Visual Splendour and Imperial Ideology: A Literature Review on Mughal Miniature Painting

Abstract

Mughal miniature painting represents one of the most advanced traditions of courtly art in the early modern Islamic and South Asian world. It developed under the support of Mughal emperors from the sixteenth century onward, blending Persian manuscript traditions with Indian artistic methods and, over time, incorporating aspects from European visual culture. Therefore, the study of Mughal painting has looked at this tradition from various angles, such as how experts assess artworks, how styles evolved, how manuscripts were made, how the emperor supported the arts, how portraits were created, how workshops were organized, how cultures influenced each other, and how political ideas were expressed (Beach, 1987; Beach, 1992; Stronge, 2002; Welch, 1985).Rather than seeing miniature painting only as an artistic achievement, recent studies see it as a powerful tool for expressing imperial ideas. The paintings communicated messages about the emperor's power, his family's right to rule, military strength, religious authority, cultural sophistication, and his connection to both the natural world and political structures (Milo Beach, 2012; Eaton, 2019; Seyller, 1999).The Mughal atelier was also a place where many different cultures came together, including Persian, Central Asian, Indian Muslim, Hindu, and European influences. The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that Akbar's artists included Persians as well as Indian Muslims and Hindus, while the Victoria and Albert Museum highlights how Iranian traditions, Indian realism, and European influences shaped Mughal painting (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2002; Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d.).This literature review looks at how scholars have interpreted the visual beauty of Mughal miniature painting and its link to imperial ideology, with special attention to the reigns of Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan. It argues that Mughal painting should not only be seen as court decoration but as a complex visual language through which the empire presented itself, recorded history, shaped the emperor's image, and expressed ideas about sovereignty and universal rule (Abu'l Fazl; Beach, 1987; Welch, 1997; Stronge, 2002).