A Royal Procession.

An excerpt from "The Anarchy" by William Dalrymple. And a divergence into Mughal paintings..

“On the morning of 12 April 1771, to a deafening fanfare of long-necked trumpets and the steady roll of camel-borne nagara drums, Shah Alam mounted his richly caparisoned elephant and set off through the vaulted sandstone gateway of the fort of Allahabad.

After an exile of more than twelve years, the Emperor was heading home. It was not going to be an easy journey. Shah Alam’s route would take him through provinces which had long thrown off Mughal authority and there was every reason to fear that his enemies could attempt to capture, co-opt or even assassinate him. Moreover, his ultimate destination, the burned-out Mughal capital of Delhi, was further being reduced to ruins by rival Afghan and Maratha armies.

But the Emperor was not coming unprepared: following him were 16,000 of his newly raised troops and followers. A Mughal painting survives, showing the line of march: a long column of troops snakes in wide, serpentine meanders along the banks of the Yamuna, through a fertile landscape. At the front of the procession are the musicians. Then follow the macemen and the bearers of Mughal insignia – the imperial umbrellas, the golden mahi maratib fish standard, the face of a rayed sun and a Hand of Fatima, all raised on gilt staffs from which trail red silken streamers. Then comes the Emperor himself, high on his elephant and hedged around by a bodyguard armed with a thicket of spears.

The imperial princes are next, carried on a line of elephants with saffron headcloths, each embroidered with the Emperor’s insignia. They are followed by the many women of the imperial harem in their covered carriages; then the heavy siege guns, dragged by foursomes of elephants. Behind, the main body of the army stretches off as far as the eye can see. The different cohorts of troops are divided into distinct battalions of sepoy infantry, cavalry, artillery and the camel corps with their swivel guns, each led by an elephant-mounted officer sitting high in a domed howdah. The expedition processes along the banks of the river, escorted by gilded royal barges, and heads on through woods and meadows, past islands dotted with temples and small towns whose skylines are punctuated with minarets.”

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Since reading this book, I’ve been really mesmerized by some of the painting of that era, and what is around that era, like this painting of Majnun and Laila (The OG Romeo & Juliette?) by Shaikh Zada. The painting documents the first time Qays saw Laila at school, and the level of detail is something else. In fact I was so mesmerized I use this painting as my phone background.

Another one that struck me is the painting by Bichitr, painting Jahangir, one of the most beloved Mughal emperors, preferring to talk to a Sufi shaikh instead of talking to politicians. There’s a whole lot to see in a painting like this, and there is a detailed description of what this painting contains..

Or the one of the Padshahnama, which is a visual history book of painting plates.

Here’s the last one of Shah Jahan receiving his sons.

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You get the point by now.. I have a lot to go back to from the book, but seeing these paintings is a small by-product of getting introduced to the Mughal empire.. Jahangir is such a fascinating personality, and it took the British envoys 3 years just to have a word with him, they would attend his diwan and he would just not be interested in hearing from them.. How the tides have changed..

Till the next one.. Free Palestine.