Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c11.17.3

c11.17.3

and later, the Marathas, while in Delhi, obtained by some means groups of pictures which they sent to the Deccan to be appropriated by the Rajas of Satara and the Peshwas of Poona. But the final dispersal of the contents of the library and picture gallery brought together with such care by the Mughal emperors took place during the mutiny of 1857, when irresponsible people of all kinds, obtaining access to the royal palace, helped themselves to anything that had an appearance of value. Many folios of pictures perished as a result of the interval of anarchy that ensued; but on the other hand not a few were rescued by the intercession of more cultivated minds. Several ardent bibliophiles and picture-lovers obtained for nominal sums priceless illustrated manuscripts—the offer of a rupee to every sepoy who produced one of these is said to have formed the nucleus of at least one well-known modern collection—but the imperial library of the Mughals, and all the works of art that it contained, ceased to exist from this date. Fragments of it are now scattered all over the world, but even if these by some miraculous means could again be brought together, they would only form a fraction of the magnificent collection of pictorial art that was for over two centuries the pride of the Mughals.