An Indian Yogi Tied to a Palm Tree mid-17th-late 17th century Willem Schellinks Dutch As described in the extensive inscription in Schellinkss hand, this drawing shows an Indian yogi chained to a tree; another figure bows before him, having brought him offerings of food. In the middle distance, another figure rides an elephant. Schellinks is not known to have traveled to India, but his brother Laurens, a surgeon employed by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), seems to have done so.[1 This drawing could be Willems reconstruction, or re-imagination, of a sight described to him. It is equally possible, however, that he adapted the image from a Mughal painting, several examples of which are known to have been in the Dutch Republic in the mid-seventeenth century and to have inspired Schellinks to paint images incorporating Mughal motifs (and to write a poem about Indian art). It is plausible that he saw an image similar to the depiction of the emperor Babur visiting the ascetics of Gorkh