Baburnama: Autobiography of An Emperor

Emperor Babur

Imagine the boy of twelve who ascended the throne of his governor's father (1494). He was destined to lose his small kingdom. He did.  

Image the same boy, when he became a young man and conquered the city of Kabul (1504). The present-day capital city of Afghanistan. There he also failed. He lost his important small kingdom of Samarkand three times. 

People thought he was finished. Forever. He did not rest. He assembled his small army and invaded the Indian territories of Punjab and Delhi. He defeated the weak king, Ibrahim Lodi, sitting on the Delhi throne (1526). Thus the boy who lost his father and kingdom at the age of twelve, the young man who lost regained his kingdom thrice, became the first Emperor of the Mughal Dynasty. Yes, his name was Babur (1494-1530).

Miniature Paintings: We are here concerned with the cultural side of his personality. He was a poet himself. He translated many ancient Persian poems into his local language. His grandson, Emperor Akbar got depicted the events of Babur's life and his poems in a book named Baburnama. This book was illustrated by miniature paintings. The art school known as Mughal Miniature Painting was initiated by Akbar during his reign.  Thereafter, the artists received promotions from the Indian Hindu Rajput kings of northern India, too. Baburnama depicted Miniature paintings of the battlefield, landscapes, birds, and animals.

In the art of painting, miniature art means an art piece done on a mini screen. Mainly 5x5 inches in size. In many of the Mughal Miniature Paintings, painted in the time of Mughal Emperors, the artists had taken the scenes of the bravery of Mughal princes as their subjects. Despite their mini size, the use of bright colours and the precise depiction of the subject made this style of painting a memorable one.

Babur Hunting Rhinoceros
 near Peshawar, Baburnama

The Mughal Emperors sponsored this painting style and supported all of the artists working on the same art. Art remained court-bound during this period.  Due to this reason this art had not penetrated into the life of the general public. Nor were the subjects of the interests of the general public figured in these paintings, especially executed in the initial period. 

The Mughal emperors ruled over northern parts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The dynastic rule started from Babur (1519); it ended in 1857 when the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was defeated by the British army.

Here the emperor Babur is shown as hunting. The Mughal era of miniature paintings owns a noteworthy page in the history of the art of paintings in India. In Mughal Miniature, the artists have deviated from their Persian predecessors so far as the subjects of the paintings and their contents were concerned. 

Unlike most of the Persian paintings in Baburnama, the painters have developed their taste for painting scenes of nature. Yes, the natural scenes were the import in Baburnama, the book wherein the miniature paintings were done for illustrating the book. 

Unlike the original Persian style of miniature paintings, here the Miniature shows a landscape with Squirrels, Peacocks and Peahen, Demoiselle Cranes and Fishes. These subjects were not part of the Persian style. It was an Indian addition. The added richness of the subjects helped to make the art popular. It enhanced the value of the miniatures, as the artists were interested in painting landscapes, too. They had gotten a vacation from painting ever-going-on war scenes.

Under the umbrella of the innovative Mughal Emperors, miniature artists took the liberty to find new subjects and themes to depict in their paintings. In addition to court scenes and deeds of Emperors and kings, the artists painted memorable portraits of beautiful ladies. The women portrayed were mainly the wives of the emperors or the Rajput kings. 

Khusrau Shah is swearing fealty
to Babur. Baburnama. Location:
State Museum, Moscow.

The Baburnama is autobiographic work by Emperor Babur himself. Though he was preoccupied with wars during his lifetime, he was a man of art and poetry. A strange combination. Mughal Emperor Babur was a poet and an extensively learned man. Even during his battling life, he kept his literary spirit in active mode. Here is a miniature from the illustrated book Baburnama, wherein it depicts the war scene. Babur had invaded India with a horde of 12000 horses. In the battle of Panipat, he had got a decisive victory and put up the foundation stone for the Mughal Empire in India. This is the medieval history of India. 

About the subjects painted in the miniature paintings, the miniature artists had handy subjects: the court scenes, the meetings of the Emporer with their court men and other kings. They were mainly occupied with the depiction of the life of their sponsor emperors and kings. Here is a scene from Babur's court. A king or a prince who conceded defeat or came voluntarily under Babur’s rule is shown here swearing loyalty to Babur. Mughal Miniatures: apart from the scenes from ordinary life, mainly depicted scenes from Mughal Court. The subjects like animal paintings and vegetation depictions were yet to come. These subjects found their place only after Emperor Akbar took over the reign. 

The Court of Akbar, Akbarnama

Mughal Miniatures: Subjects and Themes: The miniature style of paintings in India can be traced back up to the tenth century. Babur was a descendant of Taimur, or Timur, on his mother's side.  The paintings available from this spell are generally done on palm leaves, as the paper was not in use. With the use of paper in miniature paintings from the early 14 century, the artists of the Indian miniature style adopted the same. So the work onward that era is on paper.

Hindu Mythology in Miniatures: Once Emperor Akbar was on the throne of the Mughal Dynasty, he started taking interest in the indigenous culture of India. He helped the local artists to paint, sing and write poetry. He also helped miniature painting type of paintings to prosper during his reign. These miniature artists adopted mythological stories as their subjects of the painting. These artworks were generally accompanied by religious manuscripts' text and mythological epics' illustrations. Other subjects like portraits and scenes from the daily life of the people were still not popular among the miniature artists. However, once the miniature art percolated into the deeper regions of India, the subjects started to pour in. 

Squirrels, a Peacock
and Peahen, Baburnama

Miniature Paintings of Birds and Animals: In addition to the portraits of men and women, the artists of the Akbar era had found the treasure of subjects in nature itself. India was full of flora and fauna. Natural scenes and flora and fauna were the new concept in the art of miniature painting, till the art reached other regions of India. Such newer and innovative themes and subjects got their due place on the frames of the artworks. Thereafter a period came wherein the paintings depicting mythological scenes from Hindu scriptures were becoming the subjects of miniature paintings.  This painting is a Dodo illustration by Ustad Mansur.

While looking at the Mughal miniatures we can draw a conclusion that these paintings resemble the Persian style of painting. It is so because the artists who did Mughal era paintings in India had got training from the painters who migrated from Persia, today’s Iran.

Unlike most of the Persian paintings in Baburnama, the painters have developed their taste for painting scenes of nature, too. Here the Miniature shows a landscape with Squirrels, a Peacock and Peahen, Demoiselle Cranes, and Fishes. It has enhanced the value of the miniatures, as the artists were interested in painting landscapes, too, in addition to the war scenes and love scenes.  [All the above paintings are in Public Domain, taken from Wikimedia Commons]