Introduction: Costumes and Jewelry as Identity in Miniature Painting
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| Bajirao Mastani Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Maratha Empire, Pune |
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, North India witnessed a flowering of miniature painting across two overlapping worlds: the cosmopolitan Mughal courts of Delhi, Agra, and Lahore, and the Rajput kingdoms of Rajputana (present-day Rajasthan).
These small-format paintings—produced for albums, chronicles, ragamala series, and poetic texts—are visual treasure-houses for historians of dress. They record how garments were cut and worn, how textiles draped and shimmered, and how jewelry articulated status, devotion, and identity.
Because painters worked closely with patrons and court ateliers prized finish and detail, costumes and ornaments are rendered with microscopic precision: you can count pearls, read the weave of a sash, or trace the enamel on a katar’s hilt.
This essay narrates how costume and ornament were depicted in Mughal and Rajput miniatures, with eight detailed case studies—at least seven as requested—balanced across the two traditions. Along the way, it decodes key garments (jama, peshwaz, ghaghra-choli, odhni), headgear (pagri, kulah, sarpech), and ornaments (patka-kamarband, bazuband, borla, nath, anklets). The focus is not merely descriptive; it shows how painters used line, wash, burnishing, and mineral pigments to make textile and metal come alive.
Mughal Costumes and Ornaments: Tailored Refinement and Jewel-Laden Grandeur
Tailoring and Textiles
Mughal dress fused Persianate tailoring with Indian textiles. The jama, a wrap-around coat fastened at the side, defines early Mughal silhouettes under Akbar and Jahangir. It flares below the waist, often cut from sheer muslin, patterned silk, or fine wool for winter. The patka (ornamental sash) crosses the waist, with a broad pallu end hanging to one side; painters articulate its borders through geometric blocks and tiny floral repeats. Under Shah Jahan, silhouettes lengthen and refine, and peshwaz robes for women—open-front gowns over translucent trousers—turn into vehicles for depicting gauzy muslin.
Ornaments and Headgear
Mughal portraiture revels in jewels. Men wear rope-like muktā-mālas (pearl strands), emerald cabochons, and spinels, each bead painted as a crisp highlight with a darker crescent. Turbans carry the iconic sarpech (aigrette), sometimes with a central emerald and side plumes. Arms show bazuband (armlets) and kangan (bracelets); hands bear rings set with spinel or emerald. Daggers with jeweled hilts—katar (punch dagger) and khanjar (curved dagger)—double as ornaments.
Rajput Costumes and Jewelry: Devotion, Splendor, and Regional Style
Krishna and Radha
Attributed to Nihâl Chand, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Philadelphia Museum of Art
Poshak and Palette
Attributed to Nihâl Chand, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Philadelphia Museum of Art
Across Mewar, Marwar, Kishangarh, Bundi, Kota, Bikaner, and Jaipur, painters depict the Rajasthani poshak: women’s ghaghra (skirt), choli (blouse), and odhni (veil), and men’s angarkha or jama with exuberant turbans.
Rajput palettes tend to be warmer—vermilion, indigo, and bottle green—often with flat, saturated grounds that throw costumes into high relief.
Ornaments of Rajputana
Women’s jewelry is a grammar of regional identity: the borla (spherical maang-tikka) centered on the brow; the nath (nose ring), sometimes with a chain to the hair; stacked choodas (bangles); bajuband armlets; ornate kandora (jeweled waist-belt); and payal (anklets) ringing at the hem.
Men’s regalia includes elaborate turbans with sarpech and jigha plumes, jeweled amulet cases, and sword belts with gem-set buckles. Kota and Bundi paintings thrill in hunting dress—tight pajamas, short coats, and quivers—each strap and buckle drawn like calligraphy.
Painting Fabric and Metal: Techniques of Miniature Artists
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| Los Angeles County Museum of Art Idealized Portrait of the Mughal Empress Nur Jahan (1577-1645) Opaque watercolour and gold on paper |
Miniaturists used squirrel-hair brushes and opaque watercolors on wasli paper.
For muslin, they diluted white gouache to a translucent wash, letting skin tones show through; a few ultrafine lines suggested weave.
For silk brocades, they laid flat color, then picked out motifs—sprigs, butis, diaper patterns—with tin-yellow or shell-gold, finishing with burnishing to catch the light.
Pearls are single-point highlights over a grey base; emeralds receive a dark edge and a sap-green body; rubies glow with pink underpaint and a white pinprick.
Metal weapons and jewelry are modeled with two-value shading and a final white catchlight that punches the object forward.
Eight Case Studies of Mughal and Rajput Miniatures
1) Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings (Bichitr, c. 1615–1618)
2) Shah Jahan on a Terrace, Holding a Hawk (c. 1620s–1630s)
3) Akbar Supervising Construction at Fatehpur Sikri (Akbarnama folio, late 16th century)
4) A Mughal Princess (Jahanara?), Seated with a Huqqa (mid-17th century)
5) Bani Thani (Kishangarh, Nihal Chand, c. 1740s)
6) Ragini Todi from a Mewar Ragamala (early 17th century)
7) Maharana Pratap Riding Chetak (Mewar, c. 17th century)
8) A Kota Hunting Scene (late 18th century)
Each miniature is analyzed for its depiction of costume, textiles, jewelry, and artistic technique.
Comparing Mughal and Rajput Styles: Silhouettes, Palettes, and Jewelry
Silhouette and Cut: Mughal images emphasize tailored garments—slim jamas, lengthened hems, and calibrated pleats—while Rajput works celebrate flaring skirts and dramatic turbans.
Palette and Space: Mughal painters use delicate tonal modeling, often with subdued grounds; Rajput painters deploy saturated colors and flat backdrops.
Jewelry Scale: Mughal jewels are proportionally balanced; Rajput jewelry, especially in Kishangarh, can appear exaggerated and stylized.
Key Takeaways on Costumes and Ornaments in Miniature Painting
Learn terminology (jama, patka, ghaghra, odhni, sarpech, borla, nath).
Observe the tailoring—seams, cuffs, and patka tassels.
Read jewelry as hierarchy—strand count and sarpech scale mark rank.
Recognize regional cues—borla and nath for Rajput, sleek sarpech for Mughal.
Note sheer fabrics—muslin and odhni—used to express modesty and allure.
Weapons double as jewelry—daggers and swords are ornamental.
Context matters—hunting scenes emphasize gear; durbars emphasize regalia.
Conclusion: Miniatures as Historical Fashion Archives
Indian miniatures from the Mughal and Rajput courts compress cultural history into palm-sized masterpieces. Costumes and ornaments, meticulously painted, express empire, devotion, romance, and lineage. From Jahangir’s jeweled sarpech to Bani Thani’s borla, these paintings serve as timeless archives of dress and adornment.
Keywords: Mughal miniature costumes, Rajput painting jewelry, jama and patka, sarpech, borla, nath, odhni, ghaghra-choli, Mewar, Kishangarh, Kota miniatures, Akbarnama, Shah Jahan portrait, Jahangir Bichitr painting.
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