( fl c. 1580-early 1590s). Indian miniature painter. He is best known for his animal studies, which influenced Miskin and Mansur. His single illustration in the Darabnama ('Story of Darab'; c. 1580-85; London, BL, Or. 4615, fol. 67r) presaged five designs in the Razmnama ('Book of wars'; 1582-6; Jaipur, Maharaja Sawai Man Singh II Mus., MS. AG. 1683-1850; fols 38-9, 114 and 115-16) and five as colourist for the master Basawan (fols 69, 95, 132 and 138-9). His colouring of Daswanth's design for the Great Deluge (fol. 21) shows brilliant control of texture and palette in depicting the animals in the Ark, a subject and technique adapted by Miskin in the Anvar-i Suhayli ('Lights of Canopus'; 1596-7; Varanasi, Banaras Hindu U., Bharat Kala Bhavan), the Divan (collected poems; c. 1595; Washington, DC, Freer, 48.8) of Hafiz and two other versions (priv. cols). With eight natural history studies in the first Babarnama ('History of Babar'; c. 1590; London, V&A, I.M. 276 and A-1913 and dispersed), Kanha was the principal contributor to that section, guiding Mansur, who painted Wild Buffalo and Hog Deer (Washington, DC, Freer, 54.29r and v); he also illustrated six natural history studies in the `Aja'ib al-makhluqat ('Wonders of creation'; c. 1590; Dublin, Chester Beatty Lib., Ind. MS. 6). However, his compositions in the first Akbarnama ('History of Akbar'; c. 1590; London, V&A, I.S.2.1896.117; fols 12, 13, 64, 57 and 97) depict dramatic scenes of battling armies in which he developed the daring Persian device of a blank middle ground to establish psychological space and used a strong diagonal composition to expand the action beyond the margins. The absence of this great talent from later historical manuscripts and from all the literary manuscripts except a Divan of Hafiz (1588; Rampur, Raza Lib.) suggests that his career ended in the early 1590s.
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