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  Ever since the birth of Islam, the Islamic world has had a great fondness for the written word. Most Muslims in those times, possessed a copy of the Holy Qur'an, and there were many well-stocked public libraries. By about 1000 CE the public and university libraries of Cordoba, of Muslim Spain had accumulated over 140,000 manuscripts. At the same time, the Vatican Library the largest in Christian Europe contained less than one thousand. The Muslims had certain knowledge of printing from the tenth century onwards, but they preferred a handwritten manuscript of the Holy Qur'an to the printed text. And, they expected the utmost refinement of elegance in all their manuscripts, both in calligraphy and the accompanying geometrical designs and paintings.

  The art of calligraphy was encouraged by contemporary taste and also by the availability of excellent paper, which was used by the Muslims from the tenth century onwards. The use of miniatures was limited due to the Islamic prohibition against creating images, which meant that no copies of the Holy Qur'an were ever illustrated, and its pages were decorated by geometrical designs. Consequently, the services of miniature painters were used for chiefly secular purposes, and they worked under the patronage of emperors, kings, and wealthy private citizens.

  The first notable centers of miniature paintings were set up under the Abbasids and Seljuk Turks, at Mosul and Baghdad. There the earliest illustrated texts were for the translations scientific treatises meant for the scholars, to illustrate works on subjects such as medicine, geography, botany etc. As early as in the tenth century, miniatures for astronomical texts have been produced in Herat. Later, books of stories and fables were illustrated, and these gave ample scope for the development of miniature paintings. In the course of its evolution of the manuscript, the illustrated page assumed characteristic features. Geometrical patterns bordered each page, or sometimes surrounded two facing pages so as to obtain more space for paintings. However, the copies of the Holy Qur'an continued to be written without using any images and were filled with borders of complicated geometrical patterns.

Illustration from Babar - Nama showing a scene from the life of Princess and military heroes seated in Mughal court		Mughal miniature painting of Shah Jahan riding with his eldest son Dara Shikoh painted by Govardhan		Mughal miniature painting of a battle in progress painted by Govarhan

  After the Mongolian conquest by Timur, the Muslim miniaturists were introduced to the Chinese models and techniques of painting and were greatly influenced by them. They started using colors in a wide variety of shades and were given an intense luminosity. Such elaborate borders surrounded the paintings that were done in the center of a manuscript that no empty space was left. By the end of the fourteenth century, important schools of paintings sprang up in the cities of Tabriz, Shiraz, and Herat, under Royal patronage. Bihzad was considered as one of the greatest master painters of this time. Under the descendants of Timur, painting continued to develop and flourish and it was one of his descendants who brought with him the art of miniature painting to India. By this time, the Chinese element in the paintings had been completely assimilated to become a Persian original.

  The Mughal miniature art of painting owes its introduction into India to the artistic genius of two Mughal emperors, Humayun and his illustrious son Akbar. Humayun had been driven out of India by his rival Sher Shah and was forced to seek refuge for one year in the court of Shah Tahmasp (1524-76 CE) of Persia. Shah Tahmasp was an enthusiastic patron of painting and maintained in his court a large retinue of painters, and among them was the master painter Mirak. During his time as a refugee, Humayun spent a great deal of time at the studios of Tabriz inspecting their works. Humayun returned from Persia with a high sense of appreciation for pictorial art, convinced of its great cultural value.

  Among the painters whom he met at Tabriz, he was especially impressed by the work of two young artists, Mir Sayyid Ali Tabrizi and Khwaja Abdu's-Samad Shirazi. When leaving Tabriz, Humayun promised employment as soon as he was in a position to maintain a court of his own. After a few years, Humayun wrested control of Kabul from Kamran and the two painters came and joined his service in the year 1550 CE. They were entrusted with the job of illustrating Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, which was to consist of twelve volumes of one hundred folios each, and each folio was to contain an illustration. In this way, the future foundation of the Mughal School of painting was laid.

  The Emperor did not live to see his Dastan fully illustrated. He died suddenly in 1556 CE and was succeeded by his thirteen-year old son Akbar. The first few years of Akbar's life were spent in wars, and consolidating his hold over the Mughal empire and there was little time left for him to cultivate or patronize art and literature. But, a new era set in with his magnificent project of converting an obscure village of Sikri into a full-fledged city complete with palaces and buildings for himself and his nobles. He soon shifted his capital from Agra to Fathepur Sikri. After the conquest of Gujarat in 1572 CE, Sikri was named Fathepur and there Akbar founded the Mughal School of miniature painting. Khwaja Abdu's-Samad, who is reported to have given Akbar lessons in the art of drawing, when he was a young prince, was appointed as head of the school, and under him the school developed into a full-fledged institution.

  According to Ain-e-Akbari written by the court historian Abu'l Fazl, a separate department was created to look after the needs of the painters and a supervisor appointed to submit a weekly progress report to the Emperor and the requirements of the school. Good quality paper and fine brushes were imported from Persia at high prices. Akbar would inspect the finished art of his painters every week and would reward painters for the excellence shown in their works and had their salaries increased on merit. Under Akbar's care, the paintings received the highest form of perfection. The minuteness for detail, the general finish, and the boldness of execution observed in the paintings were comparable to the wonderful works of the European master painters who had achieved worldwide fame.

  The activities of the Mughal painting during the greater part of Akbar's reign were confined to book illustrations. The illustrations of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza, which had begun under Humayun was completed in 1575 CE in the same Persian style, and the whole series contained 1375 paintings forming its illustrative portion. The Babar-Namah (the Autobiography of Babar), the Darab-Namah (a book of stories and anecdotes from the celebrated Persian classic the Shah-Namah, the Timur-Namah and the Baharistan of Jami were among the several other classics that were illustrated in Akbar's time. The Hindu epics were also translated into Persian and illustrated under the supervision of Hindu artists. A major portion of the book illustrations done in the earlier stages followed the Persian style of painting. It is on this account that the Mughal paintings of the earlier times are often referred to as "the Indo-Persian miniatures."

  However, it was not long before the Indian artists learnt the art of wielding the brush that they began to assert themselves by making a gradual departure from the Persian style of painting to exhibit their skills in the traditional Indian style. The Mughal paintings had reached the zenith of their perfection by the time of Jahangir's accession to the throne. His interest in art was of a more intense nature. He was a born lover of painting and he could draw as well. The best specimens of Mughal paintings were executed under his reign. In his memoirs the Emperor speaks about his love for paintings and his accomplishments in judging and grading different specimens. He writes: "I am very fond of pictures and have such discrimination in judging them, that I can tell the name of the artist, whether living or dead. If there were several portraits finished by several artists, I could point out the painter of each. Even if one portrait were finished by several painters, I could mention the names of those who had drawn different portions of the single picture…"

  The first signs of decline of the Mughal paintings began to appear during the reign of Shah Jahan. It was perhaps due to the Emperor's leanings towards architecture. This affected the school, which from its beginning was dependent on court patronage. The number of artists began to decline by the day. A few left the school to seek employment elsewhere. The quality of workmanship suffered. In the selection of the subjects the painters inclined more towards presenting the strange rather than the beautiful. The freshness, vigor and spontaneity of the earlier paintings were substituted by over elaborations, and a profuse use of gold.

  The Mughal paintings suffered a further decline under Aurangzeb, as they had no aesthetic appeal to the Emperor, who encouraged Arabic calligraphy as a form of art, in which he held an eminent position. The painters unlike the musicians were not altogether banished from the court, but their number was reduced to the barest minimum. Aurangzeb maintained a few master artists in his employment to make use of their services strictly for painting battle scenes and accompanied him on his military expeditions to the Deccan, where the Emperor is seen occupying a central position in the paintings during his wars and besieging important fortresses. And, with the death of Aurangzeb the Mughal school of paintings that was patronized by the earlier Mughal Emperors came to an end.

Camel artillery men		Oratory - Tasbee H Khana in Red Fort, Delhi

  From its very beginning, painting has been an Imperial art and had always been dependent on the favors of the Royal Mughal Court. It enjoyed no support with the masses because it was not a popular art. The remaining one hundred and fifty years of the later Mughals until their downfall in 1857 CE were years of intermittent civil wars, chaos, and uncertainties. The Later Mughals were too weak to maintain their position, and they could not afford to give the art the amount of attention it needed and once the imperial patronage was denied, it ceased to exist.

  A study of Mughal miniatures, which were done during the time of Akbar show court scenes where the Emperor occupies a highly ornamented seat on a balcony that was raised above the courtiers and crowds below. Jahangir's love for paintings surpassed that of his father. He had always a number of painters waiting upon him to draw the likeness of anything that might please him. He also had number of portraits done of himself form his early youth and in his old age. Under Shah Jahan emphasis was laid on single portraits. The individual portraits done during his time show full-length figures of the emperor standing in rigid profile, showing only half of the face. The original Persian style of painting three quarters of the face was totally given up in favor of the Indian style, which showed only half of the face.

  Khwaja 'Abdu's-Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali were the two great portrait painters during Akbar's time. Among artists of Indian origin Dashwanth and Basawan were rated highly as portrait painters. The master portrait painters of Jahangir's court were Farrukh Beg, Muhammad Nadir, Aqa Raza and Bishandas. Referring to the excellence of Bishandas as a painter, Jahangir records, "At the present time he has no equal or rival…" Shah Jahan's famous court painters were Muhammad Faqiru'llah Khan, Mir Hasan, Anup Chitra and Chintamani.

  The Mughal miniature is sometimes also called a masculine art. However liberal minded the Mughal emperors might have been in other respects, they were very conservative as far as their harems were concerned. There is no proof that the two most prominent Mughal ladies Nur Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal appeared before artists to get their portraits painted. Therefore, the portraits attributed to the ladies cannot be accepted as genuine. Some drawings of dancing girls and maid servants can be seen in other Mughal paintings, which are good specimens of female portraits and show the richness of imagination of unknown artists who drew them.

  Other paintings show the emperor on a hunt, crossing a raging river on the back of an elephant. There are pictures of dervishes dancing in ecstasy; animals and birds also occupy an important position in the Mughal paintings. Mansur was considered to be the best painters of the animal and bird kingdoms and served under both Akbar and Jahangir. Paintings of important Mughal buildings, monuments and mausoleums done by unknown artists have been preserved even to this day.

  The Mughal miniatures, patronized by the Mughal Emperors was by its very nature a secular art. The empire of the Mughals has long disappeared, but the works of the master-painters of their time still bear testimony to their refined tastes and their contributions to the Indo-Muslim culture and have won worldwide appreciation. The Mughals occupy a unique position among all the rulers of Asia as patrons of arts and learning and this is precisely the reason that their fame extends not only among the Indians but also thousands of people living outside the Indian sub-continent.