King Dushyant in his Camp with the Officers of his Hunting Expedition

Encamped near the outskirts of the forest, King Dushyant is engaged in a frenzy of hunting as he and his group of retainers wrought havoc in the woodlands slaughtering thousands of animals. The texts narrating the story associate Dushyant’s hunting with kingly valour and his martial prowess, both aspects presented as a contrast to the idyllic and peaceful life at the hermitage, and the saintly nonviolence of the ascetics living in it. Dushyant’s enjoyment of bloodsport showed no abating, so much so that his retainers accompanying him became worn out by Dushyant’s persistent hunting expeditions.

The folio depicts the temporary durbar of the king in his encampment pitched at the outskirts of the forest away from his capital Hastinapur on a hunting excursion. The king is enthroned, depicted as seated against a bolster, with an attendant behind holding a chauri of peacock feathers while another holds a fly whisk over him. A jewel encrusted gilded chatra shades him. He is accompanied by his courtiers and retainers.

His close confidante Madhavya is shown leaning on a staff in mock exhaustion, while two courtiers, their hands folded implore that the tiresome game hunting now be discontinued and that the king along with his entire camp proceed to the capital at Hastinapur. Other courtiers, however, even though weary of the king’s hunting, sit despondently but do not articulate their displeasure.

Although the faces of the men are generalised, there is an attempt in the painting to render them with differentiating individualistic traits, with a variation in fashioning their beards and moustaches. The detailing of the features and the hair is intricate - as are the lineaments on the faces of the persons portrayed. But despite the precision in drawing, an expressive liveliness is lacking and a certain stiffness of poses is evident.

The attire of the courtiers is an anachronistic mix with many of the courtiers depicted wearing an earlier Mughal style attire and low turban style favoured during the mid-seventeenth century, while other courtiers are shown wearing the contemporary fashion of the round necked jama slit at the front bottom revealing tight pant like pajamas as favoured by the Sikhs in the nineteenth century. Many also wear their swords tied in a belt hanging from their shoulders in contemporary fashion. The Sikh influence is also evident in the type of carpet on which the courtiers sit on - the one with floral buds in red.

The predominance of the hues of mauves, pinks and yellows and the surrounding latticed white parapet follows the Kangra painting idiom.