I Would Like to Acknowledge the Help and Support of My Supervisor

I would like to acknowledge the help and support of my supervisor, Professor Emeritus, Michael Rogers for countless invaluable intellectual jousts and for his original idea to study theKhamsa of Nizamf in depth. I thank the Ouseley Memorial Trust and SOAS for two years of scholarship funding. I would also like to thank Dr Isa Waley at the British Library for giving me unfettered access to the manuscript in question and to Dr Andrew Topsfield for reading chapter two. I would also like to tliank Robert Skelton and Dr Barbara Brend for their help and detailed clarifications on numerous occasions. I thank Dr Anna Contadini for her help and cooperation on my visit to the Chester Beatty Libraiy, Dublin in 1996; I am also similarly gratefiil to Colin Wakefield at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, Peter Me Niven at the John Rylands Libraiy, Manchester, Peter Hardie at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, and Susan Strong at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the help of friends Dr David Angluin, Firuza Pastakia and Malcolm Sired, and to thank them many times over for their proof-reading skills and emotional and intellectual support, all of which are so vital in enterprises of this kind. ProQuest Number: 10672679

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Traditions by the Artists of the Emperor Akbar’s K ham sa of

Nizami

Gregory Minissale

School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, September, 2000. 2 Abstract

The main objective of this doctoral research is to analyse a group of miniature paintings produced between 1593 and 1595 for the Mughal Indian Emperor Akbar, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. These miniatures are illustrations in a manuscript of five epic poems

(known as the Khamsa) by the Persian poet NiZaml (1141-1209). This manuscript is now in the British Library (Or. 12, 208).

It is the argument of this thesis that more than any other Mughal illustrated manuscript, the painting in the Khamsa exemplifies a refined synthesis of the artistic traditions of three major cultures with which the Mughals came into contact: the European, Persian and earlier Indian. Many elements in the illustrations may be traced back to these origins.

The miniatures represent the finest of Akbar period painting. This is true in terms of finish and technique but the paintings of the Khamsa of NiZaml are also important because they mark the use of a new visual language in painting to convey complex thoughts and ideas. Knowledge of other artistic traditions led the Mughals to adjust their own painting. The thesis demonstrates that the paintings of theKhamsa of NiZaml are an extraordinary record of the elevated status of the art of painting at the Mughal court. CHAPTER I The Emperor Akbar’s Kham sa of Nizami

List of Illustrations 06

Introduction 10

The Manuscript 12

Margin Designs 15

General Characteristics of the Painting in the K ham sa 17

The Scale of the Miniatures 20

The Festaiuolo 22

The Artists of the K ham sa 26

B h u ra 27 Khem Karan 43 BulaqI 28 Lacl 43 Farrukh Chela 33 Madha Chela 44 D hanraj 36 M addu Dharmdasa 36 Khana-zad 44

Nand Gvaliyarl 39 Madhav 45

Bhi