Mahlaj shows his skill to Zumurrud Shah and runs a spear through a tree

Jagan was one of the prominent artist under the court of the Mughal emperor, Akbar in the late 16th century and 17th century. He was one of the eleventh member put of seventeen member as mentioned in Ain i Akbari by Abul Fazl. He painted some of the illustration in the Akbarnama such as Assassination attempt on Akbar and the fight of Baz Bahadur of Malwa. The title of the above artwork is Mahlaj shows his skill to Zumurrud Shah and runs a spear through a tree. It is part of Hamzanama which is a book by Ghalib Lakhnavi. It is about Hamza ibn Abdul-Muttalib who was an uncle of Muhammad. It was commissioned by the Mughal emperor, Akbar. It is currently located at MAK – Austrian Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art in Austria, Vienna while it was obtained from 'The Vienna World Exhibition 1873'. It is done on cotton using watercolour. Basawan is the one who coloured this artwork for him the inspiration was a mythological bird called Mausiqarthat produced the seven fundamental notes through seven holes in its beak (tree). Mahlaj is seen showing his skill of spear throwing and he also mounted his horse. There is also camel which is stuffed and Mahlaj spear passes through it. Then he speared the tree so much with force that it got split into two parts. 'My Lord, if anyone can pull this spear out of the tree, he will have performed a real feat.' Mahlaj said this and then dismounted the tree.