Emperors of Ṣūrat and Maʿnī: Jahangir and Shah Jahan as Temporal and Spiritual Rulers
This article begins with a discussion of a more-than-life-sized portrait of Jahangir (r. 1605–27) that is surrounded by verses in twenty-six cartouches. These verses are of special interest because they are the connecting link between a series of “allegorical paintings” made for Jahangir and the new...
| Published in: | Muqarnas |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2014
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| In: |
Muqarnas
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| Further subjects: | B
ṣūrat u maʿnī (the temporal and the spiritual world)
Jahangir
Akbar
Shah Jahan
allegorical portraits
legitimation
Abu ’l-Fazl
Akbarnāma
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This article begins with a discussion of a more-than-life-sized portrait of Jahangir (r. 1605–27) that is surrounded by verses in twenty-six cartouches. These verses are of special interest because they are the connecting link between a series of “allegorical paintings” made for Jahangir and the new concept of sovereignty devised for his father, Akbar, who had ordered the scholar Abuʼl-Fazl to develop a system of legitimization to emancipate him from the endorsement of the chief religious authorities of Islam. The pivotal terms of this new ideology, ṣūrat and maʿnī, are found throughout Abuʼl-Fazl’s Akbarnāma, and they turn up again in the cartouches of Jahangir’s portrait. To understand the meaning of these verses, it is necessary to consider the system of legitimation conceived by Abuʼl-Fazl. The verses then provide valuable information for the interpretation of some portraits of Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
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| ISSN: | 2211-8993 |
| Contains: | In: Muqarnas
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22118993-00311P06 |