In 1526, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi in the 1st

Battle of Panipat.


The Mughals seized political power in north India
and later almost whole of Hindustan.


The Mughal Period saw an outburst of cultural
activity in field of architecture, painting, music and
literature.
Society in a particular Rulers time.

Economy (in regard to Mughals, we see use of
liquid gold and silver, instead of oil)

Court etiquettes

Wildlife during a rulers reign

Foreign influence in a particular rulers reign
PAINTINGS
UNDER
AKBAR
Jalal-ud-Din Muhammed
Akbar, 3rd Mughal Emperor
greatly influenced the artistic
and cultural life of India.



Babur, Akbars grandfather,
was not able to contribute
anything to the growth of
painting.


Humanyu , at court of Shah
of Iran, got interested in
painting.

He requested Shah to send
2 painters Khwaja Abdus
Samadh and Mir Sayyid Ali to
accompany him to India.

The credit for establishing
the Imperial Patronage in
India goes to Akbar.
But he could not have succeeded if there was
already in India considerable art activity.

There is evidence of a lively tradition of murals
and painted cloth during the 13th and 14th
centuries.

Also, a notable number of illustrated
manuscripts from Mandu and Awadh have
become known.
The Bostan-i-S'adi, illustrated by the artist Hajji
Mahmud.


Ni'mat Nama (a book on cookery)









Are a few examples.

The court of Akbar was truly cosmopolitan , in which
poets, artists, philosophers, musicians all received due
recognition.

"His majesty, from his earliest youth, has shown a
great predilection for this art, and gives it every
encouragement, as he looked upon it as a means, both
of study and amusement."
Abul Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari.

Mir Sayyid Ali and Abdus Samad ( also known as
Shireen Qalam) continued to be chief ateliers at Akbar's
court.
According to Abul Fazl, most of the painters in Akbar's
court were Hindus who came from different castes and
came from different parts of the country like : Gwalior,
Gujarat, Lahore, Kashmir, Malwa, Rajasthan etc.

Foremost Hindu painters were Daswanth, Basawan and
Lal. Under Akbar's direct patronage Daswanth ( who was the
son of a palanquin bearer) became the "first master of the
age".
Features of the illustrations in early phase of Akbars reign
are:-
Symmetrical compositions.
Restricted movement of figures.
Highly ornamented buildings.
Plain depiction of scenery.
From 1580s onwards we see a change in the paintings :-
Natural and rhythmic patterns.
Hunting and courts scenes being replaced with more day
to day life scenes.
More realism.
Introduction of Portrait paintings.
TUTI NAMA
Anwar-i-suheili
The Mughal artist made a conscious effort at
refinement of miniature technique.

This volume was written on finest paper and
many of the pages are decorated with animals,
birds and flowers in golden arabesque.


BABUR NAMA
Illustrated copies of autobiography of Babur throw light
on his personality.

Tarikh-e-khandan-e-timuriya
It deals with the history of
Timur and his descendants in
Iran and India.

Akbarnama
The dramatic incidents in the
Life of the Emperor are painted
in these.
To understand Indian culture better, Akbar ordered the
Persian translation of Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Akbar's interest in painting was, according to Prof
Nihar Ranajan Roy, only a part of the grand
vision, which was to give India as an authoritarian
and imperial ruler and within a feudal system, a
new and composite Indian culture.