What is the significance of the mughal empire

Their condition, inevitably, is poor: some have been damaged by fire or rain, and the colours on all the pages have faded significantly. In addition, at some stage in their history, probably in the 19th century, zealots have rubbed out the faces of all the living beings depicted.

The paintings now in the MAK are considerably better preserved, and give a better idea of the vibrancy of the original colours. The Hamzanama paintings demonstrate the beginning of a distinctively Mughal style that would become more refined as Akbar's reign progressed. Parallel trends simultaneously took place in architecture, and in the production of artefacts for the court.

The vertical format of the Hamzanama paintings, high-viewpoint and meticulous details of the surface ornamentation of some weapons and textiles, all derive from Iranian conventions, but are combined with a naturalism in the depiction of animals and birds that belong to Hindustani traditions.

Though never realistic, the paintings nevertheless occasionally provide glimpses of contemporary life in even the most fantastic settings, a feature that would endure in Mughal painting. Many of the buildings depicted appear to be of red sandstone, the material used in the construction of Akbar's monuments in the royal cities of Delhi and Agra, and in his new city, Fatehpur Sikri. The nascent Mughal style continued to evolve over the next decades as the artists were exposed to new influences, or new recruits joined them.

Iranian artists sought employment at Akbar's court, bringing with them an enhanced attention to detail and sophisticated use of colour. They were vastly outnumbered by the calligraphers, craftsmen, architects, poets and scholars who also came from Iran, able to move easily into this Persian-speaking milieu.

In Persian, already the language of the cultivated elite, was officially adopted as the administrative language of the empire. This allowed reports to be collected in the central Record Office of the court from every province, each of which had many local languages.

A few years earlier, in , a Translation Bureau Maktabkhana had been established as one of the major court institutions. It produced Persian translations of key texts, the most important of which were then illustrated. By the late 16th century, few at court were able to understand Turki, the language in which Babur had written. The Persian translation, the Baburnama Book of Babur , introduced to a wide Mughal audience the account of his turbulent life before and after invading Hindustan.

He gave detailed descriptions of the unfamiliar flora and fauna he came across, and recorded in forthright terms how much he disliked many aspects of the land, notably its climate and architecture.

He also described many of the new gardens he laid out in the Iranian manner, and the plants he introduced from Central Asia. The translation of Babur's memoirs from Turki to Persian was supervised by one of the great intellectuals of the age, Akbar's friend 'Abd al-Rahim, who also held the highest office in the empire. Akbar's reign was shaped by his curiosity regarding religions other than his own Muslim faith on the one hand, and his desire for religious tolerance on the other.

Acutely aware of tensions between his Hindu and Muslim subjects, he wanted the major Sanskrit texts to be translated into Persian so that they could be widely read by non-Hindus. In doing so, the hoped that "those who display hostility may refrain from doing so and may seek after the truth". The Translation Bureau was therefore given the task of producing Persian versions of fundamental texts such as the Ramayana Razmnama, or Book of War and the Harivamsa, considered to be an appendix to the Mahabharata, detailing the life of Krishna.

The translation of the Sanskrit text of the Harivamsa into Persian was finished by about and paintings were added. One imperial copy had its paintings removed in the early s when stray pages appeared on the Western art market. As these translations were nearing completion, Akbar gave the order for the history of his reign to be compiled, including an account of his real and mythical antecedents.

The author was Abu'l Fazl, the great polymath of the age, who began his work in and completed most of it by His rigorously researched history drew on the central record office of the empire, a number of memoirs commissioned by the emperor from witnesses to recent events, and the recently-translated memoirs of Babur.

Though always historically accurate, Abu'l Fazl also portrayed Akbar as the ideal monarch within Iranian traditions of kingship, and the perfect man within traditions of mystical Sufism. The third volume of his text, the Ain-e Akbari the Regulations, or Institutes of Akbar , describes the many departments of the royal household, including the Ketabkhana , with a list of the leading artists of the age.

Many of their names are inscribed on paintings accompanying an incomplete, unbound manuscript of the Akbarnama that was bought by the South Kensington Museum in These demonstrate that the manuscript was originally intended to be the presentation copy for the emperor. The text covers the years to and has paintings, all attributed by a contemporary librarian to the artists who painted them.

In some cases, a specialist portraitist was given the task of painting the features of the main characters in the scene. In , Akbar embarked on a military campaign to conquer the independent sultanate of Gujarat.

The region was extremely wealthy, with sophisticated craft traditions and enormous textile production. The pilgrim port of Surat, from where Muslim pilgrims set off from all over the subcontinent to perform the Hajj, was also within its borders. Victory came to the Mughal forces early in , and Akbar's procession through Surat is depicted in the Akbarnama. Among the crowd on the far right of the painting is a figure in blue clothes and a black hood, with blue eyes — he represents the Europeans that Akbar encountered for the first time, and energetically questioned about their lives, habits and beliefs.

They had come from the Portuguese settlement of Goa, and this encounter would result in Akbar sending a delegation there, to request that a religious delegation be sent to the Mughul court. The first Jesuit mission arrived at the city of Fatehpur in , and installed a chapel inside the house that Akbar had assigned to them. Here, they displayed paintings with Christian subjects that caused a sensation. The emperor brought his leading courtiers to see them, and then sent for his artists.

The impact of this — and of paintings and engravings brought by subsequent Jesuit missions — was soon apparent in Mughal painting. The principles of scientific perspective were not followed, but a sense of depth derived from European art is found in some of the paintings in the Akbarnama.

One of the paintings from the Harivamsa, showing the dramatic combat between the gods Indra and Krishna taking place above a boat sailing past a rocky landscape, is also obviously inspired by European art. Occasionally, a print of the kind brought by the Third Mission led by Father Jerome Xavier in was copied precisely. Other paintings were created for copies of the translation into Persian of the Life of Christ that had been requested by Akbar, and were written by Xavier in collaboration with a scholar at the Mughal court.

The same mingling of widely differing artistic traditions in the art of the book during Akbar's reign was certainly found in objects, though comparatively few have survived. A jewelled gold spoon exemplifies the uniquely Hindustani goldsmith's technique of kundan which is still widely practised today across the subcontinent to set stones in gold.

It is mentioned by Abu'l Fazl in the Ain-e Akbari , but has antecedents that predate the arrival of the Mughuls by centuries. The design of the jewelled decoration is purely Iranian, and relates to contemporary illuminated designs in the art of the book.

The shape is Indian, but the decoration within cusped cartouches an ornate framing motif is based on Iranian designs of the period of Shah Tahmasp reigned — The chiselled details of a tiger attacking an elephant whose rider, or mahout, tries to fight it off on one side of the blade; and the combat between a horse and an elephant directed by their respective riders on the other, relate to similar scenes in paintings done at the end of Akbar's reign. By this time, specialist craftsmen in the provinces of the empire supplied the court, and exported their wares to Europe.

Gujarat was famous for its inlaid wooden boxes and cabinets, and for its artefacts made out of thin pieces of mother of pearl. Their intended market determined the design of the finished piece, and often its form. Therefore, items made for the huge market in Portuguese Goa might include European-style ewers and salvers that, from there, often travelled westwards and were sometimes given European silver or gilt silver mounts.

The rare surviving altar frontal was probably also intended for a Goan patron, but the Mughal-influenced motifs surrounding its central panel of Christian imagery are similar to those on cabinets that were made for the domestic market and must have been produced in quantity. The designs on the altar frontal also have parallels in Mughal painting from that period, showing how far the influence of court art had spread. By Akbar's death in , Mughal art had brought together disparate influences from Hindustan, Iran and Europe.

New industries such as carpet weaving were firmly established, while existing crafts with antecedents long predating the Mughals thrived by having access to much larger markets and new patrons. Akbar was succeeded by his son Salim, who took the title Jahangir 'World Seizer'.

He inherited a stable and immensely wealthy empire, with an efficient administration that ensured cash flowed from every province into the twelve separate treasuries of the royal household. One treasury was for precious stones, of which there was a vast store, and another held jewelled artefacts including wine cups made of single precious stones and gold thrones. It also held the jewellery that was worn in considerable quantity by the emperor and his family and was exchanged as gifts during the major festivals of the court.

Jahangir already had several wives before he married the beautiful and intelligent Mehr un-Nissa in She came from an aristocratic Iranian family, and both her father and brother reached the highest positions in the Mughal hierarchy after the family came to court.

Jahangir gave her the title Nur Jahan Light of the World , and became devoted to the highly educated and dynamic woman who effectively ruled with him. She was the only Mughal queen to have coins issued in her name. Both were patrons of architecture, though the greatest artistic achievements of the time were to be found in the art of the book, Jahangir's great passion, and in the innovations in some of the materials and techniques used to create objects.

The Mughals were Muslims who ruled a country with a large Hindu majority. However for much of their empire they allowed Hindus to reach senior government or military positions. There had been Muslims in India long before the Mughals. The first Muslims arrived in the 8th century. In the first half of the 10th century a Muslim ruler of Afghanistan invaded the Punjab 11 times, without much political success, but taking away a great deal of loot.

A more successful invasion came at the end of the 12th century. This eventually led to the formation of the Delhi Sultanate. The Mughal Empire grew out of descendants of the Mongol Empire who were living in Turkestan in the 15th century. They had become Muslims and assimilated the culture of the Middle East, while keeping elements of their Far Eastern roots. They also retained the great military skill and cunning of their Mongol ancestors, and were among the first Western military leaders to use guns.

Babur succeeded his father as ruler of the state of Farghana in Turkestan when he was only 12, although he was swiftly deposed by older relatives. Babur moved into Afghanistan in , and then moved on to India, apparently at the invitation of some Indian princes who wanted to dispose of their ruler. Babur disposed of the ruler, and decided to take over himself.

The Empire he founded was a sophisticated civilisation based on religious toleration. It was a mixture of Persian, Mongol and Indian culture. Trade with the rest of the Islamic world, especially Persia and through Persia to Europe, was encouraged. The importance of slavery in the Empire diminished and peace was made with the Hindu kingdoms of Southern India. Babur brought a broad-minded, confident Islam from central Asia.

His first act after conquering Delhi was to forbid the killing of cows because that was offensive to Hindus. Babur may have been descended from brutal conquerors, but he was not a barbarian bent on loot and plunder. Instead he had great ideas about civilisation, architecture and administration. He even wrote an autobiography, The Babur - Namah. The autobiography is candid, honest and at times even poetic.

Babur was followed by his son Humayun who was a bad emperor, a better poet, and a drug addict. He rapidly lost the empire. He did eventually recover the throne but died soon afterwards after breaking his neck falling downstairs. While Humayan was certainly disastrous as a ruler, his love of poetry and culture heavily influenced his son Akbar, and helped to make the Mughal Empire an artistic power as well as a military one.

The third Emperor, Abu Akbar, is regarded as one of the great rulers of all time, regardless of country. Akbar succeeded to the throne at 13, and started to recapture the remaining territory lost from Babur's empire. By the time of his death in he ruled over most of north, central, and western India. Akbar worked hard to win over the hearts and minds of the Hindu leaders.

Under the rule of Jahangir — , Mughal architecture became more Persian than Indian. At Agra, the tomb of Itmad-ud-Daula, completed in , was built entirely of white marble and decorated in elaborate pietra dura mosaic , an inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished colored stones to create images. The vision of Shah Jahan — introduced a delicate elegance and detail to Mughal architecture, illustrated in the Jama Masjid in Delhi, the Moti Masjid situated within the Agra Fort, and the Sheesh Mahal in the Lahore Fort, which makes spectacular use of pietra dura and complex mirror work.

Located in Agra, the Taj Mahal is a white marble mausoleum built between and by Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Constructed by 20, men, it represents the Islamic garden of paradise and is widely regarded as the greatest achievement in Mughal architecture. The Taj Mahal : The Taj Majal, built under Shah Jahan, represents the Islamic garden of paradise and is widely regarded as the greatest achievement in Mughal architecture.

The mausoleum rests in the middle of a large square plinth and has four almost identical facades, each with a large arch-shaped doorway. It is topped by a large double dome and a finial , combining both the traditional Islamic motif of the crescent moon and the Hindu symbol of the trident, associated with the god Shiva.

The central dome is adorned with a lotus design and is surrounded by four smaller chhatris , each of which also has the same lotus motif. Four tall minarets extend from the corners of the plinth. The exterior decorations of the Taj Mahal include calligraphy , abstract forms , verses from the Koran, and vegetable motifs, executed in paint, stucco , carvings, and pietra dura work. The interior decorations also feature inlay work of precious and semi-precious gemstones.

Muslim tradition forbids elaborate decoration of graves, and the bodies of Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal are interred in a plain crypt underneath the mausoleum. However, the inner tomb features two cenotaphs, or false tombs, that are richly decorated with inlays of semi-precious stones forming vines and flowers and surrounded by jali screens, or latticed screens with ornamental patterns constructed through the use of calligraphy and geometry.

Inside the inner tomb : This is an example of pietra dura inlay work and lattice carvings from the interior of the Taj Mahal. Aurangzeb was responsible for additions to the Lahore Fort: building one of the 13 gates, which was named for him, and building the Badshahi mosque, a structure constructed from brick with red sandstone facades. Mughal miniature painting was a blend of Persian and Indian styles that developed in Mughal courts between the 16th and 19th centuries.

Mughal painting is a style of South Asian miniature painting that developed in the courts of the Mughal Emperors between the 16th and 19th centuries. It emerged from the Persian miniature painting tradition with additional Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain influences. Mughal painting usually took the form of book illustrations or single sheets preserved in albums. There are four periods commonly associate with Mughal art, each named for the emperor under whom the art form developed: the Akbar Period, the Jahangir Period, the Shah Jahan Period, and the Aurangzeb Period.

Mughal painting was an amalgam of Ilkhanate Persian and Indian techniques and ideas. Under the Delhi Sultanate, the early 16th century had been a period of artistic inventiveness during which a previously formal and abstract style had begun to make way for a more vigorous and human mode of expression. After Mughal victory over the Delhi Sultanate in , the tradition of miniature painting in India further abandoned the high abstraction of the Persian style and began to adopt a more realistic style of portraiture and of drawing plants and animals.

It was under the reign of Akbar the Great — that Mughal painting came into its own. This atelier was chiefly responsible for illustrating books on a variety of subjects: histories, romances, poetry, legends, and fables of both Persian and Indian origin. One of the greatest achievements of Mughal painting under Akbar may be found in the stupendously illustrated Hamzanama or Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, a narration of the legendary exploits of Amir Hamza, the uncle of Muhammad.

The size of this manuscript was unprecedented: spanning 14 volumes , it originally contained illustrations of an unusually large size approx. Only about of these original illustrations survive today.

It took 14 years — and over a hundred men to complete. The paintings mark a significant departure from the Persian style in their bent towards naturalism , vigorous portrayal of movement and emotion, and bold color. Each form is individually modeled, and the figures are interrelated in closely unified compositions.

Depth is indicated by a preference for diagonals. The Battle of Mazandaran : This painting is number 38 in the 7th volume of the Hamzanama. Originally clearly depicted, the faces were erased by iconoclasts and then repainted in more recent times. Only the face of the groom wearing an orange turban in the center of the left edge has been left untouched. Illustrations were usually executed by groups of painters, including a colorist who was responsible for the actual painting and specialists in portraiture and the mixing of colors.

Leading this group was the designer, an artist of the highest caliber, who formulated the composition and sketched the outline into the spaces in the manuscripts designated by the calligraphers for illustration. A thin wash of white was then applied, through which the outline remained visible. The colors were then applied in several thin layers and rubbed down with an agate burnisher to produce a glowing, enamel-like finish.

Like his father Akbar, the emperor Jahangir showed a keen interest in painting and maintained his own atelier.