2-722-147 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

A Night Scene of Shiva Puja, c. 1760-70. Hindu women had been prominent members of Mughal harems since the time of Akbar, whose chief queen was a Hindu princess from the kingdom of Amber (later renamed Jaipur) in present-day Rajasthan. Under golden stars and a crescent moon, this royal palace woman offers a flower garland at a shrine to the Hindu god Shiva. The light of butter lamps casts a shadow behind her figure; experimentation with the depiction of shadows, typically absent in earlier Mughal painting, increased among artists during the 1700s.