Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in the South & South East Asia Collection, under accession number IS.2:2-1896.
Tulsi Kalan, or Tulsi the Elder, belonged among the ranks of the senior artists in Akbar's atelier. Beneath this particular painting and also others in the atelier, we can see inscriptions in red ink. Here the inscription reads “Tarh Tulsi Amal Narayan", which translates to "composition by Tulsi, colouring by Narayan". Scholars who study such scribal notes have established that these were internal administrative records of the workshop labour rather than an artist's signature. The tarh designer was credited as the senior party responsible for making the compositional structure, which a colourist was later tasked with executing.
The painting depicts the first time when Akbar personally witnessed the capture of cheetahs. Abu'l Fazl described this event as the most remarkable form of hunting practised in Hindustan. In such situations, the animals were lured into specially dug pits and taken without injury to be tamed for the royal hunt. Tulsi's design here shows the emperor directly involved in assisting the lifting of the captured animal from its pit. This image in a way collapses the distance between sovereign and manual labour in a manner that is seen in his construction scenes for the same manuscript, where the emperor in a similar manner appears as an embedded participant rather than being merely a remote spectator.
This particular painting also belongs to a broader group of Akbarnama illustrations that depict the animal with its keepers and jewelled collars, thereby reflecting the manuscript's attention to the material culture of courtly hunting. What is to be noted is that the presence of Tulsi as a painter in the atelier can only be recovered through such inscriptions in the texts, as his name seems to be missing from the seventeen painters Abu'l Fazl names in the A'in-i Akbari.
The painting represents an important aspect of Mughal court life: the emperor’s close involvement in hunting and the capture and training of cheetahs. Akbar is shown participating directly in the process rather than simply watching from a distance. This makes the scene interesting because it presents the emperor as an active participant in an organised activity involving hunters, attendants and animals.
I think the artwork also reflects the importance of hunting in Mughal royal culture. The cheetah was not only a wild animal but was trained for use in royal hunts, making its capture and preparation part of the court’s hunting practices. The detailed depiction of people, animals and their activities also demonstrates the Mughal interest in recording events from court life.
The scene can therefore be understood as both a historical record and an example of Mughal artistic interest in movement, nature and royal activity. The participation of Akbar among the people handling the animal also gives the composition a sense of action and makes the emperor appear closely connected with the event being represented.
