Essay

The Victoria and Albert Museum in London possesses the world's largest collection of decorative arts and design, and houses a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects, within this collection: the Akbarnama. The paintings of the Akbarnama provides a complement to the written narrative by Abu'l Fazl, and transcribes the half century that Akbar reigned (r.1556–1605). The Akbarnama illustrations provide insight and details into a series of episodes, and provide insight into the stylistic dynamics of imperial paintings at the Mughal court in the latter half of the 16th C. (Guy)

The Akbarnama is not solely narrative art, but displays hybridity in early Mughal paintings and how influences of differing cultures combined to conceive the Mughal empires distinctive pictorial language

This specific double sided composition is part of a momentous collection of 116 manuscripts, illustrated by renowned Mughal court artist L’al, and depicts the battle of Pattan, North West India, January 22 1573. The illustration displays the Mughal army prowess by covering 2/3 of the whole compositions, the combatting figures are interlocked and overlapping, inclusion of artillery, horses, and elephants are all painted with vivid colour, and strong attention to detail heightens the intensity of the piece. The men are constructed with great attention being applied to their facial features and armour, in cohesion with stylistic approaches of the time. The landscape above the battlefield is finely detailed, suggesting mass and volume, and the buildings are carefully placed to create depth and high horizons.

This story develops around the strained relationships between Emperor Akbar and his half-brother Muhammad Husain Mirza, second son of Humayun.

Upon Humayun’s death 13 year old Akbar was awarded coveted imperial possessions, in contrast two year old Mirza became ruler of Kabul, the poorer, smaller territory of the Mughal empire. As the two young men grew older Mirza rebelled against Akbar, because he thought he should be the rightful ruler of the Mughal Empire. Over his lifetime Mirza would pose an increasing political and military threat to Akbar in his attempts to gain control of the empire.

The history of the manuscript Qutb ad-Din Khan and Muhammad Husain Mirza, is a prime example of Mirza’s desperate military attempts to gain control of the kingdom. The story commences with the exile of Mirza’s brother Ibrahim Husain Mirza being driven out of Gujrat, and in retaliation for this action, Muhammad Husain Mirza and other rebel readers descend upon the town of Pattan with their armies. Any provocation of conflict with Akbar’s armies was warmly welcomed by Mirza, and the battle reflects this struggle between the two brothers.

In consideration to the corresponding Akbarnama text, the battle ensues and this specific illustration is presumably representational of moments before the victory of the imperial army and their reclaiming the city of Pattan for Akbar, and his pursuit of dominating the territory of Gujrat, in becoming a province of the Mughal Empire.

Mirza eventually died in August 1585, resulting in the seizure of Kabul, and the capturing of Mirza’s sons is considered crucial milestone in Akbar's reign, because following these actions no one within the Mughal family challenged Akbar's legitimacy. (Faruqui 488)

Mughal paintings under Akbar, including the Akbarnama, have a unique blend of indigenous Indian, Persian, and Western influences.

If we consider traditional qualities typically associated with early Indian manuscripts, we can distinguish a strong use of bold use of primary colours and a horizontal format. In contrast, Persian tradition prefer a vertical format that accommodates the maximum amount of descriptive detail. Additionally, we can see a more muted colour palette, a preference applied to pastel colours like soft blues, green, and pink.

In the late 16th C European missionaries travelled to India and came into contact with Akbar, and with them they brought European artworks. Intrigued by this new form of art, Akbar and his army of painters adopted their use of perspective and liking of realism.

Each manuscript has a building strategically placed in the uppermost corners of the compositions. The purpose of placing the architectural monuments in the top corner of the buildings are to construct a high horizon which creates depth.

Scholars at Cambridge University have developed a process of distinguishing architectural monuments associated with specific geographical locations during the Mughal Empire. The building on the left side of the compositions can be theorized to have been made from locally quarried red sandstone, also known as Sikri sandstone, indigenous of the Gujarat area. The building on the right could be assumed to be constructed with white marble, and appears to have intricately carved marble screens called “jalis”, that are prominent in earlier Gujarat buildings

As shown in the ,Qutb ad-Din Khan and Muhammad Husain Mirza manuscript, there is great attention dedicated to the landscape and topography. In the corresponding text to this double sided composition, Abu Fazl has not mentioned or described the landscape in much detail, so the artist, at his own initiative, has developed the landscape that we see. La’l has introduced regional vegetation like the cactus bushes, which would have thrived in the warm desert like climate of the region.

Within the landscape we can find depictions of trees expressed with great textural quality and definition, alternative to what we would have found in Persian miniatures. Pinpointing the exact species of the trees has presented challenges, but one can assume that there is an inclusion of “chinar” and “cypress” trees, which we can continuously see throughout the Akbarnama. Worth noting is the textural quality that has been applied to the vegetation and what you could consider an impressionistic treatment of their structure. We don’t see any harsh outlines and the applied movement is developed through transitions from light to dark, and brush strokes.

Additionally, the meandering hills in the background derive stylistically from Persian sources, and can even be further traced back to Mongol traditions, which are depicted with a strong sense of form, and can be accredited to framing the composition, and drawing the eye centrally. (Sen 109)

The horses are exemplary of the influence of Persian elements in Mughal miniatures, and are present in wars and tales of chivalry. In the Akbarnama horses are usually depicted with a synonymous format, with long arched necks and slim muzzles, flared nostrils, parted mouths, and usually in an action stance. What we can analyze from the horses in this composition is the experimentation with realism that L’al applies. Scrutinizing their appearance, we can see an attention to the texture of the hair and face that would suggest a European influence.

Additionally, the inclusion of elephants are depicted with great consideration of their monumental size, shape, and texture. The respective elephants from each army, contrast one another in ornamentation and utilization. Traditionally, elephants were used for a multitude of task, one of them being warfare. Because of their momentous size they were used as scare techniques by armies, they were employed to charge attacking forces, carry weapons, and often their tusks would be ornamented with swords to penetrate soldiers or even other combating elephants.

Alternative to other depictions in the Akbarnama we do not see much use of weaponry, like cannons or muskets, but what this compositions does include is an enormous amount of of bow and arrows. Most of the characters are carrying bows, but upon further analysis some appear to be holding maces.

Maces are usually associated with figures of considerable rank, and lead us to believe that they could possibly be central to the battle. Additionally, some figures are holding shields that would appear to displayed with a damascening pattern. The terms that could be applied are either “Chirwah” and “Tilwah” types of shields. The reasoning behind the conclusion that these are “Chirwah” and “Tilwah”shields is that these were carried by armies that surrounded Akbar, and being this was the imperial army, it is highly likely that these could have possibly been this type shield. (Ramsey Chapter 8)