Ghatotkacha and three demons in his company chase Bhagadatta, from Bhishma-parva (volume six) of a Razm-nama (Book of Wars) adapted from the Sanskrit Mahabharata and translated into Persian by Mir Ghiyath al-Din Ali Qazvini, known as Naqib Khan (Persian, d. 1614)

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

The red demons riding elephants were magically generated in multiples by Ghatotkacha, the son of one of the protagonists of Book of Wars . Though created by magic, the elephant-riding demons still caused problems for their adversaries and forced them to retreat. This scene took place on the fourth of 18 days of heated battle. The Mughal emperor Akbar (reigned 1556–1605) commissioned a translation of the ancient Sanskrit epic Mahabharata into the Mughal court language of Persian and distributed copies to members of his court. He believed that the epic provided insight into how to rule the people of India. The chief minister to both Akbar and his successor, Jahangir, commissioned his own lavishly illustrated copy, from which this page has come.

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