Jahangir's Dream

Jahangir's Dream

a painting by Abu'l Hasan
from the Jahangirnama
Jahangir period
17th century AD.

        Jahangir is generally depicted as an opium edicted, alcoholic emperor, who lost control of his empire to his wife Nur Jahan. But there is another side to him--a patron of the artist, a guardian of his empire, a generous man, a propagandist politician, an eager naturalist, an emperor who expanded the Mughal empire.
       Qandahar was a bone of contention between the Mughals and the Shah of Persia. Both claimed the city to be theirs. Unable to persuade the Shah to leave the city in the Mughal hands, Jahangir had a dream where the Mughals squeeze the Persians out and push them back.
        This painting depicts the dream. The mighty Jahangir embraces the skinny Shah, the Mughal lion nudges the Persian sheep. The halo of the sun and the moon shine luminously behind Emperor Jahangir. The Persian Shah basks in the glory of the Mughal emperor.  This  is pure political propaganda. 
         Interestingly,  Abu'l Hasan has borrowed elements from western art, notably the cherubs,  and the map of the world. Cartography or map making was not well known in India at that time. This painting shows the fusion of the Islamic, the Hindu and the Western art tradition.  Globalisation had begun.