Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c20.34

Language: English

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Unfortunately the painting is much damaged, not only have portions of the composition been cut entirely away, but in the case of some of the faces the surface is so abraded that definition in the reproduction is almost impossible. Sufficient remains, however, to show that the picture was an exceptionally fine one, and the portraits carefully studied. In the centre, seated under the canopy, is the Amir Timur, and beside him is Akbar either receiving or handing him a book. The rest of the company include, on the left Mirza Kamran, the second son of Babur, with his elder brother Humayun. Babur himself comes next, conversing with his father ‘Umar Shaikh, whose appearance has already been described on page 143, in the extract from the former’s memoirs. The remaining three princes on the same side are Sultan Abu Sa‘id, Sultan Muhammad, and Miran Shah. On the opposite side of the pavilion, to the right, are three illustrious Timurid princes—Abu Bakr Mirza, a son of Shah Rukh; his brother, Baisunghar Mirza, a man of letters and a patron of art, after whom one of the sub-schools of Persian painting has been named, and, on the extreme right, their father, Shah Rukh himself, the fourth and most famous son of Timur. The whole picture is reproduced on Plate LX, with an enlarged portion on Plate XII, while the features of two of the most famous Mughals therein are also reproduced, the size of the originals, Babur on Plate IV, and Akbar on Plate LX, Fig. 2.

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Babur’s portrait appears to be an excellent one, and shows his complexion tanned by exposure, and a quizzical smile on his face as he listens to a remark being made by ‘Umar Shaikh. It is a great misfortune that Humayun’s figure just below is so abraded, as an early portrait of this emperor is much to be desired. There are many representations of him, most of them of late date, but no good ones, although it may be noted that in nearly all he is depicted in a peculiar attitude with inclined head and body leaning forward, suggesting that in some way the artist was trying to express as faithfully as he could his somewhat invertebrate character. But it is to the portrait of Akbar that we turn with the greatest interest. Compared with his predecessors in the picture the whole appearance of the Mughal emperor is different. Gone is the rakish high-peaked cap, the *kulāh* of the Turkoman, and in its place is the closely bound turban, or *chīrā* of the Indian Rājput. Gone is the free-grown beard of the orthodox Musalman, and in its place is the shaven chin with the side-whisker, or *galmuchh*, of the Muttra Hindu. In dress and in feature Akbar bears little resemblance to any of his ancestors, either Timurid or Mughal; for, as far as external effect goes, he has actually become ‘an Indian of the Indians’.

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The story of this outward conversion is fully told in the contemporary chronicles, as well as the change in his inward convictions which found expression in the new religion he devised of the *Dīn Ilāhī*. It is even recorded that Akbar and also Jahangir at one time went so far as to adopt the *tilak*, or caste mark, of the Hindus. Fashion, in appearance as well as in dress, is very noticeable in Mughal portraiture. The courtiers, as at all times and in all countries, followed the lead of the head of the state, and many imitated the emperor even to the minutest detail. Such fashions, it may be observed, were not always voluntary, as Akbar issued certain orders on the subject which, at any rate for a time, were sedulously followed. The result is that in some of the earlier pictures it is not easy at first sight to distinguish Hindus from Muhammadans. On the other hand, it assists the connoisseur not a little in being able to decide with a greater degree of accuracy the period to which a picture belongs. In head-dress, the facial hair, the shape of the tunic, and in footwear, the majority of the princes and nobles copied the king; and, as each sovereign had his own ideas on the subject of personal appearance, these were changed in each reign. It is interesting to note how Jahangir’s vanity led him always to wear pearls in his ears, and how the custom was ingenuously imitated by many of his officials, and by all those who wished to be considered in the height of fashion;

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and how in the succeeding reign the shaven chin became unfashionable, as Shah Jahan preferred a well-trimmed beard.