Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c16.38.3

c16.38.3

Like all the other members of his dynasty, Aurangzeb was possessed of the human weakness of vanity, and was fond of seeing himself occupying a prominent position in pictures of some of the stirring episodes of his career, especially his arduous campaigns in the Deccan, on which he was engaged for many years of his life. Plate XXX is a typical example of one of these, as well as representative of the art of the time. Many such paintings have come down to us, of sieges and the storming of fortresses, with Aurangzeb's figure in the foreground, clearly popular subjects with him and his people. The miniature here reproduced shows the emperor at the siege of Bijapur, which was captured after a desperate resistance in 1686. Before his golden-nimbed and almost crusader-like appearance stand two cowed individuals with silken bindings around their extended wrists, betokening an unconditional surrender to his majesty. It is significant of the art at this period of its decline. Gone is that attractive feeling of sincerity so characteristic of the earlier works, and in its place is an attempt at something which the artist could not really accomplish, an artificial rendering which is neither a portrait nor a picture. Much dramatic effect is discernible but on the whole it the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form.