Asian and African studies blog

400 years ago, Shah ʻAbbas of Persia (r.1587-1629) began sending ambassadors to Europe to negotiate the trade in Persian silk with the West. To symbolise the purpose of these journeys, they came to Europe dressed in the finest silk garments of their time.

Modern style ambassadors' travel! Naqd ʻAli Beg is unloaded at the Rietberg Museum
©Jennifer Howes

The ornate costume of one particular envoy was carefully documented in a full length portrait by Richard Greenbury. The portrait of Naqd ʻAli Beg was commissioned by the English East India Company in 1626, and is today part of the British Library’s historic India Office Collections. Naqd ʻAli Beg’s silk garments reflected his aim to secure the Persian silk trade with the East India Company in London. The portrait shows him wearing a magnificent iridescent gown, which contrasts with his turban and cummerbund. Over top of the gown he wears a golden robe, intricately woven with human figures.

The portrait is a spectacular record of how these Persian trade envoys dressed, but it also shows a doomed man. Naqd ʻAli Beg’s trade embassy ended in disaster at the Stuart Court of King James I. He was confronted by a rival ambassador, and a fight broke out between the two men. Both men were told to leave London, and during the journey back to Persia in 1627, Naqd ʻAli Beg committed suicide (see my recent post 'Stitched up with silk').

The Shah of Persia continued to send exotically dressed envoys to Europe, often with chaotic results. According to Axel Langer, the curator of ‘The Fascination of Persia’ at the Rietberg Museum, ‘quarrelling and misunderstandings within the delegations, their strange habits and customs, to say nothing of the Persian ambassadors’ various amorous entanglements, provided a steady stream of gossip. But the foreigners were also an inspiration for artists.’

The portrait of Naqd ʻAli Beg is installed at the Rietberg Museum. It is on display alongside other material on Persian trade ambassadors to the West
©Jennifer Howes

For the first time ever, the British Library’s portrait of Naqd ʻAli Beg has left London, to be exhibited alongside other pictures of Persian trade envoys who journeyed to the West in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. ‘The Fascination of Persia’ is being held at the Rietberg Museum, until 12 January 2014. The exhibition looks at the relationship between Persia and the West right up to the current day. Funding for the conservation of the portrait of Naqd ʻAli Beg was donated by the Friends of the British Library. The exhibition also includes a painting (Bahram Gur kills the dragon) by the Safavid artist Muhammad Zaman dated 1675/76 from the Library's copy of Shah Tahmasp's Khamsa  (see our recent post 'Some paintings by the 17th century Safavid artist Muhammad Zaman').

Further reading
Canby, Sheila. Shah ‘Abbas. The Remaking of Iran. London: British Museum Press, 2009.
Langer, Axel. The Fascination of Persia. Zurich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2013.
Priscilla Soucek and Muhammad Isa Waley, “The Nizāmī manuscript of Shāh Tahmāsp: a reconstructed history.” In J.-C. Bürgel and C. van Ruymbeke (eds.), A Key to the Treasure of the Hakim: artistic and humanistic aspects of Nizāmī Ganjavī’s Khamsa (Leiden 2011), pp. 195-210.

Jennifer Howes, Visual Arts Curator

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 The legend of Phra Malai, a Buddhist monk of the Theravada tradition said to have attained supernatural powers through his accumulated merit and meditation, is the main text in a nineteenth-century Thai folding book (samut khoi) held in the Thai, Lao and Cambodian Collections (Or. 16101). Phra Malai figures prominently in Thai art, religious treatises, and rituals associated with the afterlife, and the story is one of the most popular subjects of nineteenth-century illustrated Thai manuscripts. The earliest  surviving examples of Phra Malai manuscripts date back to the late eighteenth century, although it is assumed that the story is much older, being based on a Pali text. The legend also has some parallels with the Ksitigarbha Sutra.

The Thai text in this manuscript is combined with extracts in Pali from the Abhidhammapitaka, Vinayapitaka, Suttantapitaka, Sahassanaya, and illustrations from the Last Ten Birth Tales of the Buddha (Thai thotsachat). Altogether, the manuscript has 95 folios with illustrations on 17 folios. It was very common to combine these or similar texts in one manuscript, with Phra Malai forming the main part. These texts are written in Khom script, a variant of Khmer script often used in Central Thai religious manuscripts. Although Khom script, which was regarded as sacred, was normally used for texts in Pali, in the Thai manuscript tradition, the story of Phra Malai is always presented in Thai. Because Khmer script was not designed for a tonal language like Thai, tone markers and certain vowels that do not exist in Khmer script have been adopted in Khom script to support the proper Thai pronunciation and intonation.

Vidura and Vessantara Jatakas (Or 16101, folio 6)

Most of the text is in black ink on paper made from the bark of the khoi tree (streblus asper). However, the text accompanying the illustrations of the Last Ten Birth Tales is written in gold ink on blackened khoi paper, emphasizing the importance of these Jatakas symbolising the ten virtues of the Buddha. Gold ink, as well lavish gilt and lacquered covers, added value and prestige to the manuscript, which was commissioned on occasion of a funeral service. The commission and production of funeral presentation volumes was regarded as a way of earning merit on behalf of the deceased. 

Other miniature paintings depict the Buddha in meditation, scenes from the life of Phra Malai, as well as genre scenes of lay people. According to a colophon in Thai script on the first folio, the manuscript is dated 2437 BE (AD 1894).

Phra Malai visiting hell (Or 16101, folio 8)

During his visits to hell (naraka), Phra Malai is said to bestow mercy on the creatures suffering there. They implore him to warn their relatives on earth of the horrors of hell and how they can escape it through making merit on behalf of the deceased, meditation and by following Buddhist precepts.

Although the subject of hell is mentioned in the Pali canon (for example, in the Nimi Jataka, the Lohakumbhi Jataka, the Samkicca Jataka, the Devaduta Sutta, the Balapanditta Sutta, the Peta-vatthu etc.) the legend of Phra Malai is thought to have contributed significantly to the idea of hell in Thai society.

Back in the human realm, the monk receives an offering of eight lotus flowers from a poor woodcutter, which he eventually offers at the Chulamani Chedi, a heavenly stupa believed to contain a relic of the Buddha. In Tavatimsa heaven, Phra Malai converses with the god Indra and the Buddha-to-come, Metteyya, who reveals to the monk insights about the future of mankind.

Lotus offering scene, Or 16101, folio 28

Through recitations of Phra Malai the karmic effects of human actions were taught to the faithful at funerals and other merit-making occasions. Following Buddhist precepts, obtaining merit, and attending performances of the Vessantara Jataka all counted as virtues that increased the chances of a favourable rebirth, or Nirvana in the end.

Illustrated folding books were produced for a range of different purposes in Thai Buddhist monasteries and at royal and local courts. They served as handbooks and chanting manuals for Buddhist monks and novices. Producing folding books or sponsoring them was regarded as especially meritorious. They often, therefore, functioned as presentation volumes in honor of the deceased. It comes as no surprise that this manuscript contains an illustration of a lavishly decorated coffin attended by two Buddhist monks who are trying to fend off two ‘fake’ monks.

Funeral scene (Or 16101, folio 92)

Traditionally, Thai monks reciting the legend of Phra Malai would embellish and dramatise their performances, contrary to their strict behavioural rules. By the end of the nineteenth century, monks were officially banned from such performances. As a result, retired or ‘fake’ monks often delivered the popular performances, unconstrained by the rules of the Sangha.

A full text digital copy of Or 16101 can be viewed online at British Library Digitised Manuscripts.

Lacquered front cover with gilt flower ornaments (Or 16101)

Further reading

There is an excellent translation from Thai into English of the entire legend of Phra Malai by Bonnie Pacala Brereton, which is included in her book Thai Tellings of Phra Malai – texts and rituals concerning a Buddhist Saint. Tempe, Arizona: Arizona State University, 1995

Chawalit, Maenmas (ed.): Samut khoi. Bangkok: Khrongkan suepsan moradok watthanatham Thai, 1999
Ginsburg, Henry: Thai art and culture: historic manuscripts from Western Collections. London: British Library, 2000
Ginsburg, Henry: Thai manuscript painting. London: British Library, 1989
Igunma, Jana: ʻAksoon Khoom - Khmer heritage in Thai and Lao manuscript cultures.ʼ In: Tai Culture Vol. 23. Berlin : SEACOM, 2013
Igunma, Jana: ʻPhra Malai - A Buddhist Saint’s Journeys to Heaven and Hell.ʼ 
Peltier, Anatole: ʻIconographie de la légende de Braḥ Mālay.ʼ BEFEO, Tome LXXI (1982), pp. 63-76
Wenk, Klaus: Thailändische Miniaturmalererien nach einer Handschrift der Indischen Kunstabteilung der Staatlichen Museen Berlin. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1965
Zwalf, W. (ed.): Buddhism: art and faith. London: British Museum Publications, 1985

Jana Igunma, Asian and African Studies

Cave 16 at the Mogao caves, Dunhuang. Photograph by M. Aurel Stein, c. 1905.

Little was known of the Silk Road until archaeologists uncovered ancient cities in the desert sands, revealing astonishing sculptures, murals and manuscripts. The Buddhist cave library near Dunhuang in western China was one such remarkable discovery. Sealed around AD 1000 and only re-discovered in 1900 it contained over forty thousand manuscripts and paintings. Other sites have yielded tens of thousands more artefacts. These unique items have fascinating stories to tell of life on this ancient trade route. Owing to international archaeological activity most, however, were dispersed in the early 1900s to institutions worldwide.

The International Dunhuang Project (IDP) was formed in 1994 by the major holding institutions with the vision of reuniting these artefacts through digital photography, using web technologies to make them freely accessible to all and ensuring international standards for their preservation and cataloguing. Directed by a curatorial and imaging team at the British Library, IDP UK went online in 1998 and multilingual websites hosted by IDP partners soon followed, starting with IDP China in 2002. The international teams have an immense task but their work in conserving, cataloguing and digitising the manuscripts, paintings and artefacts has started to give a voice to the people who once lived in the cities, worshipped in the temples and traded in the markets of the Silk Road.

Hundreds of thousands of images of manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artefacts along with catalogues, translations, historical and modern photographs, explorers’ archives and more are already freely available to all on IDP’s multilingual website and are widely used by scholars, schoolchildren and others.

As part of its 20th anniversary celebrations, IDP will be arranging a series of events over autumn 2013 to spring 2014. These will include an exhibition of photographs, a conservation show and tell, an afternoon of lectures and a reception, a selection of twenty favourite items from IDP’s patrons, partners, supporters and users, and a special edition of our newsletter, IDP News. Further details will be announced shortly and will also be publicised on the IDP home page, the IDP blog and our Facebook page.

Our launch event will be a lecture given by Tim Williams (UCL). ’Mapping the Silk Road’ will take place at the British Library Conference Centre (map) on November 1 2013 at 6.30pm. Entrance is free and all are welcome. For further details and online booking visit the British Library What's On pages.

Frontispiece of a printed dated copy of the Diamond Sutra.

IDP is dependent on external funding. Our work so far has been enabled by the generous and loyal support of individuals, foundations and funding bodies worldwide. Your help is essential. You can donate directly online, Sponsor a Sutra or if you wish to discuss support of a major project please visit the IDP website to contact us.

Vic Swift, International Dunhuang Project

The British Library holds one of the richest archives of prints, drawings and photographs from South Asia. As Visual Arts Curator, exploring the vast collections and learning about the history of the works of art is just part of my daily activities. Although my previous blog posts have focused on the Mughal empire and painting, I wanted to share a lesser known collection: Marianne North's views of India.

Marianne North (1830-90) was a Victorian artist who was influenced from an early age by artists including William Holden Hunt and Edward Lear. Although she had no formal training, she was given oil painting lessons by Valentine Bartholomew and Robert Dowling.  She was particularly obsessed with natural history and painted specimens of British fungi. As the daughter of Frederick North, Liberal MP for Hastings, she often travelled across Europe with members of her family. It was only after her father's death in 1870, that she began to travel further afield.  She visited America, Jamaica, Brazil, Singapore, Indonesia and even New Zealand.  In 1876, she travelled to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) where she met the photographer Julia Margaret Cameron.

Marianne North in Mrs Cameron's house in Ceylon. Depicts Marianne North painting a Tamil boy. Julia Margaret Cameron. Albumen print, 277 x 236mm (10 7/8 x 9 1/4"). Wikimedia Commons.

On her journey back from Ceylon, Marianne stopped in San Remo, Italy to visit family and friends including the artist Edward Lear. Lear, who recently toured India between 1873-75, shared his experience and drawings of India with Marianne. Armed with a a copy of James Fergusson's recent publication of A History of Indian and Eastern Architecture (1876), Marianne embarked on her own journey across northern India. She visited Delhi, Lucknow, Varanasi, as well as Udaipur between 1877-79. In this period, she painted more than 200 topographical views, botanical studies, and street scenes. Her autobiography Recollections of a Happy Life (1892) is filled with annecdotes which relate to many of her scenes.

Returning to London, she arranged a private exhibition of her works which she self-financed since the 'perputal task of showing [her] Indian sketches was very wearisome'. The Pall Mall Gazette, in reviewing her exhibition, 'suggested that North find a permanent place to house her paintings'. Marianne turned to her friend Sir Joseph Hooker, the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and ultimately decided to donate her entire collection to Kew.  She commissioned architectural historian James Fergusson to design the gallery.  The project was entirely funded by Marianne. The Marianne North Gallery still remains today and is a feature at Kew.  In 1973, the Royal Botanic Gardens deposited 53 topographical views to the British Library. A selection is shown below:

 
'Street of hunting Cheetahs and Lynx. Ulwar. India 1878'. Marianne North. Oil on paper, 25 by 38.8 cm. British Library, WD 3244.

In her autobiography, she wrote: "I saw a whole street full of hunting chetahs and lynxes...  The chetahs are taken out in carts blindfolded and let out when within sight of the deer, when they creep up and spring upon them, holding them till hunter comes up and kills them. They are so intent on their work that they are easily blindfolded and led away again. All those wild beasts are chained to trestle-beds in front of the houses down the street, their keepers sitting or sleeping behind them, and little children, peacocks, cocks and hens, wandering among them without the slightest fear."

'The Great Mosque of Delhi, India. Novr. 1878.' Marianne North, Oil on paper, 30.5 by 47 cm. British Library, WD 3237.

‘Duarah Nath - Kumaon.  India.  23d August 1878’. Marianne North. Oil on paper, 29.2 by 51 cm. British Library, WD 3226.

Marianne North's views of India and Java are all digitized. To view more scenes, please visit the British Library's Online Gallery or on the BBC Your Paintings website.

These views and other prints, drawings and photographs can be viewed by appointment in the British Library's Print Room, located in the Asian and African Studies Reading Room.

Further reading:

Marianne North, Recollections of a Happy Life, 1892

Marianne North, Further Recollections of a Happy Life, 1899

Laura Ponsonby, Marianne North at Kew Gardens, 1990

Malini Roy, Visual Arts Curator

One of the finest illuminated Malay manuscripts known is a copy of the Taj al-Salatin, ‘The Crown of Kings’ (Or.13295), which has just been digitised in full.  This ethical guide for rulers was composed in Aceh in north Sumatra in 1603 by Bukhari al-Johori, and contains advice on good governance.  This manuscript was copied in Penang by a scribe named Muhammad bin Umar Syaikh Farid on 4 Zulhijah 1239 AH (31 July 1824 AD).  It is in every sense a deluxe bibliographic production, with a red and gold leather binding.  There are two superb illuminated frames at the beginning and end of the book, while all other pages are set within multi-layered frames of black, red and gold ink.  The text is written in a very accomplished hand with a thin nib in black ink.  Rubrication – the highlighting of certain words in red – is used for a variety of purposes: for Qur’anic quotations, for words or phrases in Arabic, and for ‘paragraph words’ such as adapun or bermula, both meaning ‘then’, indicating a new section in the text. 

Throughout the Muslim world there is a highly distinctive manuscript culture of books written on paper in the Arabic script, with decorated frames spread across two open pages and symmetrical about the gutter of the book.  Within these broad design principles regional preferences are clearly apparent, and it is often possible to guess the geographic origin of a manuscript purely on the basis of the shape, ornamentation and colour scheme of the double decorated frames.

Initial pages of the Taj al-Salatin, ‘The Crown of Kings’, a Malay ‘mirror for princes’.  British Library, Or.13295, ff.1v-2r.  

The opening illuminated frames of the Penang ‘Crown of Kings’ manuscript (see above) are technically stunning but atypical for a Malay manuscript, with many features that draw more heavily on the artistic vocabulary of Indo-Persian and Ottoman manuscript art.  For example, the gently undulating yet basically rectangular composition of of the densely decorated frames is at variance with the Southeast Asian tradition of frames characterised by strongly arched outlines on the three outer sides.  On each of the two facing pages, the decorated frames are ‘hung’ from a vertical decorated border or ‘pivot’ along the spine of the book, recalling the supports for a door or window shutter; this too is a feature rarely seen in Malay manuscript art. The palette, dominated by two shades of blue and gold, is also more typical of Islamic manuscripts west of the Malay world, while in Southeast Asia the main colours found are red and yellow.  Another very unusual feature is the use of white pigment in the illumination; throughout Muslim regions of Southeast Asia the colour white in manuscripts is invariably represented by ‘reserved white’, where the uncoloured ground of the white paper is manipulated as a fundamental element of the artist’s palette.  Finally, the lines of text on the first two pages are set within cloudbands edged with black ink against a ground of gold.  This is a very common decorative device in Ottoman, Indian, Persian and even Chinese Islamic manuscripts, but is rarely encountered in Southeast Asia. 

Final pages of the Taj al-Salatin, dated 4 Zulhijah 1239 (31 July 1824).  British Library, Or.13295, ff.190v-191r. 

The final double frames (see above) are equally accomplished, but in a contrasting stylistic tenor.  The key difference is the arched outline of the gently graduated multi-lobed domes on the three outer sides, linking this manuscript to artistic traditions not only in the Malay world but also along Indian Ocean trading networks, notably in Oman and Yemen.  Gold is used more sparingly, and thus although the other components of the palette are the same, the overall effect is more variegated.  The colophon, with the name of the scribe and the date of copying – with, unusually, the Persian word for month – is presented in oval cartouches set within the frame above and below the textblock on each page.  The scribe was therefore familiar with Malay, Arabic and Persian, and was most likely of Indian descent. 

The history of the peregrinations of this book – from Penang to Bombay and thence on to Brighton and London – can be partially reconstructed.  A flyleaf bears the inscription:

To the Revd. J. M. Rice, Brighton, from his brother, Ralph Rice, Recorder of Prince of Wales Island A.D. 1824.  This M.S. is a Malay story & was made at Pinang in the above year – with a hope, that it wd receive admission, into the library, of so renowned a Bibliomanist, as is the said J. M. Rice.
Ralph Rice, now one of the Judges of the – Court at Bombay.  Bombay, May 19, 1825

Sir Ralph Rice (b. ca. 1781-1850), served as the third Recorder or government legal officer of Penang from 1817 to 1824, and was later Senior Puisne Judge of the Bombay Supreme Court. He thus appears to have commissioned this manuscript in his last year in Penang, and from his new post in Bombay presented it to his older brother, the Revd. John Morgan Rice (b. ca. 1774-1833) of Brighton.  The manuscript also bears the bookplate of ‘Percy M. Thornton’.  Percy Melville Thornton (1841-1918) was a Conservative politician whose mother was Emily Elizabeth Rice, daughter of John Morgan Rice.  The manuscript was offered for sale at Sotheby’s in London on 9 December 1970, when it was purchased by the British Museum.  In 1973, together with the other books and manuscripts in the British Museum, it passed into the collections of the newly-formed British Library, and has now been digitised along with other Malay manuscripts in the Library.

Further reading

A full facsimile of British Library Or.13295 has been published:
Taj al-salatin: mahkota raja-raja.  Pengenalan oleh Muhammad Haji Salleh.  Johor Baharu: Yayasan Warisan Johor, 2001.

 Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator for Southeast Asian Studies

Related articles

British Library's Malay manuscripts to be digitised

Malay 'eye candy': illuminated literary manuscripts

Malay manuscripts digitisation project completes first year

Another Malay 'Mirror for Princes'

The complete collection of Malay manuscripts in the British Library is to be digitised thanks to a generous donation of £125,000 from Singapore-based American philanthropists William and Judith Bollinger. The five-year project, in collaboration with the National Library Board of Singapore, will fund the digitisation of materials of interest to Singapore held in the British Library. In addition to Malay manuscripts, early maps of Singapore and selected archival papers of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles – who founded a British settlement in Singapore in 1819 – will also be digitised and made freely accessible online. 

For centuries, the Malay language has played an important role as the lingua franca of trade, diplomacy and religion throughout maritime Southeast Asia.  It was the language through which Islam spread across the archipelago from the 13th century onwards; it was the language in which visiting merchants from the Middle East, India, China and Europe would barter for spices in the rich port cities of Melaka, Patani, Aceh, Banten and Makassar; and it was the language through which British and Dutch colonial officials communicated with local sultanates. Until the early 20th century Malay was generally written in a modified form of the Arabic script known as Jawi, and Malay manuscripts originate from the present-day nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and the southern regions of Thailand and the Philippines.
 

A map showing the area over which the Malay language was commonly spoken, from the first original Malay-English dictionary, by Thomas Bowrey, 1701  (British Library, 68.c.12)

The British Library holds over a hundred Malay manuscript texts and several hundred Malay letters and documents, dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries. These manuscripts derive mainly from the historic British Museum collections, including Malay books owned by John Crawfurd, who served under Raffles during the British administration of Java from 1811 to 1816, and then as Resident of Singapore from 1823 to 1826, and from the India Office Library (which became part of the British Library in 1983), which holds Malay manuscripts belonging to John Leyden, Raffles’s closest friend and advisor, who died of fever shortly after the British capture of Batavia in 1811; Col. Colin Mackenzie, Raffles’s Chief Engineer in Java; as well as a few manuscripts previously owned by Raffles himself. 

Although not large, the British Library collection of Malay manuscripts includes some very important works, including the oldest known manuscript of the earliest Malay history, ‘Chronicle of the kings of Pasai’, Hikayat Raja Pasai, (Or.14350), describing the coming of Islam to Sumatra; two copies of the most famous Malay historical text, the ‘Malay Annals’, Sejarah Melayu, (Or.14734 & Or.16214) recording the glories of the great kingdom of Melaka up to its capture by the Portuguese in 1511; literary works in both prose (hikayat) and verse (syair), some of which – such as the intriguingly-named ‘Story of the Pig King’, Hikayat Raja Babi (Add.12393), written by a merchant from Semarang during a voyage to Palembang in Sumatra – are unique copies; as well as texts on law and Islamic religious obligations.  A few of the manuscripts are exquisitely illuminated, including a fine copy of an ethical guide for rulers, ‘The Crown of Kings’, Taj al-Salatin, copied in Penang in 1824 (Or.13295). 
  

A sumptuously illuminated manuscript of an ethical guide for rulers, ‘The Crown of Kings’, Taj al-Salatin, copied in Penang in 1824  (British Library Or.13295, ff.190v-191r)


The Malay manuscripts are being digitised in the British Library and will be fully available on the Library’s Digitised Manuscripts online (search on keywords ‘Malay’ or ‘Jawi’), while the National Library Board of Singapore will also be mounting the images on their BookSG website. Thus through this project, manuscripts which previously could only be viewed by visiting the British Library’s reading rooms in London will soon be made freely accessible online worldwide to anyone with an interest in Malay heritage and culture.

Over the next few months, on this blog we will be exploring in more detail individual manuscripts as they are digitised and made available online. If you would like to keep in touch, subscribe by email (at the top of this page) and follow us on Twitter @BLAsia_Africa.

Further reading

Malay manuscripts in the British Library are catalogued in:
M.C. Ricklefs & P. Voorhoeve, Indonesian manuscripts in Great Britain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977)

Annabel Teh Gallop, Lead Curator, Southeast Asian Studies

Earlier this week, my colleague Nur Sobers Khan (Iran Heritage Foundation Curator of Persian Manuscripts) wrote about the emperor Aurangzeb pondering the afterlife.  She discussed a little known manuscript commissioned by the emperor entitled 'The Book of Traditions on the Hereafter'.  This blog and a previous one on Islamic jurisprudence refers to Aurangzeb's religious orthodoxy. This period in history was a great challenge for local artists. In fact, his views on Islam is one of the contributing factors that led to a decline in the Mughal painting tradition. Today's blog will look at depictions of Aurangzeb painted during his lifetime from 1619-1707.

Illustrated histories of the Mughal emperors are a starting point to look for portraits of the princes and the ruling elite. The Padshahnama, the official account of Aurangzeb's father Shah Jahan's reign, was written by the historian Muhammad Lahori. Shah Jahan ruled from 1627-58. The illustrated version in the royal collection at Windsor is the only surviving contemporary version. The manuscript, however, only corresponds to Lahori’s first volume and the first ten years of Shah Jahan’s reign. From a cursory overview, the manuscript casts light on the nuances of Shah Jahan’s relationship with Aurangzeb. As compared to his siblings, Aurangzeb was less frequently painted.

Shah Jahan receives his three eldest sons and Asaf Khan during his accession ceremonies on 8 March 1628. Painted by Bichitr, c. 1630-5. Royal Collection. Wikimedia Commons

In the Padshahnama, artists document the milestones and personal achievements of the princes. In the above scene, Shah Jahan embraces his eldest and favourite son Dara Shikoh. His two younger sons, Shah Shuja (dressed in yellow) and Aurangzeb (dressed in green) appear on the left waiting for their turns. They are accompanied by their grandfather Asaf Khan. In this scene, Aurangzeb is only 9 years old. Other key events featuring Aurangzeb include the prince facing a maddening elephant named Sudhakar in June 1633 and his father Shah Jahan honouring him at his wedding on 19 May 1637. 
Prince Aurangzeb reports to Shah Jahan in durbar at Lahore in 1649. Mughal, 1650-55. British Library, Add.Or.3853

Another painting which related to the official history written by Muhammad Lahori, but prepared for a later (now dispersed) illustrated volume of the Padshahnama, features Aurangzeb reporting to Shah Jahan in 1649 (above). In this imperial durbar (official assembly) scene, Shah Jahan is seated in the jharoka (balcony for official ceremonies) inside the Divan-i 'Am or Hall of Public Audiences. This building is located in the Mughal fortress and complex in Lahore. Aurangzeb is picture standing on the left, next to other courtiers, though with his arm raised in salute to his father. Less than ten years after this event, Aurangzeb imprisoned his father in the Agra Fort, outmanoeuvred his brothers and arranged for their deaths in order to become emperor. Aurangzeb's eldest brother Dara Shikoh was the heir-apparent and favourite son. Aurangzeb claimed the throne in 1658. His father died in prison in 1666.

An exceptional military commander, Aurangzeb drastically expanded the geographic boundaries of the empire to include the Deccan plateau in central India. State revenues prospered, but constant wars to retain control of his territories gravely damaged the state finances. During his lifetime, Aurangzeb was often represented in one of two ways: either as a warrior for Islam or as a devout Muslim ruler reading a Qu'ran. As compared to the lavish paintings of Shah Jahan's period, the artistic style radically changed. Artists tended to paint simple individual portrait studies. The paintings were often painted in the nim-qalam (tinted drawing) technique with hints of and gold. Artists seemed to steer away from the developed backgrounds landscape settings. In fact, it was exceptionally rare for artists to paint historic scenes. Contemporary accounts do not offer a precise explanation for the decline in the painting traditions. Contributing factors may have included Aurangzeb’s curtailing of state expenditure, banning histories in praise of the emperor, forbidding music and dancing for pleasure at the court, and increased religiosity.

Equestrian portrait of Aurangzeb. Mughal, c. 1660-70. British Library, Johnson Album, 3.4.

In this equestrian portrait, Aurangzeb is depicted symbolically as an austere ghazi or warrior for Islam. He is dressed in full armour and holds a gold lance. His rearing horse is ready for battle and covered with chain-mail. From his belt hang a quiver of arrows and a push dagger called a katar.

Aurangzeb in his old age. Mughal, c.1700. British Library Johnson Album 2,2.

Aurangzeb left northern India for the Deccan in 1681, never to return. An increasingly orthodox Muslim, he re-instated the poll-tax levied on non-Muslims, revived the power of Muslim clerics, and fostered a political and social divide based on religion. The last portrait of Aurangzeb pictures the devout Muslim ruler in profile, with a downward gaze at a manuscript held in his hands, most likely to be the Qur’an. Dressed in stark white garments, his appearance is in sharp contrast to the golden radiance of the halo, the floral patterned bolster and the luxurious carpet hung on the window ledge. For Aurangzeb, there was no greater personal accomplishment than to memorise every verse and chapter of the Qur’an. Having committed to memory the entire text, he wrote two copies of the Qur’an in perfect calligraphy. This style of portraiture, featuring Aurangzeb in his old age and hunched over a manuscript, was commonly produced and suggests that artists felt that this was the most appropriate type of pictorial format to depict the elderly ruler.

Further reading:

M. Beach, E. Koch and W. Thackston, King of the World: The Padshahnama, Azimuth, London, 1997

Saqi Mustaʻidd Khan, Maāsir-i-ʿĀlamgiri: A history of the Emperor Aurangzib-ʿĀlamgir (reign 1658-1707 A.D.), translated into English and annotated by Sir Jadunath Sarkar. Calcutta: Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1947

J.P. Losty and M. Roy, Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire, British Library, 2012

Malini Roy, Visual Arts Curator

Malini Roy, Visual Arts Curator - See more at: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2013/07/book-of-affairs-of-love.html#sthash.5Ng6wrIM.dpuf

The elephant is one of our best loved and most revered animals. Since 12 August was the 2nd World Elephant Day, first launched in 2012 to bring attention to the urgent plight of Asian and African elephants,  we thought it would be an good excuse to publicise two of our digitised Thai manuscripts.

Or.14793. Folio 2 of an Elephant Treatise, Central Thailand, second half of 19th century. Click here for link to zoomable image to BL Digitised Manuscripts

The elephant has a special place in Thai and Burmese culture, symbolising royalty and good fortune through the ages. A “white elephant” in Western culture is usually something expensive or unwanted which is difficult to dispose of, but in South and South East Asia it is often considered sacred. The phrase “seeing pink elephants”, used to describe a delirious or intoxicated person,  also takes on a new meaning in a culture where elephants, apparently, come in all shapes, colours and sizes!

Or.13652 contains two treatises in Thai dating from ca. 1830-1850 on mythical and natural elephants, containing 37 illustrations, and Or.14793, in Thai and Pali, also dating from the 19th century, is an album containing 24 coloured drawings. Both manuscripts are in the format of tradional paper folding books. You can look at both of these following the links provided to our Digitised Manuscripts.

The manuscripts from the Thai, Lao and Cambodian collection in the British Library can be searched in the online catalogue Explore Archives and Manuscripts. Over 100 Thai manuscripts that the Library has digitised can be viewed online.

Or.13652. Folio 7 of a 19th century Royal Elephant Treatise showing Erawan, the king of all elephants (Sanskr.: Airavata, a mythological multi-headed white elephant who carries the Hindu god Indra)



Or.13652. Folio 24, depicting various types of auspicious elephants at play.

Elephants come in all shapes and sizes! Or.13652, folio 36. A Thai adaptation of Nari-kunjara, a unique art genre that started in India in the 17th century as a result of influence from Persia. A kunjara (elephant) is formed by artistically intertwined figures of women (nari), and the creativity of the artist lies in the acrobatic postures of the figures and their adjustment within the composition.

Those  of you who would like to know more about elephants in Thai culture should look at the webpage of  The Thai Elephant Conservation Center.

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