Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c15.35.1

c15.35.1

It was Jahangir’s custom to have two or three of these artists always in attendance, attached continually to his suite. To some of these he showed almost a parental care for their welfare, for concerning Abu’l-Hasan, already mentioned, he writes, ‘ my connection was based on my having reared him. From his earliest years up to the present time I have always looked after him, till his art has arrived at this rank. Truly he has become Nadir uz-Zamān (the wonder of the age).’ These artists not only spent their lives at the court, but travelled about with the emperor whenever he went on his very frequent tours in order to transfer to paper any subject in which he showed a special interest. The Mughals seem to have employed their court painters principally in the capacity of ‘ special artists ’, to make pictorial records of any passing events. In the time of Jahangir, this occupation, although it had its responsibilities, was an easy one in comparison with the strenuous existence of those on the staff of Akbar. On one occasion the latter took with him three of his leading painters, Sanwal Das (Sanwlah), Jagannath, and Tara Chand, on a forced march of nearly six hundred miles in eleven days across the Rājputāna deserts at the hottest time of the year, ending in the battle of Sarnal, of which Sanwlah made a stirring picture.