A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s1.79

c20.s1.79

One subject, frequently treated with variations, has been mistakenly identified as Christian, and dubbed ‘Angels ministering to Christ’, although all the compositions dealing with it are purely Muslim. The main motive is the miraculous supply of food to a hermit saint dwelling in the wilderness by angels, who vary in number in different replicas, and are generally, if not always, provided with wings in the conventional fashion borrowed by Christian art from the Greek figure of Victory. Most of the pictures show a second figure, a discontented darvīsh sitting sulking in a corner or at the mouth of a cave. As is proved in several instances by the labels, the principal figure undoubtedly is that of Ibrāhīm, son of Adham, who resigned the kingdom of Balkh, and withdrew as a hermit into the wilderness already haunted by a darvīsh, whose food had been provided regularly by the angels. When the ex-king appeared on the scene, the angels, while continuing to supply their old client the darvīsh with a single daily dish as a bare subsistence, liberally brought ten dishes to the retired monarch, in recognition of the sacrifice made by him. The darvīsh naturally was annoyed, and whenever he is introduced into the picture his feelings are indicated by the artist.¹