This scene of a wedding party travelling by night depicts Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah of Golconda (r.1580-1612) bringing home his bride, the beautiful Hindu dancing-girl Bhagmati. Himself a Shia Muslim, Muhammad Quli had fallen in love with Bhagmati as a young prince. He would often ride out to visit her village, fording the sometimes dangerous Musi river to do so.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2nd February-22nd April 2012, Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, Andrew Topsfield, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 39 on p. 100, illus. p. 101
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