Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin by Andrew Topsfield, 2012
Early in his reign, Emperor Akbar commissioned a series of large scale illustrations to depict the epic, Hamzanama. “This episode belongs to the tale of Mihrdukht, a beautiful and resourceful young woman and a phenomenal archer, who undergoes various tribulations while in search of her husband Hamid. Here, various suitors are vying for her favours. To fend off the unwanted admirers, Mihrdukht declares that she will choose whichever of them can shoot an arrow through a small ring suspended from the mouth of a golden bird at the top of an immensely tall tower. Here she herself calmly performs this feat. Her female attendants watch in amazement while a despairing suitor steals away grey-faced in the foreground. Soon after this, a suitor does succeed in shooting through the ring. Fortunately he turns out to be the lost husband Hamid.”