Unknown Maker, Indian

This depiction of a man who was probably a Muslim nobleman was painted in Marwar, a region in northwestern India not far from what is now the border with Pakistan. A poem or folk song surrounds the horse and rider, almost mirroring their movement. Deccani Urdu is written above the figures and Hindi below, and although these languages look different, they sound identical when spoken. This bilingual, cross-cultural embrace in a painting more than 200 years old is particularly striking now, given India’s violent partition in 1947 and more recent laws to strip Muslims of their right to Indian citizenship, including 2019’s Citizenship Amendment Act.