«*» RUKHSANA«*» "Mughal Miniature Paintings"

 

 

Mughal Miniature Paintings

 

Mughal miniatures, endowed with a classical touch and marked by a rich style and imagination, were in medieval India the art of elite. Mughal art was not Islamic art. Despite that it had Islamic elements; it marked a subtle departure from the Islamic art of earlier Sultanate or the early Islamic rulers of Deccan. The Islamic cult fully characterised the art of Sultans of Delhi and the Islamic rulers of Deccan. They had their art theme, style, human figures and even artists from the Islamic world of Persia, Iran or Turkey. Their paintings belonged to India only to the extent that they were rendered on Indian soil, though completely barring the Indian touch. 

 

Mughal Emperor Babur (1483-1530), National Museum, New Delhi	Babur crossing the river Son, A folio from the Babur-nama, Artist: Jagnath, National Museum, New Delhi

 

The Mughal vision of art was different. It was essentially Indian and meant to be so. It depicted India and Islam in an Indian idiom. Akbar, the progenitor of Mughal art style, not only promoted painting and texts manuscribing by setting up at his court a regular studio and at Sialkot a paper factory but also directed his efforts at synthesising the best of the Islamic world with the best of India. In the art of Akbar's era, and more and more in that of his descendants Jahangir and Shahjahan, there reflects a passion for India, for her creative tradition, genius and delightful nature. 

 

Mughal Emperor Akbar (1556-1605), National Museum, New Delhi	Akbar Hunting, circa 1598-1600 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

Akbar's attitude led to a conscious synthesis wherein blended Hindu idiom and Indian aesthetics on one hand and the Islamic cult and elements of imperial Safavid Iran on the other. Hindu artists constituted the larger chunk of Akbar's team of painters, though to work under the direction of Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd-as-Samad, the artists from Iran. This effected the required synthesis of two sets of elements. Besides, he commissioned translations of the best of Indian literature into Persian and the best of Persia into Hindustani. Akbar was illiterate, but when he died, his Kitab-khana had about twenty four thousand manuscripts. This depicts Akbar's secular approach with an indigenous thrust in matters of art, knowledge and intellectual pursuits. 

 

Jahangir holding the picture of Madonna, circa 1620 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi	Nativity, circa 1720 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

Akbar's era is the early phase of Mughal art. Illustrative serialisation of texts like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Harivansha Purana, Hamzanama, Shahnama, Tutinama, Baburnama, Akbarnama and the like was the mode of painting of this phase. Portraiture was a rarity and feminine portrait yet greater. General finish, fine colour mixing, bold execution, rhythm in lines, well-packed composition with minutest of details, well proportioned physiognomy and beautiful rounded faces, thematic thrust, depiction of motion and a highly populated canvas characterised the art style of this early phase. 

 

Kalawant Tansen, circa 1590 A.D, National Museum, New Delhi	Nurjahan, circa 1740 - 50 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

The art of the post-Akbar era did not have the illustrative thrust. General finish and colour mixing was finer but in execution the earlier boldness had been replaced by a touch of softness. The beauty of lines and the delicacy of colours reached the point of perfection. Rhythm was now the quality of the entire canvas and not of lines alone. The earlier crowded canvas had now a lot of breathing space. Jahangir had a sharp eye sensitive to beauty of both man and nature. This and his great poetic genius endowed with fine imagery and lyricism reflected in the art of his era. In the warmth of heart, sense of precision and nature study it is excellent. Portraits of birds and animals of this era are timeless world classics. His interaction with the European world brought to Indian art European technique of shading and producing three-dimensional effects. 

 

Ladies enjoying wine, circa 1650 - 60 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi	Wine and Verses, circa 1620 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

Shahjahan, though architecture was his first passion, continued Mughals' art cult, with lesser thrust. Save a few romances like Dara Shikoh-Ranadil, Baz Bahadur-Roopmati or Laila Majnun, text illustration and serialisation of themes had been given up. Portraits and random themes like durbar scenes, processions, festivals, scenes of outings etc. were preferred. Architecture was more elaborate, nature and background soft, delicate and alluring and decorative patterns as if gems inlaid into a necklace. Romantic in temperament Shahjahan loved sophistication, grandeur and emotions. In the art of his time the depiction of independent scenes of war, hunting, animal fight and violence is rare whereas it brims with profusion of gold, lavish embellishment, magnificence and splendour. The warmth of flesh and sensuality marked the art of post-Akbar era. 

 

Couple in Dalliance, circa 1630 - 35 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

Mosque scene - A folio from the Tawarikh-i-Alfi, circa 1595 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

 

 

Study of Bird, Artist; Mansur, circa 1620 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

Aurangzeb, a conservative Musalman as he was, had in his court no place for art. After he died, several Mughal governors and Rajput states acclaimed sovereignty. Painters of Mughal court, with no jobs there, sought refuse in these sovereign subas and states. They carried with them the Mughal art-style but the taste and likings of their new patrons and local elements were for them as much significant and an amalgamation of both created a new art-style widely known as Provincial Mughal. In it reflected the deteriorating phase of both, the Mughal art and the glory of Mughal court. With its purer idiom Oudh became the foremost seat of the Provincial Mughal art. Rajput courts had their own art-styles capable of absorbing in them Mughal art elements without losing their own identity, but sometimes, as at Datia in Bundelkhand, paintings were rendered in pure Mughal idiom with local elements subordinated to it. Such Rajput paintings also fall in the class of Provincial Mughal art. 

 

 

Rama Durbar, Provential Mughal style, Orchha-Bundelkhand, circa 1600-1610 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

The marriage procession of Dara Shikoh, Artist: Haji Madani, Oudh, circa 1740 A.D., National Museum, New Delhi

 

 

Dr. Daljeet

(Source: Gallery Sheets of Indian Miniature paintings published by the National Museum. New Delhi)

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