MAJNUN AT THE KAABA, INDIA, MUGHAL, LATE 18TH CENTURY

A Mughal Painting with opaque pigments on paper, depicting a scene where Majnun and his father with his clan beside Al-Kaaba seeking cure for his love to Laila.
CATALOGUE NOTE
In order to cure Majnun, his father takes him on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he hopes that his son will ask to be saved from his passion.
Instead, Majnun grasps the door knocker of the Kaaba and cries, 'I pray to You, let me not be cured of love, but let my passion grow! Make my love a hundred times as great as it is this very day!'
Nothing further can be done, for Majnun can never be cured, having blessed Laila and cursed himself before the Holy Kabaa. His father, full of grief, returns home, and Majnun, whose life is threatened by Laila's father, again retreats into the desert.
folio: 35 by 22 cm.
painting: 15 by 23.7 cm.