The Illuminated History of Akbar the Great – Northern Indian Art – Classical Sarangi Music

YouTube ^ | 19 May 2020 | MVD

[mairdie]

The Akbarnama was commissioned by Akbar the Great, the third Mughal Emperor, reigning from 1556 to 1605, as a history of his reign. It was written in Persian and illustrated by 49 artists. The music is from Nand Kalyan (vilambit ektal), from Ustad Munir Khan’s Classical Sarangi Music.

[mairdie]

Elephants everywhere. And fascinating building techniques. And huge guns for attacking forts. Capturing cheetahs to use on hunts. Going after tigers with a sword. Things I learned doing this video.

[mairdie]

Ping to an illustrated history of Akbar, at the turn of the 17th c, in northern India.

[a fool in paradise]

Ping

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks mairdie and a fool in paradise.

[entropy12]

Without doubt, the only good Mughal emperor in India. He appreciated Indian music, art, cuisine etc. Did not originate wars & violence. But after all is said and done, he was devoted to Allah is Great.

[mairdie]

He does sound like a wonderful man. But I can see why he would want to build separate palaces for his wives. He had at least 14 of them. He loved literature and art. Didn’t always kill his opponents. Wonder if he wrote poetry, too.

[NFHale]

Everytime I hear the word “Akbar”, I remember the sound my old cat used to make when coughing up a hairball years ago...

[entropy12]

With 14 pretty Indian wives, he had no time to organize killing opponents! Having multiple wives was very common among Indian kings. Mt personal idol, Shivaji, who is responsible for dismantling the Muslim rulers, also had multiple wives.

[entropy12]

Hmmm...all my cat says when throwing up is “OBAAAAMAAAA”

[NFHale]

That’s the sound my dog’s ass makes when he’s... well, you know...

[etabeta]

Totally wonderful! Love the vibrant colors, the scenes full of action, the details. Great find, mairdie, thanks.

[mairdie]

There were so many pictures that I left behind. I needed a story to tie the video together and the only other one I could think of was to do the artists, but they almost always used two artists - one to create the design and the other to color it. The bottom of each picture includes the names of the artists, which I think is absolutely wonderful. There were some similarities for the artists. One, for example, seems fixated on elephants.

[Gingersnap]

Very interesting! In the second picture, he is cradling a small child while on horseback as a woman in a litter looks on. I suppose he could take both women and children on these hunting expeditions. I’ve read that wealthy rulers sometimes made camp for weeks at a time.

I’ve also read that Cheetahs should be included among domesticated animals based on their genetics and temperament when living among humans. I don’t know if this is true but it’s an interesting thought. Many, many peoples used Cheetahs as hunting companions for a very long time.

[mairdie]

That image, by Mukund, was: Muhammad Amin Diwan escorting the widow of Bairam Khan and her infant son Abdur Rahim to Ahmadabad in 1561, following the assassination of Bairam Khan. Bairam Khan (c. 1501-1561) was an important military commander, later commander-in-chief of the Mughal army, a powerful statesman and regent at the court of the Mughal Emperors, Humayun and Akbar. He was also guardian, chief mentor, adviser, teacher and the most trusted ally of Akbar. Humayun honored him as Khan-i-Khanan, which means "King of Kings". Obviously, important to Akbar, so the infant must have been being carefully guarded. I didn't know that about cheetahs. I just thought of them as terrifying. Interesting that they domesticate the cheetah and cut the heads off the tigers.

[Gingersnap]

I think Cheetahs behave more like canines in some ways so that might be the reason they were used for hunting. I know they are still used by some wealthy hunters in parts of the Middle East and Africa although I don’t whether that use is exactly legal today.