3-000-073 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Wild Boar Hunt, c1675. Two princely figures on horseback powerfully charge at a wild boar, simultaneously plunging their weapons into its side just in time to save their companion, who has fallen immediately in front of the enraged animal. The royal hunt was a longstanding tradition in India, demonstrating the bravery and might of the ruler, and involving many of the same skills required for warfare. In the kingdoms of what is today the northwestern Indian state of Rajasthan, the springtime tradition of the boar hunt was especially significant, for a successful hunt was believed to herald good fortune for the year ahead.