Prince and Ascetic Listen to Music

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Through its three figures, this painting summarises the Mughal fascination with the Hindu ascetic. A sadhu plucks at a rudra vina and sings. The dominant figure is an ascetic whose austere life is indicated by the conch shell and water container beside him. The prince, somewhat idealized, is loosely modelled on the son of the Emperor Shah Jahan, Dara Shikuh, who had a long involvement with ascetics. However it is the hermit who dominates and has knowledge as suggested through the quality of his portrait and by the overall composition, itself showing European influence in its perspective and figure drawing. This peaceful and serene painting blends portrait and landscape brilliantly together with the idea of the mood of music into something more than the sum of its parts.