Kaffi Ragini, c.1675, Chitor (Cambridge, Fogg Museum of Art)

During the second half of the seventeenth century, Mughal influence increased in the Rajput schools of painting. Aurangzeb (1656-1707) became rigidly orthodox in religious matters toward the end of his life, even reimposing the jizya, a poll tax on non-Muslims, which had been revoked in the time of Akbar. Many musicians and painters, dismissed from the imperial court, sought employment at Rajput courts, where they introduced Mughal styles and techniques. The figures in the painting shown here have the sensuous curves, generalized features, and expressive leaf-shaped eyes of the native tradition, but the tentative use of perspective in the treatment of the architecture indicates a move toward the naturalism of the Mughal style