Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c20.28

c20.28

mirth-provoking witticisms still move to laughter those to whom the name of his imperial employer, Akbar, is utterly unknown. But the list is unending—princes and priests, courtiers and grooms, musicians and dancing girls, soldiers and mendicants, all sorts and conditions of men and women, jostle one another in this remarkable portrait gallery. And the Mughal artists did not confine themselves solely to the human element, for there are many pictures of animals, portraits of favourite elephants and horses painted with no little truth and feeling. Among the former may be seen *Dilshankar*, or ‘Mind-Happiness’, and *Lāj Ratan*, the ‘Jewel of Modesty’, while of the latter there is the favourite steed of Prince Dara Shikoh, named *Dilpasand*, or ‘Heart’s Delight’; to these may be added domestic pets, such as the beautiful black-buck *Sarang Dil*, or ‘Song of the Soul’, whose graceful proportions only the brush of Manohar was considered good enough to portray. Of favourite hawks there are many pictures, while cranes, peacocks, fighting quails, and other animals and birds are frequently depicted, because they gave in life all the sport and pleasure within their power to their delighted owners.