Padshahnamah fol. 204v
(plate 40)

Khan Dawran receives the surrender of the Udiga Fort in October 1636. 

The capture of the forts at Udgir and Awsa completed the Mughal campaign against the Nizam Shahi kingdom of Ahmadnagar in the Deccan, which thereafter became a province of the Mughal Empire. This painting depicts keys to the Udiga Fort being presented to the Mughal leader Khan Dawran after a three-month siege. The defeated Deccani officials are led out of the fortress with their hands tied as Mughal soldiers, standing either side, taunt and jeer at them. In the centre foreground, Khan Dawran sits on his piebald horse ready to receive the keys wearing a golden robe with a miniature portrait of the Emperor fixed to his turban. The crash of cymbals and the beat of drums in the bottom right provide an aural accompaniment to the event.

The artist Dhola signed the painting on a quiver attached to the saddle in the bottom left corner. 

Bibliography:
Milo Beach and Ebba Koch, King of the world : the Padshahnama, an imperial Mughal manuscript from the Royal Library, Windsor Castle, 1996
Saqib Baburi, Beyond the Akbarnamah: Padshahnamahs and Official Regnal Chronography for Shah-Jahan Padshah (r. 1037/1628-1068/1658), 2010.