Maharana Sangram II visiting Gosain Nilakanthaji after a tiger hunt

A distinctive genre of Rajput painting that developed at the court of Maharana Sangram Singh II (r. 1710–34) is tamasha painting. Painted on large sheets of thick, wasli paper, tamasha paintings record state occasions, seasonal festivals, and scenes of courtly life, in crowded, ebullient compositions, contained within a specific landscape or architectural setting. The narrative composition of tamasha paintings, in which important characters appear in several different scenes in the painting, effectively document court events such as religious ceremonies and hunting parties and the movement of their participants through time and space. This painting is an excellent example of the narrative style of tamasha painting. It depicts Maharana Sangram Singh II and his entourage in procession through the Mewar landscape following a successful tiger hunt. The Maharana’s party is seen twice, first as it progresses in a vertical line through the picture plane and the landscape of Nahar Magra (Tiger Hill), one of the favoured hunting grounds. At the top left the lure, a slaughtered buffalo, is seen in a clearing, with the lattice screen from behind which the tiger was shot. The group is then depicted at the ashram of the Maharana’s spiritual advisor, Gosain Nilakanthaji, at Samina Khera, south of Udaipur, where the Maharana presents the tiger skin to the Gosain. Sangram Singh is shown in a ‘stop-frame’ format, first standing and then bowed from the waist as he presents the tiger skin.

Text by Carol Cains © National Gallery of Victoria, Australia