preceding, to which almost the same remarks apply, except that in the lower portion more of the Indian element is discernible. The rustic scene of the herdsman with his cows and buffaloes, and his wife and child in the lean-to shelter, is plainly of Rājput origin. But the remainder of the work is foreign in its treatment. It is an illustration taken from the *Haft Paikar*, or Seven Images, a poem comprising seven tales told by the seven favourites of King Bahram Gur. The story here portrayed is a long one. It tells of a sheep dog, who took to killing the flock he was trusted to guard; when this was discovered, he was suspended from a tree—crucified—and on his treacherous conduct the story-teller proceeds to moralize. Another miniature of considerable historical importance, which it is possible to date with a fair degree of accuracy, is reproduced on Plate XI. It represents the arrival of the famous musician and singer, Tansen, at the court of Akbar, an event which took place in 1562, when the emperor was twenty years of age. As the picture was most probably painted at this time, it throws some valuable light on the state of the art of painting at a somewhat obscure period of its evolution. It is an excellent illustration of the transition from the Persian to the Mughal style, and exemplifies in the most marked manner the beginnings of the fusion of the former with the indigenous art of the Hindus.