Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c20.34.3

c20.34.3

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;