Daswanth

[1] After Daswanth showed natural talent by painting and drawing on walls, the emperor learned of him, and he began to be taught by Khwāja 'Abd al-Samad, a Persian master painter.

[5] His next important artistic contribution was to the Hazanama where he created multiple paintings, still under the guidance of 'Abd al Samad, and then a singular illustration in the Tarikh e Khandan e Timuriyah.

[3] It is suspected that he helped to prepare about 1,400 cloth paintings for the Dastan-i Amir Hamza and some embellishment on buildings in Agra and Fatehpur Sikri.

The largest collection of Daswanth's work is found in the Razmnama ("Book of wars"), which was a Persian translation of the Hindu epic the Mahabharata,[5] between 1582-1586, and includes thirty illustrations.

If not for his early death, he would have been the most prolific painter on this project which included Basawan, Makand, Kasu Das, Kanha, and Lal.

Arjuna, the protagonist of the epic, is pictured in red in the left of the scene near a caldron of hot oil over fire.

The intricate facial expressions of the onlooking crowd and details of the fire and grass are indicative of Daswanth's unique style.

It is a double page composition with thousands of figures including soldiers, cavalry, and elephant and chariot riders.

In Daswanth's illustrations, his chaotic, creative style distinguishes him from other artists of his time, like Basawan.

[4] Many of his works depict gory violence and battles, but are still composed with attention paid to diagonals, circles, and other shapes, in balance with the natural surroundings.