Question

"The paintings in the Mughal Chronicles possess special powers to communicate ideas about the power of king and kingdom." Give arguments to support the statement.

Answer 1

1. The previous section, painters too were involved in the production of Mughal manuscripts. Chronicles narrating the events of a Mughal emperor’s reign contained, alongside the written text, images that described an event in visual form.
2. When scenes or themes in a book were to be given visual expression, the scribe left blank spaces on nearby pages paintings, executed separately by artists, were inserted to accompany what was described in words.
3. These paintings were miniatures, and could therefore be passed around for viewing and mounting on the pages of manuscripts.
4. Paintings served not only to enhance the beauty of a book, but were believed to possess special powers of communicating ideas about the kingdom and the power of kings in ways that the written medium could not.
5. The historian Abu’l Fazl described painting as a “magical art” in his view it had the power to make inanimate objects look as if they possessed life.
6. Muslim rulers in many Asian regions during centuries of empire building regularly commissioned artists to paint their portraits and scenes of life in their kingdoms.