Forms and Allusive Meanings of Ghaṇṭāhera Scenes across South Asian Courts (Sixteenth–Eighteenth Centuries)

The article focuses on the allusive meanings of the ghaṇṭāhera: an Indian nocturnal hunt distinguished by the use of lanterns and bells to attract the wild game. The study outlines the formation of this iconography through the analysis of Mughal hunting treatises and comparable themes in Mughal and Rājpūt paintings. The article explores the political symbolism of the iconography as it emerged in Mughal and Mevāṛī workshops, and the analogies with other hunting scenes created by the Mughal artist Mīr Kalān Khān (ca. 1710/15-1775). Thanks to a transdisciplinary approach to pictorial and literary sources, the study unveils the erotic and esoteric connotations of these hunting scenes, as well as the ethical-political symbolism conveyed by the association of courtly and forest dweller hunters.