Fatehpur Sikri: 1571-1585
In 1571 Akbar decidesto build a new palace and town at Sikri, close to the shrine of aSufisaint who has impressed him by foretelling the birth of three sons. When two boys have duly appeared, Akbar's "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,343,444,377"masons start work on what is to be calledFatehpur ('Victory) Sikri. A third boy is born in 1572.Akbar's palace, typically, is unlike anyone" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,499,472,533"else's. It resembles a small town, made "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,538,452,572"up of courtyards and exotic free-standing buildings. They are built in a linear Hindu style, instead of the gentler curves of Islam. Beams and lintelsand even floorboards are cut from red sandstone and are elaborately carved, much as if the material were oak rather than stone.
The palace and mosque occupy the hill top, while a sprawling town develops below. The site is only used for some fourteen years, partly because Akbar has overlooked problems of water supply. Yet this is where his many and varied interests are given practical expression.Here Akbar employs translators to turn Hindu classics into Persian, scribes to produce a library of exquisite manuscripts, artists to illustrate them (the illiterate emperor loves to be read toand takes a keen interest in painting). Here there is a department of history under Abul Fazl; an order is sent out thatanyone with personal knowledge of Babur and Humayun is to be interviewedso that valuable information is not lost.
The building most characteristic of Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri is his famousdiwan-i-khas, or hall of private audience.It consists of a single very high room, furnished only with a central pillar. The top of the pillar, on which Akbar sits, is joined by four narrow bridges to a balcony running round the wall. On the balcony are those having an audience with the emperor.If required, someone can cross one of the bridges - in a respectfully crouched position - to join Akbar in the centre. Meanwhile, on the floor below, courtiers not involved in the discussion can listen unseen.
In thediwan-i-khasAkbar deals mainly with affairs of state. To satisfy another personal interest, in comparative religion,he builds a specialibabat-khana('house "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="382,119,473,153"of worship'). Here he listens to "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,158,359,192"arguments between Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Zorastrians, Jews and Christians. The ferocity with which they all attack each other prompts him to devise a generalized religion of his own (in which a certain aura of divinity rubs off on himself).The Christians involved in these debates are threeJesuitswho arrive from Goa in 1580. As the first Europeans at the Moghul court, they are a portent for the future.
Jahangir: 1605-1627Akbar is succeeded in 1605 by his eldest and only surviving son, Jahangir. Two other sons have died of drink, and Jahangir's effectiveness as a" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="6,373,475,407"ruler is limited by his own addiction to both alcohol and opium. But the empire is now stable enough for him to preside over it for twenty-two years without much danger of upheaval.Instead he is able to indulge his curiosity
about the natural world (which he records in a diary as vivid as that of his great-grandfatherBabur) and his love ofpainting. Under his keen eye the imperial studio brings theMoghul miniatureto a peak of perfection, maintained also during the reign of his son Shah Jahan.Moghul miniatures: 16th - 17th centuryWhenHumayunwins his way back into India, in 1555, he brings with him twoPersianartists from the school ofBihzad. Humayun and the young Akbar take lessons in drawing. Professional Indian artists learn too from these Persian masters.From this blend of traditions there emerges the very distinctive Moghul school of painting. Full-bodied and realistic compared to the more fanciful and decorative Persian school, it develops in the workshops which Akbar establishes in the 1570s atFatehpur Sikri.
Akbarputs his artists to work illustrating the manuscripts written out by scribes for his library. New work is brought to the emperor at the end of each week. Hemakes his criticisms, and distributes rewards to those who meet with his approval.Detailed scenes are what Akbar likes, showing court celebrations, gardens being laid out, cheetahs released for the hunt, forts being stormed and endless battles. The resulting images are a treasure trove of historical detail. But as paintings they are slightly busy.Akbar's son Jahangir takes a special "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,551,416,585"interest in painting, and his requirementsdiffer from his father's. He is more likely "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,629,464,663"to want an accurate depiction of a bird which has caught his interest, or a political portrait showing himself with a rival potentate. In either case the image requires clarity and conviction as well as finely detailed realism.The artists rise superbly to this challenge.InJahangir's reign, and that of his son" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="135,941,444,975"Shah Jahan, the Moghul imperial studio produces work of exceptional beauty. In Shah Jahan's time even the crowded "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,1058,428,1092"narrative scenes, so popular with Akbar, are peopled by finely observed and convincing characters.
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb: 1627-1707During the reigns of Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb, the policy of religious toleration introduced byAkbaris gradually abandoned. It has been largely followed by Shah Jahan's father, Jahangir" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="6,200,475,234"- though at the very start of his reign he provides the Sikhs with their first martyr when the guruArjanis arrested, in 1606, and dies under torture.In 1632 Shah Jahan signals an abrupt return to a stricter interpretation of Islamwhen he orders that all recently built Hindu temples shall be destroyed. A Muslim tradition states that unbelievers may keep the shrines which they have
when Islam arrives, but not add to their number.Direct provocation of this kind is untypical of Shah Jahan, but it becomes standard policy during the reign of his son Aurangzeb. His determination to impose strict Islamic rule on India undoes much of what was achieved by Akbar. An attack onRajputterritories in 1679 makes enemies
of the Hindu princes; the reimposition ofthejizyain the same year ensures resentment among Hindu merchants and peasants.At the same time Aurangzeb is obsessedwith extending Moghul rule into the difficult terrain of southern India. He leaves the empire larger but weaker thanhe finds it. In his eighties he is still engaged in permanent and futile warfareto hold what he has seized.In the decades after the death ofAurangzeb, in 1707, the Moghul empire fragments into numerous semi-independent territories - seized by local officials or landowners whose descendants become the rajas and nawabs of more recent times. Moghul emperors continue to rule in name for another century and more, but their prestige is hollow.Real power has declined gradually and imperceptibly throughout the 17th century, ever since the expansive days ofAkbar's empire" 6c="4278216396" 6f="26" 6r="6,938,177,972". Yet it is in the 17th century that news of the wealth, splendour, architectural brilliance and dynastic violence of the Moghul dynasty first impresses the rest of the world.
In 1571 Akbar decidesto build a new palace and town at Sikri, close to the shrine of aSufisaint who has impressed him by foretelling the birth of three sons. When two boys have duly appeared, Akbar's "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,343,444,377"masons start work on what is to be calledFatehpur ('Victory) Sikri. A third boy is born in 1572.Akbar's palace, typically, is unlike anyone" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,499,472,533"else's. It resembles a small town, made "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,538,452,572"up of courtyards and exotic free-standing buildings. They are built in a linear Hindu style, instead of the gentler curves of Islam. Beams and lintelsand even floorboards are cut from red sandstone and are elaborately carved, much as if the material were oak rather than stone.
The palace and mosque occupy the hill top, while a sprawling town develops below. The site is only used for some fourteen years, partly because Akbar has overlooked problems of water supply. Yet this is where his many and varied interests are given practical expression.Here Akbar employs translators to turn Hindu classics into Persian, scribes to produce a library of exquisite manuscripts, artists to illustrate them (the illiterate emperor loves to be read toand takes a keen interest in painting). Here there is a department of history under Abul Fazl; an order is sent out thatanyone with personal knowledge of Babur and Humayun is to be interviewedso that valuable information is not lost.
The building most characteristic of Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri is his famousdiwan-i-khas, or hall of private audience.It consists of a single very high room, furnished only with a central pillar. The top of the pillar, on which Akbar sits, is joined by four narrow bridges to a balcony running round the wall. On the balcony are those having an audience with the emperor.If required, someone can cross one of the bridges - in a respectfully crouched position - to join Akbar in the centre. Meanwhile, on the floor below, courtiers not involved in the discussion can listen unseen.
In thediwan-i-khasAkbar deals mainly with affairs of state. To satisfy another personal interest, in comparative religion,he builds a specialibabat-khana('house "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="382,119,473,153"of worship'). Here he listens to "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,158,359,192"arguments between Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Zorastrians, Jews and Christians. The ferocity with which they all attack each other prompts him to devise a generalized religion of his own (in which a certain aura of divinity rubs off on himself).The Christians involved in these debates are threeJesuitswho arrive from Goa in 1580. As the first Europeans at the Moghul court, they are a portent for the future.
Jahangir: 1605-1627Akbar is succeeded in 1605 by his eldest and only surviving son, Jahangir. Two other sons have died of drink, and Jahangir's effectiveness as a" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="6,373,475,407"ruler is limited by his own addiction to both alcohol and opium. But the empire is now stable enough for him to preside over it for twenty-two years without much danger of upheaval.Instead he is able to indulge his curiosity
about the natural world (which he records in a diary as vivid as that of his great-grandfatherBabur) and his love ofpainting. Under his keen eye the imperial studio brings theMoghul miniatureto a peak of perfection, maintained also during the reign of his son Shah Jahan.Moghul miniatures: 16th - 17th centuryWhenHumayunwins his way back into India, in 1555, he brings with him twoPersianartists from the school ofBihzad. Humayun and the young Akbar take lessons in drawing. Professional Indian artists learn too from these Persian masters.From this blend of traditions there emerges the very distinctive Moghul school of painting. Full-bodied and realistic compared to the more fanciful and decorative Persian school, it develops in the workshops which Akbar establishes in the 1570s atFatehpur Sikri.
Akbarputs his artists to work illustrating the manuscripts written out by scribes for his library. New work is brought to the emperor at the end of each week. Hemakes his criticisms, and distributes rewards to those who meet with his approval.Detailed scenes are what Akbar likes, showing court celebrations, gardens being laid out, cheetahs released for the hunt, forts being stormed and endless battles. The resulting images are a treasure trove of historical detail. But as paintings they are slightly busy.Akbar's son Jahangir takes a special "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,551,416,585"interest in painting, and his requirementsdiffer from his father's. He is more likely "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,629,464,663"to want an accurate depiction of a bird which has caught his interest, or a political portrait showing himself with a rival potentate. In either case the image requires clarity and conviction as well as finely detailed realism.The artists rise superbly to this challenge.InJahangir's reign, and that of his son" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="135,941,444,975"Shah Jahan, the Moghul imperial studio produces work of exceptional beauty. In Shah Jahan's time even the crowded "6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="4,1058,428,1092"narrative scenes, so popular with Akbar, are peopled by finely observed and convincing characters.
Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb: 1627-1707During the reigns of Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb, the policy of religious toleration introduced byAkbaris gradually abandoned. It has been largely followed by Shah Jahan's father, Jahangir" 6c="1" 6f="26" 6r="6,200,475,234"- though at the very start of his reign he provides the Sikhs with their first martyr when the guruArjanis arrested, in 1606, and dies under torture.In 1632 Shah Jahan signals an abrupt return to a stricter interpretation of Islamwhen he orders that all recently built Hindu temples shall be destroyed. A Muslim tradition states that unbelievers may keep the shrines which they have
when Islam arrives, but not add to their number.Direct provocation of this kind is untypical of Shah Jahan, but it becomes standard policy during the reign of his son Aurangzeb. His determination to impose strict Islamic rule on India undoes much of what was achieved by Akbar. An attack onRajputterritories in 1679 makes enemies
of the Hindu princes; the reimposition ofthejizyain the same year ensures resentment among Hindu merchants and peasants.At the same time Aurangzeb is obsessedwith extending Moghul rule into the difficult terrain of southern India. He leaves the empire larger but weaker thanhe finds it. In his eighties he is still engaged in permanent and futile warfareto hold what he has seized.In the decades after the death ofAurangzeb, in 1707, the Moghul empire fragments into numerous semi-independent territories - seized by local officials or landowners whose descendants become the rajas and nawabs of more recent times. Moghul emperors continue to rule in name for another century and more, but their prestige is hollow.Real power has declined gradually and imperceptibly throughout the 17th century, ever since the expansive days ofAkbar's empire" 6c="4278216396" 6f="26" 6r="6,938,177,972". Yet it is in the 17th century that news of the wealth, splendour, architectural brilliance and dynastic violence of the Moghul dynasty first impresses the rest of the world.
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