c. 1785-1800

The Boar Hunt

The painters of the western city of Kota and the neighboring state of Bundi reveled in elaborate depictions of the hunt. This dreamlike illustration of the slaying of a wild boar is a typical, although small-scale, example. Hunting was not only a favorite pastime and prerogative of Indian royalty, but an important training ground for the skills of warfare. Boar and lion hunts were springtime rituals of the rulers, dedicated to the martial goddess Durga. Even more fundamental, perhaps, is that the hunt signified the king's role as conqueror of the wilderness and the creator of order from chaos.