Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c11.5.2

c11.5.2

Evidences of an intermittent association between the two civilizations before the arrival of the Mughals are well known. While it cannot be said that Akbar took as his model the rule of the Safavids—he was too original and independent to be a mere plagiarist—that he leaned heavily on it for some of his projects is clear. In this he was naturally aided by the many Persian officers in his service, the number of whom, instead of diminishing as the dynasty progressed, tended to increase under his successors. Even as late as the last half of the seventeenth century they continued to find employment all over India, for a writer of Aurangzeb's time remarks ‘that in the Empire of the Great Mogul, as well as in the kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur, the Persians are in possession of the highest posts’.¹ So it came about that Northern India was ruled by a government which used Persian as its court language, and conducted all state correspondence through the same foreign medium. In the official records and in the whole of the departmental routine, Persian was the language usually employed. Naturally this reacted on every activity of the country. But though Persianized to this extent it must not be inferred that the administration was entirely an alien one, imposed on the country without any consideration for its indigenous culture.