Madhavya Requesting King Dushyant for a Day’s Rest for Himself

The folio depicts the temporary court of the King Dushyant of Hastinapur, while out on a hunting expedition. The King has indulged in a frenzy of hunting, and so rigorous was his routine hunting, that his courtiers and attendants are tired of the King’s sport. Dushyant is depicted enthroned in his encamped court while a slew of nobles surround him.

The artist portrays the exhaustion and disenchantment of the courtiers of the king with the persistent hunting of the king with lucid detail. The courtiers droop and sag, effectively conveying their exhaustion through their gestures and stances. The old man on the extreme right, for instance, can barely get up and stand in the king’s presence, while another white moustached old courtier dressed in orange in the centre lets his arms fall, his shoulders slump with exhaustion. Even the younger courtiers bow down their heads in a shameful admission of their fatigued state, articulating their desire to give up the king’s unending hunting expeditions. None however has the courage to apprise the king of their condition.

The task is left to Madhavya, a close confidant of the king, who leans on his staff barely able to stand upright without support, while he looks up eloquently pleading the case of the courtiers to the king, imploring a day’s rest for the hunting party. The wily Madhavya leans on his staff in mock disability, in a satirical exaggeration of his condition. The king amused by him orders a day’s rest and dismisses the court.

King Dushyant, in sharp contrast to the rest of his retinue, seated on the throne looks fresh and free from any weariness - he sits straight, his posture firmly upright and watches his coterie with a keen gaze, listening to Madhavya.

Apart from the affective rendering of emotional states of the men, the artist is a skilled colourist and handles the textures of the clothes and the drapery with remarkable skill. The brocade turban that the king wears as well as the gold woven wrap that crosses his shoulders is rendered with finesse, as is the manner of rendering gold ornaments with very minute dots that impart a realistic sheen to them.