Governor General Lord Teignmouth at the time of presenting the volume to King Geroge described it in a letter dated June 1799 as"... the most splendid Persian manuscript I ever saw. Many of the faces are very well painted and some of them are portraits. The first is a portrait of Timur or Tamarlane and the second that of Shahjahan. This was the book which was shown to me at Lucknow, and I was there informed that the deceased Nabob Asophuddoulah purchased it for Rs 12,000 or about 1,500 pounds."
This manuscript has been exhibited at the National Museum in New Delhi (up to February 28), giving Indian as once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see all the fantastic illustrations. The pen of the artists have captured the fine details on paper-the crease of the soldiers' uniforms, veins of leaves, fragile embroidery of women's clothes and the expressions of each individual.
Asked to put a price to it, Milo Cleveland Beach, renowned scholar of Mughal paintings and director of the Arthur M. Sacker Gallery, Washington, remarked, "There is no other like this."
Copied by calligrapher Muhammad Amin of Mashad in 1656-57, it is the only known surviving version with illustrations dating to Shahjahan's reign (1628-1658). But scholars say it is incomplete. It contains only a third of the narrative as described by Abdul-Hamid Lahori covering only the first decade of Shahjahan's rule.
The text is written as a continuous narrative on
both sides of each paper and space left in between for single and
double page paintings. The artists were probably expected to
execute their work on the blank spaces of the text. But this was
not done. Instead the illustrations were inserted after Muhammad
Amin finished his work (1656-57).The paintings were no commissioned for the book specifically but made at various times throughout Shahjahan's rule. The illustrations which are on separate sheets of thick paper were culled from an available stock of paintings and glued onto the reverse surfaces of the text panels. Inadvertently, the manuscript at Windsor Castle Library, still wrapped in the Lucknow silk cloth in which it was presented by the Nawab, provides a survey of painting throughout Shahjahan's lifetime.
In 1994 the volume was unbound for conservation work and for the first time all the pages were seen in their full glory. This also was an ideal opportunity to exhibit these pages in the land of its origin. The National Museum and the British Council in conjunction with the Royal Library organised the show.
Theresa-Mary Mortan, curator of exhibitions at the Royal Library made an anxious passenger on the Air-India flight that brought her and her priceless baggage to New Delhi. Mortan would have liked to carry the Padshahnama personally to India but had to let Air-India do the job as the illustrations were mounted singly and crafted.
If Air-India handled the cargo with kid-gloves, the National Museum repainted the exhibition hall a certain tinge of green. This was essential for the protection of the illustrations just as the lighting had to be kept at 50 lux. The lights came from the UK. Security concerns were also a priority.
After New Delhi, the Padhahnama will move to the Buckingham Palace and then to the US before returning to the Royal Library. It will be bound again, perhaps not to be opened again for centuries.
A close examination of the volume reveals that in some cases the illustrations do not record the specific event with which they have been put. Yet they seem to be generically appropriate. That is, descriptions of durbars are accompanied by durbar scenes. The illustration (shamsa) in the beginning to the book signify that the manuscript was intended for royal patron.
The shamsa is an image of the sun and according to Akhar's historian, Abu'l-Fazal, 'it is an image of the sun-a divine light - which God directly transfers to king, without the assistance of men. Kings are fond of external splendour as they consider it an image of the Divine glory'.
For those who have visited the forts in Delhi and Agra and the Taj, the exhibition is an unrivaled opportunity to understand the people who enlivened those spaces.