A well-dressed man and a woman are mounted on a richly caparisoned camel. The man holds his sword up in salute, his shield on the saddle. An armed man is bent over, cutting the camel’s hobble. Behind him a blue-skinned figure raises his hand.

The painting depicts a dramatic episode from the very popular love story of Ḍhola and Māru. Ḍhola and Māru are riding their camel, going as quickly as they can to escape the villainous Umar, who wants to capture the beautiful Māru. In their haste, they have forgotten to remove the hobble that held the animal’s legs when they stopped for a rest earlier.

On their way Ḍhola and Māru meet the blue-skinned Cāraṇa, who tells his servant to cut the hobble with his knife. He waves the lovers on their way and informs the villain Umar that he might as well stop chasing Ḍhola and Māru because their camel is so quick.

Other visual elements

The paintings of this manuscript are colourful and lively. Note the comparatively modern format of the page, very different from the traditional long and narrow rectangle.

Script

The elaborate script used for the main text is the Jaina Devanāgarī script. It is used for writing numerous Indian languages, here for Rajasthani / Gujarati.