God is in the details:
Tradition of the Islamic Arts
Yasra Daud

With the crowning of Akbar as emperor, the art of manuscript illustration began
accommodating regional influences along with Persian technicality. Abd as –Samad and Mir
Sayyid Ali were appointed master painters and they trained Mughal court painters in the Safavid
tradition. Akbar is credited to have truly patronized painting by setting up an atelier of court
painters (Kitab- khana), an institution and practice that was employed at Persian courts. Works
produced during this period not only borrowed from styles prevalent earlier, but also adapted
these styles to regional art practices and themes, hence creating a unique Mughal identity. The
exemplification of the coalescence of painting traditions of the master painters as well as court
painters who were from artistic centers like Rajasthan, Malwa and Gujarat, paved the way for the
evolution and maturity of the art of miniature painting.
Since paintings were commissioned by emperors, the genre was decided by them too.
Art works exhibited personal inclinations of the emperor-patron and in many cases, were
propagandistic, like the Jahangirnama (Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri) where Jahangir is eulogized, omitting
unflattering episodes of his life, despite their verity. Often, history metamorphosed into a tangible
and malleable product perceived from a single perspective.
Akbar, however, was fascinated by diverse literary themes from multifarious repertoires. The
narrative was a recurrent theme during the early years of his ascendancy, marked by the painting
of the Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza), which was based on the legends of Amir Hamza;
uncle of the Prophet Muhammad. The tale follows Hamza in his heroic combat against magicians
and bizarre creatures. Each folio of the 1400-illustration long work, is the manifestation of the
confluence of cultures in artistic endeavors. The unusually large size of these paintings hint
towards their usage as a visual aid to oral story-telling, vividly bringing to life Amir Hamza’s feats.