Victoria and Albert Akbarnama

The Victoria and Albert Akbarnāma or First Akbar-nāma is the first illustrated manuscript of the Akbarnama, the history of the Mughal ruler Akbar and his ancestors from the pen of Abul Fazl. It is also the oldest copy of the Akbar-nāma, which was written at almost the same time as this manuscript.

Even before Abul Fazl had completed his text, the already drafted chapters were copied by a calligrapher and illustrated in the royal studios. This haste meant that massive changes had to be made to the already illustrated manuscript following a revision of the work by the author. In order to be able to continue using the elaborately produced illuminations in the revised text version, text panels within the pictures and on their reverse sides had to be pasted over with the new wording. As a result, the illustrated pages of the manuscript in particular are unusually thick.

A part of the manuscript with 116 images is now kept in the Victoria and Albert Museum under the inventory number I.S. 2-1896 1-117. The events depicted in it occurred during the period between 1560 and 1577. The previous volume of this Akbar-nāma is in the Golestan Palace in Tehran. About 20 detached illustrations are distributed among various museums and collections worldwide.

There is no consensus among experts as to the exact dating of the illustrations. Due to their stylistic proximity to an illustrated history of Timur, the Tīmūr-nāma (c. 1584–1586), some place them in the period from 1586 to 1587, while others, due to the known time of composition of the Akbar-nāma, assume a period of origin from 1590 to 1595.

History of the manuscript
The manuscript has no colophon. However, on the lower margin of folio 84/117 (image no. 169, verso) there is an informal note which reads: "completed at the command of ...(illegible)... in the month Day of the year 40". This refers to the 40th year of Akbar's reign, resulting in a date between December 10, 1595 and January 9, 1596. The text and images of the Victoria-and-Albert-Akbar-nāma only cover the period from 1560 to 1577. In addition to this small inscription, several seals and handwritten annotations on the recto of the first folio Notes on the further whereabouts of the manuscript: Jahangir confirms in an autograph that he took over the work shortly after his accession to the throne and classifies this Akbar-nāma as a particularly valuable manuscript of "first class second degree". Next, Aurangzeb had his seal affixed to the volume in 1668/69, after which the work disappeared from the imperial library at an unspecified date. Seals from 1766 and 1794 identify the Nawab of Rampur as the new owner. The further fate of the book can only be vaguely traced. Since the first volume of the Victoria-and-Albert-Akbar-nāma is in the Golestan Palace, suggests that this volume arrived in Iran at some point after 1669. The second volume remained in India until it was discovered by Major General Clarke, who was a senior administrative officer in the province of Awadh from 1858 to 1862. His widow finally sold the manuscript to the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1896. The museum initially assumed that it was an illustrated Āʾīn-i Akbarī. It was only when Henry Beveridge visited the museum in 1905 that he identified the manuscript as an Akbar-nāma.

The outer shape
The fragmentary manuscript in the Victoria and Albert Museum comprises 273 folios with 116 illustrations and an illuminated frontispiece. Die Seiten haben eine Größe von 37,4 × 24,7 cm, die Textfelder mit 25 Zeilen, beschrieben in Nastaʿlīq, messen 24 × 13,4 cm. The pictures are on average about 32.5 × 19.5 cm in size. At the time of its acquisition by the Victoria and Albert Museum, the manuscript had already partially disintegrated into its individual folios, which were loosely stored between two varnished book covers in a box. The 116 illustrations have been individually framed so that they can be exhibited.

A special feature of the manuscript are the unusually thick image pages and strangely designed text fields on the illustrations. During an examination of the manuscript, John Seyller discovered that these peculiarities are the result of subsequent changes to the text. In order to be able to use the painstakingly produced images for a different text, the backs were covered over with a complete page of text and the text fields in the illustrations were pasted over with new, matching text panels. In some cases, the old wording was also painted over or made unrecognizable in some other way, for example in image 101. Folios that only had writing on the front and back were simply replaced with newly written sheets. The changes can be seen not only in the different colors of the original paper and the paper used later, but also in the sometimes oversized, sometimes crookedly pasted new text panels (for example, image nos. 110, 115, 116) as well as the handwriting of another, earlier calligrapher, which is still visible in a few places.

The new wording required different custodes on the image pages. Often the scribe simply wrote the current custode next to the earlier one. Sometimes a custode appears on both the front and back of an illustrated folio - an indication that the page was turned over when the book was redesigned, i.e. transformed from a recto into a verso or vice versa.

Finally, the new text had to be fitted in so that the narrative met the corresponding illustration at the right point. To achieve this, the calligrapher sometimes artificially slowed down the pace of the narrative by setting the lines at an angle.

The dating of the illustrations
Abu 'l-Fazl was first commissioned to write the history of Akbar's reign in 1589 and handed over the first part of the text, which covers the period up to 1572, in April 1596. Two years later, the continuation of the work up to 1598 was completed. The Victoria and Albert Museum assigns the illustrations in this manuscript to the period ca. 1592-1594. However, the question of when it was created is controversial.

Roughly speaking, there are two different chronological classifications: one group of experts dates the paintings to around 1590-1595 another to 1586-1587. The latter agrees with Seyller's assessment. He had been able to prove that the illustrations are older than the accompanying text and concluded from this that the pictures belong to an earlier, unknown Akbar story - a thesis that Milo Beach, a former director of the Freer Gallery of Art, had already put forward in 1981. The dating of the illustrations can therefore be carried out independently of the composition of the Akbar-nāma according to purely stylistic aspects. After a detailed consideration of the artistic characteristics, he places the miniatures between the Tārīkh-i khāndān-i Tīmūriyya of 1584/86 and the Rāmāyana of 1589, whereby he considers a creation in the years 1586/87 to be probable.

Susan Stronge, curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, disagrees with Seyller's statements. In her research, she has come to the conclusion that the text for which the images were originally produced is merely one of the older versions of Abū 'l-Fazl's work. However, the current text does not yet correspond to the known edition of Akbar-nāma. The most striking differences are the abrupt beginning of the text in 1560, which does not correspond to any of the known volume divisions, the lack of a long epilogue after the end of the first thirty years of Akbar's life and the similarly missing introduction to the next volume.

Abu 'l-Fazl revised his text several times. According to the contemporary history work Tabaqāt-i Akbarī, one of the early versions was already in circulation in 1592/93. According to Stronge, work on an illustrated Akbar-nāma manuscript could therefore have begun as early as 1592 or even 1590. In any case, the pictures were made for an Akbar-nāma. And since this was not commissioned until 1589, it is impossible that the accompanying illustrations were created as early as 1586/87, as suggested by Seyller. She therefore does not address Seyller's stylistic-historical arguments.

Role models in the Tārīḫ-i ḫandān-i Tīmūriyya
Seyller's conclusions tie in with Milo Beach's considerations that the illustrations of the First Akbar-nāma could have been intended for an earlier biography of Akbar, possibly a kind of continuation of the History of the Descendants of Timur (pers. Tarīḫ-i ḫandān-i Tīmūriyya). This richly illustrated work, also called Tīmūr-nāma, was the first historical manuscript to be written and illustrated together with the Tari-i aḫlfi (pers. History of 1000 Years) at the Mughal court from 1584. The fact that the paintings of the Akbar-nāma are stylistically closely related to those of the Tīmūr-nāma is not only due to the fact that the painters in the later manuscript were able to fall back on a compositional vocabulary that had already been established by the Tīmūr-nāma. In fact, a number of the same painters were involved in both manuscripts: Basawan, Laʿl, Miskin, Jagan and Kesav Kalan were responsible for the composition here and there. Other artists, who were primarily responsible for the coloring, can also be found in both manuscripts.

The similarities in the manuscripts are particularly evident in episodes from Akbar's life that appear in both manuscripts. Two illustrations in the First Akbar-nāma on the siege of Ranthambhor have each adopted individual elements from the "Siege of Chitor" in the Tīmūr-nāma. The close relationship between the two manuscripts is also evident in the "Battle of Sarnal", while the corresponding illustration in the "Second Akbar-nāma" looks completely different. Here the forest of thorns has shrunk into a compact hedge and most of the riders are galloping along quite uniformly with their sabres drawn. Much of the vibrancy of the earlier images has been lost.

The order of the illustrations
The illustrated events of the Victoria-and-Albert-Akbar-nāma take place between November 1560 and 1577. The numbering of the paintings by the museum shortly after the purchase does not correspond to their actual order in the work. There are various rows of numbers in the margins of the illustrations; the one in the middle of the lower margin, usually written in red, is the most authoritative. The others in red and black presumably refer to earlier arrangements of the pictures. The sequence begins with number 82 on fol. 2/117 and ends with number 197 on fol. 114/117, which means that none of the sequence of 116 pictures is missing from the present volume, and that the first volume contained 81 pictures. This first volume probably also contains a number of pictures with numbers between 7 and 45. They are in various museums and collections. Only one detached illustration belongs to a later event (April 1578); it is kept in the British Library (Johnson Album 8.4) and immediately follows the series in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Content of the pictures
The pictures in the Victoria and Albert Museum reflect the events from the 5th to the 22nd year of Akbar's reign. It can be seen that the illustrations are not evenly distributed throughout the text, but have certain focal points. With 19 miniatures (100, 101, 121, 128, 129, 131-134, 141-150) the various attempts at rebellion by the Uzbeks, which lasted from around July 1561 to July 1567, take up most of the space. The Uzbek revolt, led by ʿAlī Qulī Khān Zamān and his brother Bahādur Khān, was not only one of the longest, but also one of the most dangerous episodes for the young Mughal ruler and ultimately decisive for the subsequent reorganization of the army.

Great importance was obviously also attached to hunting with 15 illustrations (82, 97, 98, 99, 119, 120, 124, 125, 135, 136, 155, 156, 169, 173, 174).

The battle against the Mirzas was closely linked to the conquest of Gujarat and extends over twelve paintings (179-190). Like Akbar, the Mirzas were descendants of Timur. Their grandfather or father Muhammad Sultān Mīrzā had once come to India with Bābur. They had wanted to shake off Akbar's supremacy and briefly allied themselves with the Uzbeks. Ibrāhīm Husayn Mīrzā, Muhammad Husayn Mīrzā and Shāh Mīrzā finally succeeded in capturing the cities of Baroda, Surat and Champaner. When Akbar tried to expand his empire to the southwest, they were among the most dangerous opponents in Gujarat.

A total of nine illustrations show the siege and capture of the Rajput forts of Chittor and Ranthambhor (151-154 and 157-161).

Finally, five miniatures dealing with Akbar's nurse Māham Anaga and her sons (88, 89, 95, 96, 109) testify to the importance of the milk relationship.

The painters
The 1st Akbar-nāma was, like most of the richly illustrated historical manuscripts, produced as a team. An experienced master was responsible for the composition (pers. ṭarḥ), while a mostly younger colleague was responsible for the actual execution (pers. ʿamal) in color. In order to ensure a correct and presentable depiction of Akbar or other high personalities, specialists were also employed for the faces (pers. chihra). As the painters were sometimes paid according to their work, their names and activities were often noted below the paintings. Many of these details can still be found on the pages of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The designs are by a total of twelve painters, the most prominent of whom are as follows: Laʿl (at least 19 miniatures), Miskīn(ā) (at least 18 miniatures), Kesav Kalān (16 miniatures), Basāwan (ten) and Jagan (ten). Around thirty other painters were involved in the coloring (ʿamal), although the exact number of those involved cannot be determined with complete certainty: Most of them came from non-Muslim Indian backgrounds and the Persian transliteration of their names is not always consistent. In addition, the same names sometimes occur more than once; the painters are then further identified by a kalān (the elder) or khurd (the younger), although this addition is not noted in all cases.

There seem to have been certain preferences in the collaboration: Sānwala only colored designs by Laʿl (nos. 89, 120, 138, 173, 180), Sarwān, with one exception (no. 98), only those by Miskīn(a) (nos. 126, 135, 151, 178, 197).

Specialists for the faces were above all Mādhav (seven pictures, including one with eight portraits), Basāwan (four), Kesav Kalān (three), Miskīn(ā) (five), and Nānhā, Sanwāla, Mukund (one each).

The young painters Manohar (no. 155), son of Basāwan, and Mansūr (nos. 136, 187) were already working in the studio and were given their first tasks for the color design. Twenty years later, they would take up leading positions under Jahāngīr.

The production of the miniatures was a very time-consuming process. On a total of 15 pictures in the Victoria and Albert manuscript, there are still recognizable remnants of notes which prove that the production process took between 42 (no. 191) and 68 days (no. 161). Such a note is particularly clearly visible at the bottom right edge of image 120.

Literature

 * Abu 'l-Fazl: The Akbar Nāma. Translated from the Persian by H. Beveridge. 3 Bde. Low Price Publications, Delhi 1993. (Repr. Bibliotheca Indica 138. 3 Vols. Asiatic Society of Bengal 1897–1921)
 * Abul-Fazl i Mubarak i 'Allámí: The Akbarnámah. Ediert von Agha Ahmad Alī (st. 1873) und ʿAbd ar-Rahīm. 3 Bände. Bibliotheca Indica 79. Asiatic Society of Bengal, Calcutta 1877–1886.
 * al-Badāoni: Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh. Transl. W.H. Lowe. Repr. Renaissance Publishing House, Delhi 1986.
 * Milo Cleveland Beach: Early Mughal Painting. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) und London 1987, ISBN 0-674-22185-0.
 * Milo Cleveland Beach: The Imperial Image. Paintings for the Mughal Court. Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. 1981, ISBN 0-934686-37-8.
 * Milo Cleveland Beach: The Imperial Image. Paintings for the Mughal Court. Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Mapin Publishing, Washington D.C. u. a. 2012. ISBN 978-1-935677-16-1.
 * Linda York Leach: Mughal and other Indian paintings from the Chester Beatty Library. 2 Bde. Scorpion Cavendish, London 1995. ISBN 1-900269-02-3.
 * Linda York Leach: Mughal and other Indian paintings from the Chester Beatty Library. 2 Bde. Scorpion Cavendish, London 1995. ISBN 1-900269-02-3.
 * Linda York Leach: Pages from an „Akbarnama". In: Rosemary Crill, Susan Stronge, Andrew Topsfield (Hrsg.): Arts of Mughal India. Studies in Honour of Robert Skelton. Victoria and Albert Museum/Mapin Publishing, London/Ahmedabad, India 2004, ISBN 978-1-890206-71-0, S. 43–55.
 * Jeremiah P. Losty und Malini Roy: Mughal India. Art, Culture and Empire. The British Library, London 2012.
 * Pratapaditya Pal: Indian Painting. A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles 1993. ISBN 0-8109-3465-5
 * John F. Richards: The New Cambridge History of India. 1.5. The Mughal Empire. Cambridge University Press 1992.
 * Samsam-ud-daula Shāh Nawāz Khān and his son Abdul Hayy: The Maāthir-ul-umara. 2 Bände. Translated by H. Beveridge. Low Price Publications, Delhi 1999. (Repr. 1952) ISBN 81-7536-159-X.
 * Geeti Sen: Paintings from the Akbar Nama: A Visual Cronicle of Mughal India. Lustre Press Pvt Ltd, Calcutta u. a. 1984.
 * John Seyller: Scribal Notes on Mughal Manuscript Illustrations. In: Artibus Asiae 48 3/4 (1987) S. 247–277, insbesondere S. 295.
 * John Seyller: Codicological Aspects of the Victoria and Albert Museum Akbarnāma and Their Historical Implications. In: Art Journal (Winter 1990), S. 379–387.
 * John Seyller: The Inspection and Valuation of Manuscripts in the Imperial Mughal Library. In: Artibus Asiae 57 3/4 (1997), S. 243–349.
 * Susan Stronge: Painting for the Mughal Emperor. The Art of the Book 1560–1660. V&A Publications, London 2002, ISBN 1-85177-358-4.