Akbar and the Elephant Hawa'i, from the Akbarnama

In 1561, outside the fort at Agra, Akbar climbed onto Hawa’i, one of the most difficult elephants in the royal stables, and set him on another, Ran Bagha. The chase went over a bridge of boats on the Jumna. Here the boats are tipping and men are jumping into the river while Akbar, in white, stays on with a gold goad in his hand.

This is the left half of a double-page painting; the other half is also at the V&A. The outline is by Basawan and the painting by Chatr. Abu’l Fazl, who wrote the text, praised Basawan above most of his peers.

The V&A’s Akbarnama is thought to be the first illustrated copy. It stayed in the Mughal library under Jahangir and Shah Jahan, and the museum bought it in 1896 from the widow of a former Commissioner of Oudh.