1616-1617

Kusha Kills Lakshmana

The Razmnama (Book of Wars) is Emperor Akbar's Persian translation of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. The patron of this edition of the Razmnama was the powerful 'Abd al-Rahim, the commander-in-chief of the imperial Mughal army who himself sponsored a notable painting workshop. 'Abd al-Rahim's manuscript follows the Persian format of integrating text blocks into the illustration. This page depicts a subplot featuring characters from another Hindu epic, the Ramayana. Kusha, one of Rama's forsaken twin sons, is shown just after he has shot a magical arrow through his uncle Lakshmana, Rama's brother, who falls from his chariot as he dies.