Mian Mukund Dev

ca. 1740 - ca. 1745

Painting, opaque watercolour with gold on paper, Mukund Dev, wearing a bright yellow jama, is riding on a brown horse through a mustard field in open country, with an attendant walking beside him holding his huqqa. Behind him are riding three courtiers. One is carrying a hawk and another holds a flower. Before Mukund Dev rides the female singer Amal, her head turned round to look at him. She is preceded by two musicians on horseback. One is singing and holding a tambura, while the front one plays a tabla (drum). In the background are undulating slopes and hills in pallid green marked by palash trees. Two groups of tiny figures can be seen. The group on the left comprises five attendants each carrying a hawk. That on the right two servants accompanied by two dogs. The contours of the hills are marked with pink and there are orange streaks in the sky. Significant points are the bare and open landscape, scattered palash trees, groups of small figures, the exquisite rendering of the mustard flowers (appearing like a mist around the horses' legs) and the expressive gestures of the singing girl and the two musicians. The central figure, Mian Mukund Dev, is closely modelled on Balwant Singh himself, his grave posture, rich dress, huqqa, horse and footman being virtually identical to those of Balwant Singh in a scroll painting in this collection (47). Since the picture is inscribed in the same hands as other pictures of Balwant Singh and has a similar Jammu provenance, it is likely that it was made by Nainsukh for inclusion in Balwant Singh's own collection. In this connection it is noteworthy that the inscription in the top border expressly underlines Mukand Dev's inferior status by applying to him the term 'Mian' in contrast to the terms 'Raja' and 'Maharaja' invariably used for Balwant Singh. The fact that the name of the singing-girl is carefully noted and that Mukund Dev's musicians are singing as they ride suggests that Mukund Dev relished music as keenly as did Balwant Singh - a taste which could well explain their friendship. Although the picture is in general outside the main stream of painting at Jammu, it nonetheless includes an idiom peculiar to Jammu painting- the outlining of contours with a softly washed-in rim, pink in this case.