One of my favourite paintings in the National Museum, Delhi is a portrait of Jahangir holding an image of the virgin Mary in his hand.
It was painted in 1620 by Abul Hasan.
Following the religious discussions of Akbar, Jesuits had started coming to the Mughal court. They brought with tjem illustrated books, paintings and engravings as gifts. This had its impact on mughal painting which became more realistic and naturalistic and three dimensional.
We must also bear in mind the status given to Mother Mary in the Quran: a full chapter is named after her and she is the only woman who is named on the Holy Book.
This status can also be seen from the fact Hamida Bano begum, Jahangir’s grandmother was given the title Mariam makani , while his mother Harka Bai was titled Mariam uz Zamani or Mary of her age.
Another important aspect was the introduction of halos in Mughal paintings. Islam doesn’t have the concept of kingship but post Constantine the divine right to rule was popular in Europe. Halos
were introduced in Jahangir’s reign.
The halos and images of Mother Mary were attempts to appropriate divinity and add that to the political power of the emperor.
The emperor thus became zill – e ilahi or shadow of God on earth.
Does Mother Mary also allude to Mariam uz Makani?
