An Elephant Herd

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This composition includes a herd of five elephants on the bank of a river, amid a sprawling vista of hills. The river flows in the foreground, its water painted grayish blue. The middle plain is inhabited by the five sporting elephants, while the background is painted with range of hills extending into the horizon. In the far end is seen a faint but continuous stream of clouds. At that distance, in the top right corner, one finds a very interesting feature: a grand, seemingly royal piece of architecture (the king's palace?) that conveys the idea of a great distance and presents an acute sense of landscape-quality. From its forms and design, it is clear that the architecture is Mughal.

The elephants are composed in an order such as to give impression of movement in an oval formation, were it not to be broken by a suddenly different direction taken by one of the elephants farthest to the left.

The one at the far end, at the maximum distance from the beholder, has brownish color, at variance with others who are painted black. Three of them are apparently mature in age and endowed with tusks, while others are bereft of this natural adornment of an elephant.

As is remarkable in any accomplished miniature painting, the brushwork and microscopic rendering of the details is just as dexterous. The posture, mass and volume of these mighty but beautiful creatures have been entirely assumed on account of their intricate line work.

Though the elephant has been depicted in Indian art since ancient times, and was auspicious in the Hindu belief systems, its values transformed in Mughal art. Both Akbar and Jahangir had great passion for painting, and loved flora and fauna. Besides acquiring the very best of the kinds in fauna, these kings ordered their masters of the royal taswirkhana to render the likeness of these animals for the future.