Chaturbhuja Dasa, Madhu Malati Katha, an illustrated manuscript, India, probably Rajasthan, dated VS 1813/1756 AD

This profusely illustrated manuscript depicts the romantic tale of Malati, the beautiful princess, who falls in love with Madhu, the son of a minister or a trader. The text was written in the sixteenth century by the poet Chaturbhuja Dasa. This was a popular epic in Rajasthan and several illustrated versions are known to have been painted in Kota between 1771 and 1780. There is an earlier Sufi version of this romance, also known as Madhumalati, written by Mir Sayyid Manjhan Shattari Rajgiri in 1545. It tells a similar story of a prince called Manohar and his love for a beautiful princess,

Madhumalati. In other versions of this epic, Manohar, or Madhu, is thought to be an incarnation of the Hindu god Krishna's son, Pradumna, For further discussion on this manuscript by Dr Manjiri Thakoor, see - https://www.academia.edu/43323775/ThE_ILLusTRATED_mAnusCRIPT_Madhu_M%C4%81lat%C4%AB_kath%C4%81.

The present manuscript is complete, illustrated with 120 paintings of various sizes. The colophon does not mention a scribe or a patron but lists a precise date of its completion - vikram samvat 1813, on the first day (pratipradati tithi) of the bright lunar fortnight (shukla pakshe) of the month of Ashwin (asoja masa), which translates to 25 September 1756. The folios are correctly numbered in devanagari, in black and red ink, starting at folio 4 (verso). The Roman numbering in pencil starts from folio 1 (recto) but is out of sync with the devanagari numbers between folios 76-78 where it misses folio 77.