Mughal Aesthetics_4th July 2021

 Where do we use the term and how do we perceive it?

 The Aesthetic Animal: Olsson
 Humans surround themselves with items that transcend practical necessity
 Shah Jahan: Jharokha darshan: the emperor stands on the terrace balcony and the people get a
glimpse of him
 A hindu concept as well as an aesthetically engaging one- people looking at him are partaking in
an exercise that brings sensory delight
 Just looking at him is taking part in the aesthetics of the empire
 A canopy on the throne- to separate the radiance of the sun from the sovereign
 The Mughal emperors were believed to carry the divine light far I aazadi, they do not need the
sun’s light
 Would give gists and received them- the robe of honour- would have been worn once by the
emperor- aesthetics, but bound up in royalty
 Padammurasa- the lotus blossom set- given in exceptional circumstances
 Aesthetics play a very important role in how we imagine things
 On the first day of the solar and lunar years, the emperor or his son would be weighed against
gold and silver to be given for charity
 The ceremony took place in a pavilion or a garden canopied space
 Aesthetics linked with royalty and grandeur: charity can be done quietly, but no, need a
ceremony, need to record it with a painting
 Cotton became a very important element for the Mughals (31 st July 1605
 Dakka Muslin- associated with power, elegance, and prestige of the court
 We take very little objects and keepnlooking at them for a very long period of time- importance
of looking at art
 Names which drew from classical Persian poetry were being bestowed onto Muslin- like a lover-
as early from the time of Amir Khusrau
 Shabnam (evening dew- its there but its not there), Nayansook (pleasing to the eye), Khassa,
Tansuk, Mulmul, Bhakthava, Abhiravan
 The skin of the moon removed with the executioner’s blade would not be so sheer- Amir
Khusrau
 How did fashions change after Akbar’s death? Recorded by Banarsidas, a Jain merchant
 Sylvia Houghtelling: Cotton clothes were values for the feeling it gave people when worn in the
Mughal Empire- coolness, softness, quality
 Murad Mumtaz article Comtemplating the Face of the Master: shift in question frm what does
Mughal art look like to what does Mughal art do?
 Paintings of Mullah Shah - very important for Jahanarah- was able to gaze at his face, something
necessary for people of the Qadri. Possible for men, not so for women
 Tawwaju: concentrating on the face of the master for the purpose of praying or meditating
 These paintings of Mullah Shah made for Jahanarah- very skeletal, just the figure of Mulla Shah
with no embellishments
 Repeated pious handling damaged some portraits: the portrait of Mullah Shah- his forehead has
a prominent dark patch. Kissing or rubbing would do this. In the Sufi order, it is believed that the
forehead of the Sufi Saint has all the divine light, for it is the forehead that touches the ground
in prostration.
 This is now a part of the painting, and we can interact with the painting as it is now
 Fear is acceptable and aesthetically engaging as long as its direct consequences are not met with
 What constitutes ugly or scary? Subjective
 Huge intermediate zone of the humdrum between what delights us and what scares us
 Shouk grief which is the root of sloka (?)
 Something this sorrowful incites Valmiki to write about it, celebrate it
 Aesthetic Filter: Kavita Singh- makes things bearable
 Gulistan by Saidi: a popular story, even taught in schools then
 Jahangir and Shah Abbas painting: The Shah has the fortune of sharing the fari e aazadi of
Jahangir. None theless, this light is very different from the divine light in other Mughal paintings-
so is this painting a prophecy? Political statement that Jahangir has conquered Khandahar?
 Aesthetics enable us to envision futures not uet created
 Carpets are an important aesthetic element of grandeur
 Rozina Visram
 Gulistan by Saidi
 Painting of Sohni and Mahiwal
 Aesthetic filter allows us to celebrate this story as we are distanced from the grief, traum, and
death of it. We are able to visit a museum and marvel at the painting
 We do not passively exist once our survival needs are met, we engage with the world around us,
aesthetics