Daswanth (also spelled Dasvant and Dasavanta) was a sixteenth century painter of Akbar’s imperial workshop, conjectured to have been Hindu and probably of humble origin. As the son of a palanquin-bearer who drew on workshop walls he was noticed by the emperor and placed under the Persian master Khwaja Abd as-Samad. He contributed to the Tutinama and the Hamzanama before designing the greater part of his surviving work for the Razmnama begun in 1582. Contemporary chroniclers praised his talent and the Akbarnama dates his death by suicide to 1584.
Early Life
The documentary record of Daswanth’s early life rests on a single sentence preserved by Abu’l Fazl and a few later inferences, so this section is shorter than requested. No source gives his birth date or birthplace. The Ain-i Akbari as translated by Beach calls him the son of a palanquin-bearer who served in the imperial workshop and drew images and designs on walls out of natural inclination. Nothing survives on his mother or siblings or on the region he came from or any family philosophy. Britannica records show only that little is known of his life and that he was probably Hindu and of humble origin.
Abu’l Fazl’s account holds that the emperor’s glance fell on these wall drawings one day and discerned a master’s spirit in them so that Akbar entrusted him to Khwaja Abd as-Samad. His education was therefore the apprenticeship of the imperial atelier under a teacher whom Britannica describes as a calligrapher and painter of good family in Iran who followed Humayun to India in 1548 and taught the young Akbar drawing. No earlier schooling is recorded and the date of his entry into the workshop is unknown. It must precede his earliest known work of about 1560 which Cleveland attributes to a young master artist.
Artistic Journey
Daswanth’s career unfolded wholly within Akbar’s imperial workshop and moved from apprentice pages to the design of an entire epic. His earliest known work is a page in the Cleveland Tutinama which Beach calls signed and certainly authentic but early and immature. Cleveland dates it to about 1560 and notes a cool blue layer beneath the painting while Impart records a free application of wet pigment and calls this the only manuscript he is known to have worked on unassisted.
His next major engagement was the Hamzanama which the Met reports was commissioned in 1562 and took nearly one hundred artists about fifteen years. Museums attribute folios to him jointly with colleagues so that LACMA assigns the architectural details to Shravana and the expressive figures to Dashavanta while Beach cautioned in 1992 that successful attributions to his hand had yet to be made.
Impart counts nineteen attributed paintings made under the supervision of Abd as-Samad and adds that a single illustration in the Timurnama probably led to his larger roles in later manuscripts. The summit came with the Razmnama begun in 1582 where Beach finds his greatest and fully mature illustrations which he designed but did not fully execute. Impart counts thirty of the 176 illustrations as his and judges he would have been the most prolific painter had he lived. It also describes frenzied and chaotic compositions concerned with vivid scenes and moods rather than space and depth in contrast to the traditional manner of his contemporary Basawan.
The Akbarnama narrative dates his death to 1584 and confirms his insanity and suicide. His documented patron was Akbar and his documented teacher was Abd as-Samad. No sources I opened record a stated artistic philosophy or any other patrons.
Signature Works
1. The Wounded Monkey Bites the Hand of the Prince, His Chessmate, in the Presence of Guests (Tuti-nama, Fifth Night)
Year: c. 1560
Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Current Location: Indian and Southeast Asian Art department, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, USA.
Short Description: The scene illustrates a cautionary tale told by the mother parrot to warn her young against friendships between species. A monkey who plays chess with a prince bites the prince after being slapped for a bad joke. Guests look on in astonishment while food is prepared at the left.
2. Misbah the Grocer Brings the Spy Parran to his House (Hamzanama)
Year: ca. 1570
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor (gouache), and gold on cloth; mounted on paper
Current Location: Islamic Art department, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
Short Description: The folio shows Misbah on the right and Parran on the left plotting to rescue Hamza’s kidnapped son. The Met attributes it to Dasavanta and Mithra. The paintings may have been held up for an audience while a storyteller recited the text.
3. Hamza’s Heroes Fight in Support of Qasim and Badi’uzzaman (Hamzanama)
Year: ca. 1564 to 1569
Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor (gouache), and gold on cloth; mounted on paper
Current Location: Islamic Art department, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.
Short Description: Two of Hamza’s allies fight under a pavilion while other rival groups join the brawl and the scene is overrun with chaos. The Met attributes it jointly to Shravana, Dasavanta and Tara, so his share is uncertain.
4. Prince Qasim and the Champions of Iran and Turan (Hamzanama)
Year: circa 1570
Medium: Opaque watercolor (gouache), gold, and ink with mica on cotton (recto)
Current Location: South and Southeast Asian Art department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, USA.
Short Description: LACMA’s note describes Sanawbar Banu welcoming Hamza’s warriors through an ornate gateway while a servant unrolls a red spread. The female figures wear Indian attire, which shows local influence. The architectural details are attributed to Shravana and the expressive figures to Dashavanta.
5. Arjuna Hitting the Target (Razmnama)
Year: 1582 to 1586
Medium: Opaque watercolor (gouache) and gold on paper
Current Location: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum (City Palace Museum), Jaipur, India (Imperial copy)
Short Description: Wikipedia calls it his first work in the Razmnama. It shows kings gathered in Drupada’s capital for Draupadi’s svayamvara, with Arjuna in red near a cauldron of hot oil over a fire. The intricate faces of the crowd and the details of the fire and grass are called characteristic of his style.
6. Abhimanyu’s Chakravyuha (Razmnama)
Year: 1582 to 1586
Medium: Opaque watercolor (gouache), ink, and gold on paper
Current Location: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum (City Palace Museum), Jaipur, India (Imperial copy)
Short Description: A double-page composition of thousands of soldiers, cavalry, and elephant and chariot riders arranged in a maze formation across the whole spread, described as unattempted elsewhere in Mughal art.
7. Kalaratri Rises from the Body of Shikhandin (Razmnama)
Year: 1582 to 1586
Medium: Opaque watercolor (gouache), ink, and gold on paper
Current Location: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum (City Palace Museum), Jaipur, India (Imperial copy)
Short Description: The ghoulish Kalratri rises from the dead Shikandin and drinks the blood of those killed in the Pandava camp. She wears flayed animals and a necklace of severed heads and sips from a bowl of blood against a completely blank background that gives no sense of space.
8. Arjuna Fells Karna (Razmnama)
Year: 1582 to 1586
Medium: Opaque watercolor (gouache), soot ink, and gold on paper
Current Location: Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Museum (City Palace Museum), Jaipur, India (Imperial copy)
Short Description: Described as showing clouds in a Chinese style, which is evidence of his familiarity with foreign pictorial idioms.
9. Amr Disguised as Mazmahil the Surgeon Practices Quackery on the Sorcerers of Antali
Year: between 1557 and 1572
Medium: Opaque watercolor and gold on cotton, mounted on paper
Current Location: Asian Art department, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Short Description: Attributed to Dasavanta; Attributed to Shravana. The folio illustrates Amr posing as a doctor to gain entry to a community of sorcerers, then drugging them to free a comrade. It is one of a series of three showing his entry into the fort of Zumurud Shah. Inside the palace the scene is one of utmost agitation. A frightened woman clutches a child, a bed rocks violently and a servant pounds medicine in a mortar. Outside, a rocky hill and tiny shepherds supply a quiet contrast. The museum notes that the paintings are on cloth with Persian text on paper glued to the back, and that the pages may have been used in storytelling performances.
10. The Parrot Mother Cautions Her Young on the Danger of Playing with Foxes, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Fifth Night
Year: circa 1560
Medium: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
Current Location: Asian Art department, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA.
Short Description: In the night’s frame story the parrot Tuti tells Khujasta of a mother parrot living in the forest with her young, who liked to play with the fox cubs at the base of the tree. The tale warns against such friendships and sets up the monkey story on the sibling page. The painting shows the mother parrot perched on the edge of her treetop nest. The upper scene has a lush tree with pink blossoms against a deep blue sky, with small birds scattering through the branches. Cleveland also points out a fox cub suckling contentedly while its mother keeps a sharp eye on the others.
Awards and Recognition
Imperial patronage: the emperor personally noticed him and entrusted him to the leading master of the atelier (Ain-i Akbari via Beach).
Rank in Abu’l Fazl’s list: Beach says he is named third among the court’s major painters, in a list that seems hierarchic.
Abu’l Fazl’s praise: Beach’s translation calls him matchless in his time and the most excellent. Britannica reports he was cited as having surpassed all painters to become “the first master of the age.”
Later museum standing: Cleveland’s page describes him as one of the most celebrated Indian masters at the Mughal court.
Impact
Daswanth’s impact is better attested in his lifetime than afterward. Britannica names him with a colleague as the most outstanding painters of Akbar’s atelier and says he played the leading part in illustrating the Razmnama, although some prefer the colleague. His artistic influence lies in that epic, where Impart describes frenzied and chaotic arrangements that favour vivid scenes and moods over space and depth as the clearest mark of his style. Wikipedia, citing Das (1998), adds that at least thirteen of his designs use a horizontal format, the most in any major Mughal manuscript. Culturally the imperial Razmnama he helped design was followed by several illustrated copies dated 1598 to 1599, 1605 and 1616 to 1617. Beach notes that his designs were often executed by others, and Wikipedia credits Banwari with completing some scenes. His folios now hang in the Met, LACMA and Cleveland.