The Mughals were a Sunni Muslim dynasty that directly descended from the two great Turkmen leaders of Central Asia, the Mongols Genghis Khan and Tamerlane (Timur). They governed the Hindustani Peninsula from 1526 to 1857 and were rivals with two of the other great Muslim empires: the Safavids in Iran (1501-1736) and the Ottomans in Turkey (1299-1922).

Despite belonging to a religious minority which was limited to imperial circles, the Mughal dynasty governed for somewhat more than 300 years over a population with a majority of Hindus, but also with small Christian, Jain, Sikh and Parsi populations. However, the Mughals were not the first Muslims to reach India. The Muslim presence in the region goes back to the year of 711, when the Umayyad caliphate took over the regions of Sindh and Punjab (in northwestern India), making them part of its territories. 

The Mughals created an imperial iconography which they used to convey a strong image of their government, thereby managing to legitimize their dynasty in the eyes of a people who considered them to be foreign worshippers of a religion alien to the mainstream culture. Many of the propaganda images which the Mughal emperors commissioned had the objective of highlighting that they descended from the great Mongol leaders (images in which Tamerlane bequeaths a crown to members of the Mughal dynasty), as well as making apparent the wealth and power of their empire (representing darshan ceremonies in which homage was paid to the emperors). 

Although the Mughal dynasty governed India for more than three centuries, truly its greatest moment of splendor was focused on the reigns of the first six Mughal emperors (1526-1707), who are historically known as the “Great Emperors”: Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. This period lasted 181 years, in which their territories remained cohesive and underwent constant expansion, also coinciding with the height of splendor in Mughal art.

The Great Emperors developed a great artistic sensitivity, which they passed down from one generation to the next. Moreover, they were able to take advantage of the possibilities created by painting as a propaganda tool to further increase their power, before their own people, as well as the neighboring empires and Western powers. Throughout their various reigns, the art of illustration in manuscripts was the most greatly developed artistic practice, though they also stood out in terms of great architectural works. The Mughal emperors built palaces, mausoleums and mosques, leaving behind unique structures such as the Taj Mahal mausoleum, which Emperor Shah Jahan had constructed for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The Mughal emperors created an art of patronage and hosted important artists in their courts, allowing them to work in the royal workshops. Some of the most relevant artists were Persian and originated from the Safavid court in Iran. They first arrived in India in 1549 along with Emperor Humayun, who spent ten years under the protection of the court of the Persian Shah, Tahmasp, after losing the territories which his father Babur had managed to unify. The production of illuminated manuscripts must have been very plentiful, because some of these workshops came to have as many as 300 artists. This was the case of the workshop created by Emperor Akbar, Humayun’s son, who reigned from 1556 to 1605 and is considered to have been the first major patron of imperial Mughal art.

 

It was precisely during the reign of Akbar, the third emperor in the dynasty, that a specifically Mughal pictorial style could first be distinguished. It was characterized by the assimilation of features from Persian Safavid miniatures and from local Hindu and Buddhist painting. In the end, these elements were mixed, giving rise to a style of their own, which was perfectly distinguishable from prior styles. Moreover, as of the seventeenth century, and above all throughout the reign of Jahangir (1605-1627), an influence by European painting could be sensed. In the Mughal miniatures, features of Christian iconography begin to appear due to the influence of Flemish engravings which were introduced into India by the Portuguese Jesuits who settled on the west coast, mainly in the city of Goa. 

It was a unique time in the history of art that has left us miniatures of incredible beauty and technical precision, though which we can appreciate that this was an era of constant cultural exchange which led to a great enrichment of art. 

Some of the finest collections of Mughal miniatures in the world can be found in London. We would highlight three of the greatest institutions in that city: the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum.  

The British Library of London, one of the largest national libraries in the world, created in 1973, possesses an important collection of Mughal miniatures. This collection is not shown to the public and can only be viewed by requesting a visit in advance. At this time, one of the great pieces in the collection can be seen online, the “Babarnama.” This Persian word literally means the “Book of Babur.” It is an illuminated manuscript containing the record of the history of Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty who governed India from 1526 to 1530. The dynasty was established in India after defeating the Sultanate of Delhi governed by the Lodi dynasty, also Sunni Muslims. The Babarnama includes the memoirs which were written by Babur himself in a Turkic language. It would later be his grandson Akbar who would carry out the work to translate them into Persian, having commissioned their illustration to the artists in his workshop. By following this link  you can see the complete manuscript and all the detail on every page of the miniatures, thanks to the high-quality scanning performed. Moreover, the library possesses an exhibition hall, the Sir John Riblat Gallery, in which it displays to the public more than 200 books, manuscripts and prints from different historical periods, where you can also view several Mughal and Persian miniatures. 

The Victoria and Albert Museum has one of the most important collections of Mughal art and also includes miniatures, textiles and pieces of jewelry. As for the Indian miniatures, its collections preserve approximately 5,000 pieces, though the public is only able to view a small portion of those collections, which are rotated for purposes of preservation at certain time intervals, which also gives the public who is interested in doing so the opportunity to view new works from time to time. The gallery dedicated to Southeast Asian art is called the Nehru Gallery and can be visited, just like the rest of the museum’s permanent collection, free of charge. Through the website of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, some of these miniatures can be seen, and access may be gained to interesting articles related to the art produced by the Mughal court.

The British Museum of London also possesses a unique collection of Mughal miniatures, most from the seventeenth century, from the reigns of the last three “Great Emperors,” Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Amongst the online collections which the British Museum has made available to the public are a large part of its collections containing Mughal art, which one can access by carrying out an advanced search and entering the words “Mughal style.” What is interesting about this online collection compared with those at other museums or institutions is that they have completed high-resolution scanning of the complete original work, including the paper which frames the miniature, whose artistic value and beauty is sometimes just as great as that of the paintings which they showcase. These items were usually illustrated with motifs showing the local flora and fauna in gold paint. It is also a detail which contributes to greater knowledge about how these miniatures were originally presented.  

You may access the online collection of the British Museum by clicking directly on this link.