Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri

Buland Darwaza at Fatehpur Sikri

16th century AD

       The Mughal emperors were not only great patrons of painters, but were also great patrons of architecture.  They have left their mark in Indian architecture.
      Babar did not like Hindu architecture as it was asymmetrical and too ornate. Islamic architecture has always emphasised symmetry and simplicity of form and line. Akbar not only adopted the Hindu love for ornamentation,  but also combined it with the Islamic concepts of pristine architecture. 
Tired of the intrigues of Agra, devoted to the sufi Saint Salim Chisti, Akbar founded Fathepur Sikri near Agra. After the planned cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation,  this happens to be the first planned city of India. The Buland Darwaza, the tallest gate of its time, was built to commemorate Akbar's victory over Gujarat. It was a political statement to proclaim that the Mughals have come to stay in Hindustan. 
          But Akbar spoke not in a language of confrontation, but in a language of conciliation.  His architecture depicts the Hindu architecture as well. Notice the two lotuses on top of the arch. His architecture speaks about his cosmopolitanism and pragmatism.

Akbar Hunting in an Enclosure

Akbar Hunting in an Enclosure

A painting from Akbarnama
Akbar Period
16th century AD.

          Hunting was essential for every King. It not only refined the martial tactics of the King, it also symbolised the King as good killing the evil and wild beasts. Thus it was a practical skill and symbolic.
           Akbar was fond of his hunt. Here we see him chasing antelope and deers while mounted on his horse. He is hunting animals in an enclosure--in a technique call 'qamargah'.
          In one of the hunts Akbar became disgusted with the nonsensical violence.  Like Ashoka the Great, he too had a revelation.  Henceforth, he diatributed money in charity and stopped hunting. He understood the importance of peace, nonviolence, harmony,  and peaceful co-existence.
        Miskin, the famous Mughal painter, has caught the violence,  the symbolic and the practical senses of the hunt in this painting.

Akbar Restrains Hawai, an Enraged Elephant

Akbar Restrains Hawai, an Enraged Elephant

a painting by Basawan
from Akbarnama
 Akbar period
16th century AD.

      While Babarnama was Babar's autobiography,  Akbarnama is Akbar's biography written by  his friend and court historian Abul Fazal. Akbarnama was written between 1590 to 1596. Akbarnama not only deals with Akbar's life, but also describes his government,  his revenue system, his army etc. It also talks about the customs and religion of different communities in India.  It is a storehouse of information for Akbar period.
        Akbar assigned its illustration to his best painters. This painting is one of the best work done by Basawan,  the great Mughal painter.
         Hawai was a difficult elephant to master. But Akbar not only mounted him, but made him fight with the strongest elephant,  Ran Bhag. Here we see Hawai chase Ran Bhag across a bridge of boats on the Yamuna river. As the two elephants run, as the 'mahawat' (driver) of Ran Bhag falls, the boats creak under the weight of the animals. On the top we see a boatman desperately trying to avoid collision with the other boats. The painting is full of action. It has caught the feverish pitch of the moment.  It is, indeed,  one of the finest paintings of Akbarnama.

Lord Krishna Lifts Mt. Goverdhan

A painting from Harivamsa--the Persian translation of Hindu epic Mahabharta.

       In an age when Europe practiced religious intolerence, Akbar  practiced religious freedom. Eager to know about the different religions of his empire, he commissioned the  translation of Hindu epic into Persian. He assigned the work of translation to one of the most orthodox members of his court, Badaoni. Akbar asked his famous painters to illustrate the stories from Purans and from Mahabharta. 
          Harivamsa Puran is an appendix to Mahabharta and traces the incarnation of Lord Vishnu.  Here we see Lord Krishna lifting Mt. Goverdhan.  The villagers are all gathered under the mountain.  Besides the religious message that God protects us all, this painting depicts the villagers of its time. Interestingly while it realistically depicts the people,  the mountain is borrowed from Persian miniature tradition.  Again there is a harmonious fusion of Hindu and Islamic arts.

Babar Supervising the Construction of a Reservoir

Babar Supervising the Construction of a Reservoir

 painting from Babarnama
 Akbar Period
 16th century AD.

        Having conquered Hindustan,  Babar set to work on its maintenance and care. Here we see him inspecting and supervising a reservoir.  As a great administrator he was well aware of the needs of the people.  Water conservation was as important then as now.
            Water is integral to the Mughal asthetics. Since Islam originated in the harsh desert of Saudi Arabia,  the green color is symbol of life,  and water a symbol of paradise.  After all an oasis in middle of the desert is, indeed, paradise. Thus, the central theme of the Mughal garden is water in different states--now flowing, now stagnant in a pool, now erupting as a fountain, now trickling down the slope.
         In this painting the artist has captured the importance of water.  The elixir of life flows from the rocky mountain,  into a stream, into a pool, all the while nourishing the flora and fauna of the area. At the bottom we see a dog and a horse drinking from the stream. In the background we see a cemetery.  Life and death revolve around water.
          The indian artist had to paint a dancing peacock on the mountain top. For the peacock and the monsoon are inextricably interlinked.

The Foppish Dervish Rebuked

The Foppish Dervish Rebuked

by Basawan

Akbar Period

Late 16th century AD

        Under Akbar the second generation of artists emerged after the period of Mir Sayyid'Ali. Many of these artists were Hindu who brought the Hindu aesthetics and merged with the idioms of Persian miniature paintings.  As in other aspects of culture, the Mughal artists reflected a fusion of Hindu and Islamic cultures.
        This is one of the finest paintings by Basawan. He has taken a sufi theme of the foolish dervish busy in sewing his robe, and placed it in indian setting. The Pipal tree, the suckling kid and the goat, the peacock,  the slanted 'chajjhha' of the building are all elements of indian art.
         The theme is typically Islamic The Dervish is lost in repairing his robe. He is rebuked by a holy sufi, Abu'l Abbas Qacab. The sufi scolds the dervish and tells him that "the robe is his God". We are so lost in our outward appearance that we forget to locate God inside us.
        The two rivers of Hindu civilization and  Muslim civilization have  mingled to form the civilization of Hindustan