An ode to opulence

As the cultural legacy of the Great Mughals is part of daily life in India, it doesn’t inspire awe as much as it does in the West. A result of that awe is the ongoing exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), South Kensington, London, titled ‘The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence’.

Ralph Fitch, the first English visitor to the Mughal court in 1583, during the rule of emperor Akbar, noted: ‘Agra and Fatehpur Sikri are two very great cities, either of them much greater than London and very populous… The people are rich and have all things in abundance.’ About three decades later, when Sir Thomas Roe visited the court of the next Mughal emperor, Jehangir, in 1615-19, as an ambassador of the English king James I, he noted: ‘The King [Jehangir] sits in the midst upon a very rich throne, under a canopy of cloth of gold, supporting himself with cushions embroidered with pearls and diamonds. A chain of great pearls about his neck, and on his hands, arms, and turban, more jewels, great rubies, and diamonds, that they seemed like a firmament of stars.’

At its zenith, between the 16th and the 18th centuries, the Mughal empire accounted for 25% of the world’s GDP, which also reflected, among other things, in the effulgence of cultural output nurtured by its emperors, especially those collectively known as the Great Mughals—Akbar, Jehangir and Shahjehan (politically even Aurangzeb, Shahjehan’s successor, is considered a Great Mughal but not culturally). This, in turn, also proved to be an inducement (among other factors) for the European traders to come sailing to Indian shores, astounded as they were by the empire’s economic strength, urban prosperity, and luxury goods. The great opulence eventually left its mark on the English language too, when increased European interaction with the Mughals led to the entry of the word ‘mogul’ in English, denoting someone with great power, wealth, or influence.

As the cultural legacy of the Great Mughals is part of daily life in India, it doesn’t inspire awe as much as it does in the West, even five centuries after the English ambassadors and merchants first witnessed the stupendous wealth of the Mughal empire in person. A result of that awe is the ongoing exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), South Kensington, London, titled ‘The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence’.

London reporters who have visited the exhibition since its inauguration in November last year have gushed about the world of paradise created at the exhibition. It showcases over 200 objects across three sections spanning the reigns of emperors Akbar (1556-1605), Jehangir (1605-1627) and Shahjehan (1628-1658). These include rarely shown paintings and illustrated manuscripts alongside delicate textiles, carpets, and fine objects made of mother-of-pearl, rock crystal, jade and precious metals.

Besides objects from V&A’s collection, the exhibition includes significant loans as well. For example, a deep red engraved spinel featuring the names of six Mughal rulers hails from Kuwait’s al-Sabah Collection. It was owned by Timur’s grandson Ulugh Beg (1394-1449), and later by Jehangir and Shahjehan.

Then there’s a shield from Gujarat, c 1580-1590, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, which was in the Medici collections by 1599 and is on loan from the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, Italy. Emperor Jehangir’s wine cup, made c 1607-1608, comes from The Al Thani collection. Of special interest are two rarely seen folios from the colour-illustrated volumes of the Hamza Nama, commissioned by Akbar in the 1570s. These are on loan from the Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna, and the Fitzwilliam Museum. The Hamza Nama is one of the earliest examples of Mughal painting and assembles folk tales associated with the hero Hamza, widely known across the Islamic world. These paintings demonstrate the new and distinctively Mughal style of painting that combined Safavid Iranian conventions with the very different pictorial traditions of the Indian artists.

One of the most evident examples of the co-mingling of different global influences under the Mughals is a miniature painting, Portrait of a European, c 1556-1605, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, from the V&A collection. It is an honest depiction of exotica, a European from across the seven seas. But perhaps, the most identifiable object at the exhibition is the miniature portrait, Shah Jahan as the King of the World, by Bichitr, one of the top Mughal master painters known by his signatures. Patronised by Jehangir and Shahjehan, he is most well-known for his royal portraits. Susan Stronge, curator of the exhibition, said: “This is the first exhibition to reveal the internationalist art and culture of the Mughal court. Hindustani artists, Iranian masters and even a few Europeans came together in the imperial workshops to create a new, hybrid art.” In India, we may feel a sense of collective pride in the unparalleled cultural output during the reigns of the Great Mughals, but one cannot help but think about how colonialism legitimised the loot of India, which led to the transportation of the subcontinent’s wealth—both concrete and intangible—out of the region, which now resides as prized objects in various western museums. It is worth pondering that most of the works on display are from collections outside of the subcontinent.

The exhibition is on view till May 5, 2025.