The Mughal Emperor As Solomon, Majnun, and Orpheus 277
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
the mughal emperor as solomon, majnun, and orpheus 277 EBBA KOCH THE MUGHAL EMPEROR AS SOLOMON, MAJNUN, AND ORPHEUS, OR THE ALBUM AS A THINK TANK FOR ALLEGORY By the early seventeenth century, symbolic repre- While the concept of Mughal symbolic representa- sentation and allegory had emerged as a new genre in tion and, to a certain extent, its composition and style imperial Mughal painting. The themes were guided are indebted to European works, its iconography and by imperial interest and the main agenda was to give iconology were fed by sources of an astonishing hetero- abstract concepts or performed gestures of ideal king- geneity. The Mughal emperors and their theorists ship a pictorial expression. Mughal symbolic represen- (mardum-i ā ib-i vuqūf, men of superior knowledge, tation was inspired by Europe, as we learn from Abu ’l as Jahangir [r. 1605–27] calls them in one of the rare Fazl (d. 1602), the chief historian of Emperor Akbar instances where their input is acknowledged2) had not (r. 1556–1605) and, as Richard Eaton has famously the slightest problem with selectively taking from Cen- termed him, his chief ideologue. In his Āʾīn-i Akbarī tral Asian, Indian, Persian, ancient Near Eastern, and (Institutes of Akbar), written in the 1590s, Abu ’l Fazl European ideas whatever served their purpose. On the presents us with an intriguing argument, in which he contrary, the Mughals drew inspiration from the diver- weighs the value of writing against that of painting. sity of their sources in order to develop a symbolic and He begins in almost postmodern philosophical terms, allegorical “multilingualism” as a means to address the anticipating Saussure’s notions of “sign,” “signifier,” widest possible audience in a cosmopolitan discourse and “signified,” and continues on a neo-Platonic, post- in its own terms and, as a consequence, to legitimate Tri dentine note when he states that painting may themselves in the widest possible context as ideal and become a means to recognize a higher truth, especially universal kings. An important point of reference was when abstract concepts are given a realistic, immediate Iran—especially since the time of the exile of Humayun, expression, in the manner of the European masters: the second Mughal emperor (d. 1556), between 1543 3 A picture (ūrat) leads to the form it represents [khu- and 1545, at the court of Shah Tahmasp (r. 1525–76). dāvand-i khvud, lit. its own master] and this [leads] Given that Iran was an essential element in the to the meaning (maʿnī), just as the shape of a line Mughal syncretistic venture, it will be of interest to (paykar-i khaī) leads one to letters ( arf) and words investigate how themes of classical Persian literature (laf), and from there the sense (mafhūm) can be found were adopted and adapted for Mughal imperial symbol- out. Although in general they make pictures (tavīr) of ism and self-representation. I will give particular atten- material resemblances (ashbāh-i kawnī), the European tion to the theme of Layla and Majnun, the Romeo and masters (kārpardāzān-i Firang) express with rare forms Juliet of Arabic and Persian literature, immortalized (ba-shigirf ūrat-hā) many meanings of the created world (basā maānī-i khalqī) and [thus] they lead those by Nizami of Ganja (d. 1203 or 1209) in his romance who see only the outside of things (āhirnigahān) to the (mathnavī), which forms part of his main work, the place of real truth ( aqīqatzār). However, lines [kha, Khamsa.4 writing, calligraphy] provide us with the experiences of the ancients and thus become a means to intellectual progress.1 278 ebba koch THE STORY OF LAYLA AND MAJNUN The story is set in Bedouin Arabia and goes as follows: Majnun, whose real name was Qays, falls in love with Layla when they are still children at school. When Lay- la’s father discovers their mutual attraction, he removes Layla from school and forbids the lovers to see each other. The separation only increases Qays’s passion to the point of madness, and he is nicknamed Majnun (“mad,” literally “possessed by jinns or demons”) by those who see him meandering about and singing of his love for Layla. Majnun becomes so estranged from human society that he wanders out in the wilderness, living half-naked and half-starved in the company of the wild beasts who gather peacefully around him (fig. 1). In the desert, he thinks only of Layla and composes love songs for her. His father eventually discovers him and tries in vain to console him, but his efforts to bring the lovers together fail. When Layla’s father refuses to give her hand in marriage to Majnun, the tribe of Majnun’s friend Nawfal attacks Layla’s tribe in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade them to surrender her to Majnun. Layla’s father marries her to Ibn Salam against her will but she remains a virgin and faithful to Majnun, even secretly arranging meetings with him, although they only sing poetry to each other and their love remains unconsummated. Several years later, Layla’s husband Fig. 1. “Majnun among the animals of the wilderness,” dies but by now Majnun is unable to deal with the real ascribed to Dhanwan. Illustration to Laylā u Majnūn by and available Layla and withdraws again into the desert. Nizami, Mughal, ca. 1590. The Bodleian Library, University Layla dies of a broken heart. Majnun collapses over her of Oxford, Ms. Pers. D 102, p. 65. (Photo: courtesy of the Bodleian Library) grave and dies, and the lovers are buried side by side. Later, Zayd, another lover who had sought the company of Majnun, dreams that Majnun and Layla were united Lahore, today in the British Library,7 and there are two in the gardens of Paradise, living as a king and queen.5 separate illustrated manuscripts of Layla and Majnun in Nizami’s works were popular throughout the Per- the Bodleian Library at Oxford, dating from circa 1590 sian-speaking world, and in India the poet Amir Khus- (fig. 1) and the early seventeenth century, respectively.8 raw Dihlawi (d. 1325) emulated Nizami with his own An illustrated Khamsa of Amir Khusraw was prepared version of the romance. It formed part of his Khamsa, at the end of Akbar’s reign, in 1597–98. Today, it is at and in the title Amir Khusraw reversed the names to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and several of its “Majnun and Layla.”6 illustrations are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in The Mughals had a distinct interest in both versions. New York.9 Besides that, there are numerous individ- At the turn of the seventeenth century, the Mughal court ual Mughal paintings dedicated to Layla and Majnun.10 atelier prepared several illustrated manuscripts of Niza- There is quite a body of scholarship on Majnun and mi’s romance and at least one of Amir Khusraw’s ver- his love for Layla, and on the phenomenon of extraor- sion. The story of Layla and Majnun features in the dinary love—l’amour fou, as the French call it—and its splendid Khamsa of Nizami, done in 1595 for Akbar at relation to poetic ability, because Majnun was a poet, his .