Brahman Uttanka Meets Indra, who is Disguised as an Outcast Chandala, Folio from a Razmnama (The Book of War)

Drawings; watercolors Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper Sheet

The Razmnama (The Book of War) is a Persian translation of the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata ([War of the] Great Bharatas). The first imperial manuscript was made for Emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605) in 1582-1586. It is now in the Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum, Jaipur. Several illustrated copies of the manuscript are known, including a dispersed manuscript dated 1598-1599, now mainly in the British Library, London; a dispersed manuscript of circa 1600; a manuscript dated 1605, now in the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata; and a widely dispersed manuscript with pages dated 1616-1617. This folio and M.74.5.15 are from the dispersed manuscript of 1616-1617, which was made for the poet and littérateur, Abd al-Rahim (1556-1626), the Khan Khanan (Commander in Chief of the Mughal armies). According to John Seyller (1999), this folio was painted by Qasim (India, active late 16th century-early 17th century), who also worked on the Ramayana (Adventures of Rama) of 1587-1599 in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (F1907.271.173-346) and the Shahnama (Book of Kings) of 1616-1617 in the British Library, London (Add. 5600).

In this folio, the Brahman Uttanka meets Indra, who is disguised as an outcast or untouchable (chandala). The latter carries a sword and a bow. He is accompanied by a pack of dogs, which are represented by two leashed dogs and one unleashed dog. Uttanka had previously received a boon of being granted drinking water whenever he thought of Krishna.