Add Or 3129

Add.Or.3129

The Dara Shikoh Album.

Mughal, assembled c.1633-42.

Purchased at auction, 19 June 1908.

This album, or ‘muraqqa‘,’ is known as the Dara Shikoh Album from the inscription in the prince’s hand on f.2 dated AH1051/AD1641-42. The seventy-four folios with Persian calligraphy, illumination, and sixty-eight miniature paintings, represent the album in its original entirety except for five leaves which are missing according to a seventeenth-century foliation. The miniatures face one another in pairs, alternating with facing pages of calligraphy in the normal manner of the Mughal’ muraqqa‘.’ Each page except the guard pages at beginning and end has an inner border of gold floral arabesques on a coloured background within an outer margin of gold flowers on an uncoloured ground.

The binding, now restored, has contemporary covers of black morocco with a central rectangular panel of red morocco stamped in gold with a design of strapwork and flowers. The red morocco doublures show a central medallion and cornerpieces of gold filigree on a blue ground.

The pages are restored at the edges to an overall measurement of 325 by 235 mm (previously about 320 by 220 mm).

A description of the album, made by A.J. Arberry, is preserved in typescript as Mss Eur D542. In the following list of individual folios the descriptions of calligraphy are taken from Arberry’s catalogue.

INSCRIPTIONS AND PROVENANCE: The album was assembled, probably at Delhi, not earlier than c.1633 nor later than c.1642. The date of AH1043/AD1633-34 is inscribed on the miniature on f.21v. The date AH1051/AD1641-42 appears in the Persian inscription on f.2 which records Dara Shikoh’s gift of the album to his wife in the following terms: ‘This precious volume was given to his dearest intimate friend Nadira Banu Begam by Muhammad Dara Shikoh son of Shah Jahan Padshah Ghazi. 1051’ (‘in muraqqa‘-i nafis ba-anis-i khass u hamdam u hamraz baikhtisas nadirah banu baigam dadah [shud az] muhammad dara shikoh ibn shah jahan padshah-i ghazi, sannah 1051’). This inscription is written in ‘nasta‘liq’ in the hand of Dara Shikoh. Another example of his handwriting is in the India Office Library MS. Delhi Persian 1263, f.1. Subsequently an attempt was made to obliterate the inscription with gold which has since worn away where it has failed to adhere to the ink, allowing the inscription to re-appear. This was probably done early in the reign of Aurangzeb at the time of the inscription on f.1, when Dara Shikoh had been deposed and killed in the struggle for the Mughal throne.

The volume was subsequently handed over to Pariwash, librarian to the ‘Nawab Aliyyah’, on 21 Rajab, year 3 (inscription on f.1). This probably refers to the third regnal year of Aurangzeb in which case the equivalent date is 22 March 1661. The title ‘Nawab Aliyyah’ was given to Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan, who died in 1631. The fact that the album contains a picture dated 1633-34 (f.21v) makes the application of the inscription to her impossible. The same title was, however, borne by other ladies of the court and could therefore apply to a princess of the Aurangzeb period. At the end of the inscription the value of the album is given as Rs. 1,000.

A second inscription on f.1 states that the volume was made over to Muhammad Muzaffar on 2 Ramadan, regnal year 15 (applied to Aurangzeb this is 22 December 1672). The inscription is accompanied by the seal of Sayyid ‘Ali al-Husaini, Murid-i Padshah ‘Alamgir, dated AH1069/AD1658-59, a seal which also appears on f.78v. Included in this inscription is a collation of the album as it then stood; it was presumably at this date that the leaves of the album were foliated with Persian numerals.

The whereabouts of the album in the eighteenth century is not known, but an album in the collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Windsor Castle (A.13) should be mentioned in this connection. The Windsor Album has a late eighteenth-century Indian lacquer binding and contains miniatures of both seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dates, of which a number are almost direct copies of pictures in the Dara Shikoh Album (‘see below’ ff.8, 38 and 72). It also contains flower and bird paintings, some of them of similar mood to the Dara Shikoh examples, and on f.67v is a bird painting that can be firmly attributed to Muhammad Khan, the only identified artist of the Dara Shikoh Album. Although the relationship between the two albums is hard to define, it could be that Dara’s album was available to or in the possession of the eighteenth-century assemblers of the Windsor Album.

In 1823 the volume belonged to Lieut. Charles Forn of the 6th regiment at Vellore (a letter post-marked 7 June 1823 is inserted at the beginning of the album), and later to Christopher Abbott Jr, whose bookplate is at the end of the album. It was purchased for the India Office Library at an auction held by Hodgson of Chancery Lane on 19 June 1908.

THE PATRON: From the inscription on f.2 it is clear that in 1641-42 the album was in the possession of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan and heir-apparent to the Mughal throne. Dara Shikoh was born in 1615, the first son of Shah Jahan’s favourite Mumtaz Mahal. From an early age the prince took an interest in writing and calligraphy, and like his father was an accomplished calligrapher in his own right. It was Shah Jahan’s wish that Dara should be his successor, and to this end he was singled out as the emperor’s favourite, to the ever-increasing jealousy of the three younger princes Shuja‘, Aurangzeb and Murad Bakhsh. In 1633 Dara Shikoh was married to his cousin Nadira, the daughter of Sultan Parviz, and the excessively lavish wedding celebrations continued for many days. Nadira Banu Begam bore Dara Shikoh two sons, Sulaiman Shikoh and Sipahr Shikoh. As the emperor grew older Dara Shikoh had been allowed to exercise more and more imperial privileges and duties, and by the time of Shah Jahan’s deposition in 1658 the younger brothers were consumed with enmity towards the crown prince. When in 1659 Dara Shikoh fell into the hands of Aurangzeb, the new emperor ordered his execution, his two sons being allowed to perish soon after in prison. Nadira Banu Begam herself died in 1659, worn out by fatigue and anxiety in the deserts of Sind; she was buried at Lahore near the tomb of her husband’s spiritual preceptor, Miyan Mir.

This album was almost certainly assembled for female ownership and the probability is that Dara Shikoh always intended it as a gift for his beloved wife. The only dated picture in the album (f.21v) was painted in the year of his marriage AH1043/AD1633-34. The entire contents are of a serene and feminine nature; Flowers, birds and portraits of unoccupied youths predominate. Of the many courtiers portrayed few even carry a sword, and several hold posies or flowers. There are no depictions of pursuits, no political or historical scenes, no hunting, no court scenes where matters of state are discussed, no amorous encounters, no elephants or animals, not a single person even on horseback.

Most of the calligraphy is contemporary with Dara Shikoh, and if the album was indeed prepared by him it would seem natural that some of his own calligraphy would be included. (One such muraqqa‘ page with his writing on it is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, I.S.37-1972 (Pinder-Wilson (1976), no.140), the prince’s signature however being erased. For another page,’ see’ Sotheby, 17 July 1978, lot 9.) As with the inscription on f.2 it would seem plausible that any traces of Dara Shikoh would have been removed from the album during his extreme unpopularity early in Aurangzeb’s reign, and on this assumption it is possible that some of the calligraphy is his. Certain pages bear corners of floral decoration which could well mask or replace his signature. Furthermore, five whole leaves are missing from the album, and it could be that these bore identifiable examples of his handwriting, or even portraits of him.

The main evidence for Dara Shikoh’s association with the album remains in the inscription on f.2 and it is fortunate that at the time of its obliteration with gold the decision was not made to remove the page from the volume. If this had been done Dara Shikoh would probably never have been credited with this endearing piece of patronage and the subsequent gift to his wife.

THE MINIATURES: Throughout the album only one artist has identified himself. On f.21v Muhammad Khan has put his signature on the side of a gold dish with the date AH1043/AD1633-34. The style of this picture is quite distinct with its firm colour range and Persian-influenced figure, and from this it has been possible to attribute five other pictures to the same artist. Muhammad Khan’s pictures are characterised by their use of pastel colours, with the inclusion of Persian-style figures and wind-blown white clouds of Chinese origin. His little clumps of flowers betray some European inspiration and are often accompanied by coloured stones or boulders.

A second coherent group has been attributed to an unidentified artist here designated ‘A’. This painter must have worked in close collaboration with Muhammad Khan from whom he borrowed the motif of little wind-blown Chinese clouds, treated, however, in a more ragged fashion. His five pictures are all flower pieces, three of these being arrangements of a peculiarly exotic nature (ff.49v, 51v and 68). All the flower pieces in the album appear to have been adapted from European sources. By 1630 numerous herbals and flower books had been printed in Europe, and many could have reached India in European hands. The plants of the type used by Artist A on ff.53v and 67v clearly derive from a herbal of which many had been printed from the sixteenth century onwards under titles such as ‘Hortus Sanitatus.’ On the other hand Muhammad Khan’s flower picture on f.65v derives from a more artistic publication, perhaps the ‘Hortus Floridus’ by Crispin van de Passe published in 1611 and 1615. The European derivation is further endorsed by the distinctive placing of butterflies in the manner of Dutch flower pieces.

Fourteen pictures have been attributed to a second unidentified hand referred to as Artist ‘B’. This painter has a slightly softer palette than Muhammad Khan or Artist A. Many of his pictures show princely youths standing in landscapes or visiting holy men, their features approximating to a single facial type perhaps representing the artist’s ideal of youthful or princely beauty (ff.17v, 18, 19v, 33v, 35v and 36). It is possible that Artist B was here partly influenced by the features of Dara Shikoh himself.. A picture by Chitarman in an album in the Gulistan Library showing Dara Shikoh presenting a hawk to his father bears a striking resemblance (Godard (1937), fig.74). The Gulistan Album contains other pictures of a parallel nature, and it seems that the Dara Shikoh volume was intended to echo the contents of an emperor’s album (cf. Godard (1937) fig.71 with ff.18 and 33v, fig.73 with f.43v, figs 77 and 78 with ff.17v and 35v, fig.101 with f.38, fig.102 with f.13v, etc.). Artist B also painted flower pictures and ornithological subjects which like the flowers may well be adaptations from European sources. Throughout his work he maintains a soft and slightly sweet approach which is sometimes even detectable in the extensions made to miniatures adapted for inclusion in the album. There are many such pictures, and it seems that Artist B played a major part in such adaptations as well as painting a greater number of pictures than any of the other artists.

The work of Artists ‘C’ and ‘D’ are restricted to portraiture. Artist C is distinguished by a larger figure size and the persistent inclusion of rather contorted exotic flowering plants growing at the subject’s feet. Artist D on the other hand chooses a smaller size of figure and a less generous approach to the richness of costume and accoutrements. Among the remaining pictures of the album it is not difficult to identify several pairs of miniatures attributable to a common hand. Whilst these pairs have been cross-referenced in the list of folios below, it is unnecessary to attach labels to these artists whose contribution to the album was minimal. What is of more significance is that no more than a small handful of painters were employed in making the album, painting many of the pictures themselves but also using material that came to hand from other sources. Royal albums made for the emperor involved the employment of a greater array of artists, and presumably Dara Shikoh as a prince in his teens had to satisfy himself with only a few.