Ghatotkacha and three demons in his company chase Bhagadatta, from Bhishma-parva (volume six) of a Razm-nama (Book of Wars) adapted from the Sanskrit Mahabharata and translated into Persian by Mir Ghiyath al-Din Ali Qazvini, known as Naqib Khan (Persian, d. 1614)
Medium
Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Dimensions
36.7 × 24 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection
Accession Number
2013.321
Tags
About this artwork
The red demons riding elephants were magically generated in multiples by Ghatotkacha, the son of one of the protagonists of Book of Wars. Though created by magic, the elephant-riding demons still caused problems for their adversaries and forced them to retreat. This scene took place on the fourth of 18 days of heated battle. The Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) commissioned a translation of the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata into the Mughal court language of Persian and distributed co...