Darbar (Court) of 'Alamgir'

Darbar (Court) of 'Alamgir'

A painting by Bichitr
Auranzeb period
1658 AD.

       Having killed his elder brother, Prince Dara Shikoh, having imprisoned his father, Shah Jahan, in 1658 Aurangzeb usurped the Mughal throne. Upon ascending the throne he took the title of 'Alamgir ( Seizer of the Universe). He personified his title.  Before the British, he had the largest empire in Indian history, stretching from Kabul to almost Kanyakumari, from Sind to Assam. Politically the empire was united, socially fragmented,  economically distintigrating.
      Here Bichitr portrays the new  Emperor with his sons and maternal uncle. The emperor no longer sits in the company of learned men, or in the opulence of a court. He sits with a hawk perched on his right hand. It was the hawkish policies of Aurangzed which tore apart the unity of Hindustan, and partially damaged its diversity. Bachitr has reflected the rigid psychology of the emperor in his rigid posture. This painting is one of the finest portraits in Mughal miniatures.
         The battle between the liberal Dara Shikoh and the orthodox Aurangzeb is another turning point in Indian history. With the victory of fundamentalism,  India began its decline which led to its eventual subjugation by the British.

Prince Dara Shikoh with Learned Men in a Garden

Prince Dara Shikoh with Learned Men in a Garden

by Bichitr
Shah Jahan period
1640-1650 AD

         Prince Dara Shikoh was Shah Jahan's eldest son. He was the crown prince to the Mughal throne. In order to prevent a royal revolt, and in order to train Dara into the administrative functions,  Shah Jahan always kept Dara with him. Prince Dara Shikoh grew up in the liberal Sufi tradition of the Mughal court. Like Akbar and Jahangir, he was fascinated by Hinduism. He himself translated Hindu texts into Persian. He was a devotee of Nizamuddin Aullia Chisti of Delhi.
            Here Bichitr portrays Prince Dara Shikoh in a discourse with learned men. There is lively conversation,  wine and music. During the discourse a servant pours the wine, and the singer sings animatedly.  Bichitr paints his self-portrait as the man reading the book on the left side of the painting. The setting of the painting is Kashmir as Bichitr has painted the Iris flowers and the Cyprus trees.
            But the painting is more symbolic: under liberalism, ideas blossom and flower.  Liberalism is a Garden of Eden, a paradise.

Shah Jahan Hunting

Shah Jahan Hunting

Painting from Padshahnama
 1645 AD.

         Besides depicting the major events of Shah Jahan, the Padshanama also captures Shah Jahan' passions and activities.  Here we see him on a royal hunt near Palam. According to Shah Jahan he had killed eighteen black bucks and deers without missing a shot. Hunting was a royal pass time. It not only improved the marksmanship of the emperors, but also was symbolic for the subjects: the emperor as a protector of the people from the wild nature,  from the wild beasts.  Even the royal ladies used to go out and hunt. According to Jahangir once he and Nur Jahan went for a hunt. While Jahangir missed the shot while trying to kill a tiger, Nur Jahan shot him dead just with a single shot.
       Such paintings not only tell us about the royal passtimes, they also tell us about the weapons which were used at the time. Here Shah Jahan is using a long musket riffle.  Moreover,  these Mughal paintings would become the role models for the Rajput style of painting which we will dicsuss shortly.

Shah Jahan Tieing the Sehra on Prince Data Shikoh

Shah Jahan  Tieing the Sehra on Prince Data Shikoh

A painting from Padshahnama
1635 AD.

         Prince Dara Shikoh was not only the Crown Prince, but was Shah Jahan's favourite son. Here Shah Jahan is shown tieing the 'Sehra' on the face of the prince. Interestingly the sehra is the same one, made out of pearls and gems, which Shah Jahan had worn when he married Mumtaz Mahal. It was a family heirloom.  In this painting we also see Aurangzeb standing, second from Shah Jahan, towards the right side of the painting. Ironically the battle between Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb over the Mughal throne would seal the fate of Hindustan.  But this painting has caught the happier moments of the royal family.
        The artist has cleverly divided the painting into two parts: the upper for the royal figures, the lower for the group of dancers and courtiers.  This depicts the social division of the medieval society. Yet, it is the lower group who is full of life and gaiety.  The women are dancing with free abandonment.  Joy of life is confined to the lower strata; ceremonies, to the upper strata. So is life.

Shah Jahan Receives His Three Eldest Sons

Shah Jahan Receives His Three Eldest Sons

by Bichitra
Painting from Padshahnama
1640 AD.

          Having revolted against Jahangir, Shah Jahan was on the run for three years. During this period, Nur Jahan had kept Shah Jahan's three sons as hoatages. In 1627 Jahangir died in Kashmir.  Asaf Khan, Shah Jahan's father-in-law told Shah Jahan to march to Agra and ascend the throne. Shah Jahan rushed from Nasik to Agra and was declared the next Emperor on 14 Feb. 1628. A month later, Shah Jahan was reunited with his sons. This painting depicts the poignant moment. While Prince Dara Shikho touches Shah Jahan's feet, Princes Shah Sujha and Aurangzeb solemnly wait for their turn. Asaf Kahn protectively stands behind the two princes.
           Bitchitra has maintained the solemnity of the occasion by adhering to a formal symmetry in the composition.   Yet all lines, diagonal, vertical or horizontal lead the eyes to Emperor Shah Jahan. The palette is one of the most colorful,  yet the colors are subdued and subtle.  This is certainly one of the finest Mughal miniatures.

Prince Khurram ( later Shah Jahan) Weighed Against Metals

Prince Khurram ( later Shah Jahan) Weighed Against Metals

Mughal miniature
Jahangir Period
17th century AD

      Jahangir describes this scene in his Memoir,  Jahangirnama. According to him, Prince Khurram did not have good health. When he turned sixteen, the astrologers told Jahangir that an important epoch of his life would begin. In order to begin the period auspiciously, Jahangir had him weighed against precious metals, gems, cloth, etc. These were to be distributed amongst the poor and the needy. Jahangir also tells us that Akbar carried out this ceremony twice a year. 
         The Mughal artists have captured the opulence,  the grandeur, the daily events of the Mughal court. Here we see a servant placing a bundle on the floor, a scribe writing the names of the material, we see the huge balance, the courtiers standing solemnly.  We see a fine portrait of Jahangir and of young Khurram (later to be known as Emperor Shah Jahan). We see the Persian carpets and the Chinese painting on the walls. The Mughal world comes alive.

Inayat Khan Dying

Inayat Khan Dying

A Mughal miniature
Jahanghir Period
1618 AD.

       Jahanghir was fascinated by the reality around him. Curious by nature, he would carry his painters with him on his sojourns.  If he came across any unusual thing, he would ask the painters to paint it. Inayat Khan's condition shocked Jahanghir.  Hence this painting.
         Inayat Khan was one of jahangir's  intimate attendants.  Later in life he became addicted to opium and wine. His health deteriorated.  He wanted the royal permission so that he could go back to Agra. When Jahangir saw his condition,  he was horrified.  He asked himself "Good God, can a son of man come to such a shape and fashion?"
        But Jahangir did not learn any lesson. He himself became an opium addict later in life. He too died of opium addiction.
        Beginning with Jahangir period, the painters moved away from stylization to realism. Painters like Bachitra specialized in portraiture.  Jahangir emphasised realism in art. This tendecy would reach its climax under Shah Jahan. Under Jahangir,  Indian art took a u-turn. ?

Jahangir Enthroned on an Hourglass

Jahangir Enthroned on an Hourglass 

a painting by Bichitr
from Jahangirnama
Jahangir period
17th century AD.

         Another painting of propaganda.  Not a political one, but a spiritual one. The Emperor sits on an hourglass where the sand of time and life flows by. He has four supplicants before him. Shaikh Husain of the Chishti shrine, the Ottoman Sultan, James I --the King of England, and the painter Bichitr himself. The Emperor ignores the last three. Instead he gives his Book of Life to Shaikh Husain. The Emperor takes refuge in Islam.
        This painting is interesting for many other reasons as well. It shows the growing interest in Western art and technology.  The portrait of James I is a copy of an English painting. The cherubs are also borrowed from western paintings.  The  idea of an hourglass is an English imported item. Further it is one of the few occasions in Indian art that we have a self-portrait of an artist. A rare thing indeed. The status of the artist has improved from being a mere artisan to being depicted with the Emperor himself. The artist is beginning to emerge in his own right.

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.

The Birth of a Prince

The Birth of a Prince 

a painting by Bishan Das
from Jahangirnama
Jahangir period
17th century AD.

        Jahangir was the fourth Mughal emperor. Like Babar, he too maintained a diary, known as Jahangirnama. Like the Babarnama and Akbarnama, the diary was also heavily illustrated.  Jahangir was a great patron of painters. His period (1605-1627)  has produced some of the best artists of India.
        Bishan Das was one of the finest painter of Jahangir's atelier.  He specialized in portrait painting.  In fact Jahangir records that he had sent Bishan Das to Iran in order to paint a portrait of Shah of Iran with whom he had friendly relations.
          Here Bishan Das paints Jahangir's birth. We get a peep into the Zannakhana or the ladies palace. The newly born child is being presented to the mother. The old grandmother sits in the chair. There are women and eunuchs gossiping and singing.  A eunuch group is clapping and singing. The gate of the palace is decorated with a string of flowers and closed with a curtain. A group of astrologers, sitting outside the palace,  are drawing up the horoscope of the prince. Men laden with trays of jewelles and clothes have arrived--possibly sent by Akbar himself at the arrival of Salim, the future Jahangir.
       These paintings conjure up the Mughal world for us. They  are important both as art pieces and as historical documents of an age bygone.

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.

Hunter Catching Birds

Hunter Catching Birds 

from Baburnama
Akbar Period
16th century AD.

         The Mughal Emperors wrote either their autobiography or had there biography written by their courtiers.  Babar, the first Mughal emperor began this tradition.  His autobiography is called Babarnama. It is considered to be one of the finest autobiography written in Turkish language.  It is taught in Turkey as a piece of Turkish literature.
        It is claimed that Akbar was poor at reading. He, thus, commissioned his painters to illustrate the Babarnama. While the Babarnama would be read, Akbar could enjoy these paintings.
        The Mughals were fascinated by the sheer variety of wild life in India.  Babar describes them in his autobiography.  Here the painter Bhag depicts a variety of birds as a hunter is about to hunt them. According to Babar such hunting he had witnessed near Kabul, which was then part of Hindustan. Interestingly Bhag doesn't place the scene in Afghanistan,  but in tropical India.  Notice tthhe huge Pipal tree in the middle of the painting.  Many of these birds can be seen presently at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.

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.

A Zebra

A Zebra 

by Mansur
Jahangir Period
17th century AD.

        Jahangir was a naturalist. He was fascinated by the flora and fauna of India. Whenever he would come across a new or strange flower or animal, he would ask Mansur, his favourite painter, to paint it.
        The first Zebra was brought to Jahangir's court. It aroused everyone's curiosity. In the Jahangirnama, he says "some people imagined that it had been colored... (but) after minute inquiry into the truth, it became known that the lord of the world was the creator thereof." The mystery was solved by Jahangir himself, when he told the retainer to pluck a few hair and see the color of the hair at the roots. Jahangir had Mansur paint the first Zebra, the first Turkey and the first Giraffe brought to his court. Ustad Mansur was the best wild life painter of the Mughal atelier.
     Jahangir emerges as a rare King: an emperor with a scientific temperament. 

The Batte of Panipat

The Battle of Panipat

from Babarnama 
Akbar Period
16th century AD

       Born in Ferghana near Samarkand,  Babar invaded India four times before he met Ibrahim Lodi on the battlefield of Panipat on 12th April 1525. It was a battle between two unequal forces. Ibrahim with his army of one lac soldiers and one thousand elephants.  Babar with his twenty thousand soldiers and his canons.  The battle lasted till the evening.  The canons had won the day. By the evening,  Ibrahim was lying dead amongst his thirty thousand dead soldiers.  Indian history took a u-turn. The Mughals had arrived.
         This painting depicts the movement of Babar's army. The artist has masterfully captured the thrust, the movement of the army. With cattle drums beating in the background,  with the canons lined in the front, the cavalry charges towards an unseen enemy. The archers draw their bows, the naked swords flash through the battlefield.  Babar rides his black capricioned horse in the centre of the painting.  He leads his troops into the din of the battlefield.
           Of course the painter has taken a few artistic licence: He has paintes hills and knolls,  when the fact is that the battlefield of Panipat is a flat land. But nonetheless,  this is one of the best paintings of Babarnama. It depicts a turning point of our history.

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

A Persian miniature

A Persian miniature 

from Herat
15th century AD.

         Humayun's exile to the Iran was a boon for Indian art. For upon his return to India, he brought two master painters from the Safavi court--Mir Sayyid'Ali and Abd us-Samad. These two masters brought the Safavi or the Persian tradition of miniature painting.  They are the beginning of the Mughal school of miniature painting.

        Despite the ban on painting in the Holy Koran, the Persians produced some of the finest paintings in the world. Their paintings were meant to illustrate stories. They were part of  a book as mere illustrations. Hence their small size. The paintings are flat, two-dimensional,  their composition is circular--as in this painting--the fight between the two warriors is within a circular clump of trees. The colors are subdued--at times pastel colours. ..as here in this painting.  Since religious scenes were strictly prohibited,  the Persian artist concentrated on the themes of love and war. Firdosi's Shahnama--the story of Rustum--being a favourite subject. The Persian themes, the Persian iconography is the foundation of Mughal art. But what is fascinating is its fusion with the indian art. The union of two great art traditions has produced some of the masterpieces of world art.

Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram on his Return from Deccan

Jahangir Receives Prince Khurram on his Return from Deccan

Painting by Ramdas and Murari.
From Padshahnama. 1640 AD.

           After the Mewar campaign,  Jahangir sent Prince  Khurram to conquer the Deccan Sultanate. This was another task left incomplete by Akbar. During this campaign,  the Mughal court shifted to Mandu in Madhya Pradesh. After more than a year Prince Khurram returned from the Deccan campaign.  He brought the enormous wealth of the Deccan with him. Jahangir was so overjoyed to see his son that he left the throne and went to embrace him. This painting depicts that touching moment. It is at Mandu that Jahangir conferred the title of "Shah Jahan" on Prince Khurram. Jahangir has described this scene in his Jahangirnama.

           The artists of Shah Jahan atelier were well versed in realism. In fact, prior to the modern period, realism had reached its zenith during the Shah Jahan period. The individualization of each figure is the hallmark of painters of Shah Jahan period.
         Here each figure is unique. In fact each person has been identified by art historians. We have Raja Bikramjit of Bikaner, Asaf Khan--Shah Jahan's father-in-law, and others. The painting beautifully depicts the hierarchy of the Mughal court and of the Medieval society.