Prince Manohar burns the Tree of Immortality and destroys the demon, from a manuscript of the Gulshan-i Ishq (Rose Garden of Love)

Telling a lengthy story in a single picture requires artists to make decisions about what (and how much) to include and what to leave out. They sometimes use visual puns and other devices to deepen their viewers’ enjoyment of the story.

This painting details the final stage of the hero Manohar’s destruction of a demon who had kidnapped the heroine, Champavati. Previously, Manohar had failed at defeating the demon because it was invincible as long as the Tree of Immortality bore fruit. Here, our heroes located the tree and burned it (upper right), which allowed Manohar to destroy the demon, whose bloody and dismembered remains fill most of the picture space. Champavati stands casually under a tree, posed like an ancient sort of nature divinity (shalabhanjika) with a long history in Indian art. She, along with the serene landscape with birds and trees (upper left), contrasts with the vignettes of violence to visually convey tension and drama.