Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c19.30

c19.30

on the 10th of the month of Dai, in the neighbourhood of the pargana of Rahimabad (in the Bari Doab) the huntsmen brought in news of a lion. I ordered Iradat Khan and Firdai Khan to take with them some of the guards and surround the wood, and mounting an elephant I followed them and went towards the hunt. From the number of trees and thickness of the jungle it could not well be seen. Driving the elephant forward, the lion's flank came into view, and with one wound from my gun he fell and gave up his life. Of all the lions I have shot from the time I was a prince until now I never saw a lion like this for size and majesty and the symmetry of its limbs. I ordered the artists to take its portrait according to its real form and body.¹