“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata

“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The numerous battles that feature in the Mahabharata, one of the two epic Sanskrit poems of ancient India, provided traditional painters with a wealth of imagery. These narratives, together with the universal Indian desire to celebrate the hero-warrior (vira), combined in a distinctive genre of painting traditionally associated with the town of Paithan, near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Members of the Chitrakarthi caste were responsible for producing these paintings as well as narrating the stories depicted in public performance as they traveled throughout the western Deccan.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata“Royal Hunt,” folio from a Mahabharata

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.