18th century

Layla Visiting Majnun in the Wilderness

The story of Laila and Majnun is a classic tale in Persian literature. This scene depicts Laila visiting Majnun, whose desperate love for her has made him insane. Majnun is living in the wilderness, where wild animals flock to him. Images of the emaciated Majnun with the beautiful Laila became a favorite stand-alone illustration in Rajput painting, especially in the area of western India that is now Rajasthan. Majnun's lovelorn suffering epitomized the mystical concept of the human soul's suffering in its ceaseless search for God, a concept shared by Sufi Islam and devotional (Bhakti) Hinduism. While artists generally sketched the underdrawing in red and finalized it in black, this artist made the initial sketch in black ink and added details in red.