Mughal Art

Coins

• Tanka: a little more than a rupee.
• Jital: A copper coin; equal to 1/2 of a silver tanka of 175 grains and correspondign in value to 1 farthing (quarter of a penny).
• Adali: Revived by Mohammed Tughuq. It was equivalent in weight to 140 grains of silver.
• Shushghani: A six-jital piece.
• Coinage in the Vijayangar kingdom was both in gold and copper. There was one specimen of a silver coin. Coins bore emblems of gods and animals.
• Pulsiyah: the copper money (in the Maratha kingdom).
• (i) In Akbar’s time, the silver rupee of about 175 grains was equal to 2s, 3d. sterling.
• (ii) Jalali: a square rupee issued by Akbar.
• (iii) Dam: also called paisa or fulus; weighed 323.5 grains. It was sthe chief copper coin in Sher Shah’s currency. In Akbar’s time it was divided into twenty-five parts, known as Jitals.
• (iv) One rupee was equal to forty dams up to A.D. 1616, and thirty dams, or a little more or less.

• Zia-ud-din Barani: Authored Ta ‘rikh-i-Firuz Shahi. It was written in the time of Firus Shah, c.A.D. 1320s.
• Shams-i-Siraj ‘Afif: A near contemporary of Barni. His work was also titld Ta ‘rikh-i-Firuz Shahi.
• Minhaj-ud-din Siraj[1]: Authored Tabquat-i-Nasiri.
• Amir Khusrao[2]: Author of Khazain-ul-Futuh, Miftan-ul-Futuh, Tughlauqnamau, Tarik-i-Alai, Laila Manju, Aina Sikandari, Nur Siphir, and Hasht Bihist. He invented “sitar”. He was given the title of “nayak”.
• Hasan-un-Nizami: Wrote Taj-ul Ma’asir, full of praise for Qutb-ud-din.
• Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq: Wrote his autobiographical memoir titled Fatuhat-i-Firuz Shahi.
• ‘Ain-ul Mulk Multani. Wrote Munshat-i-Mahru. He had revolted in Awadh and was defeated in A.D. 1340-41 by Mohammad Tughluq.
• Yahiya bin Ahmad Sirhindi: Wrote Tarikh-i-Mubarak Shahi, in the time of Mubarak Shah Sayyid.
• Dala ‘il-i-firuz Shahi: A Persion verse, rendered from 300 volumes of Sanskrit books on various subjects, preserved in te temple of Jwalamukhi (Nagarkot), by a court-poet of Firuz Tughluq named A ‘azz-ud-din Khalid Khani.
• A Bengali version of Mahabharata was made under the orders of Nasir-ud-din Nusrat Shah, the ruler of Bengal (1519-32).
• A Forgotten Empire: A history of Vijayaangar kingdom by Sewell.
• Krishna Deva Raya, the Vijayanagar ruler, wrote his magnum opus, Amuktamalyada, in Telugu. Peddana was his poet-laureate.
• Kalaniranaya: Written by Madhava Vidyaranya of vijayanagar between 1335-60; it is a commentary on a Parasara Smriti.
• Madanparijata: A smriti work written for king Madanapala (1360-70) by Visvesvara.
• Chaitanya Charitriamitra: By Krishnadas Kaviraj.
• Chandidas: The famous Vaishnava poet; he was born, probably towards the end of the fourteenth century, in the village of Nannur in the Birbhum district of Bengal, is still held in great esteem and his lyrics are known even to the common fork of Bengal.
• Vidyapati Thakur: A contemporaryof Chandidas, though a native of Mithila, Vidyapati is regarded as a poet of Bengal and his memory is venerated by the people of this province.
• Raimukut Brishspati Misra: A highly accomplished and famous writer of several works; patronised by Barbak Shah (C.A.D. 1486) of Jaunpur, himself a learned man.
• Maladhar basu: Patronised by Barbak Shah; commenced writing his Srikrishna-Vijaya in 1473; the Sultan conferred on him the title of Gujraj Khan.
• Krittivasa: Patronised by Barbak Shah of Jaunpur; his Bengali versionof Ramayan has been regarded by some as the “Bible of Bengal”.
• Sultan Nusrat Shah (A.D. 1519-32) of Gaur had the Mahabharata translated into Bengali.
• About A.D. 1300 Parthasarathi Misra wrote several works on the Karma Mimansa of which Sastra Dipika was studied most widely.
• Shaikh Najm-ud-din-Hasan: Popularly known as Hasan-i-Dihlavi; a poet of the Turko-Afghan period, whose fame was recognised outside India.
• Nizam-ud-din Auliya: Pious and learned scholar; flourished during the reign of Ala-ud-din Khalji.
• Maulana Muaiyyan-ud-din Umrani: The most notable of the literary man of the Tughluq period; wrote commentaries on the Husaini, Talkhis, and Miftan.
• Memoirs: By Babur (in his native Turki). Translated into Persian by ‘Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan in the time of Akbar in 1590; into English by Leyden and Erskine in 1826.
• Mu ‘tamid Khan authored Iqbal-Nama-i-Jahangiri. He was the court-chronicler at the time of Jahangir.
• Nuskha-i-Dikusha-by Bhimsen Burhanpuri.
• Adi Granth: By Guru Arjun Dev (1581-1606), the fifth Guru of the Sikhs.
• Daswen Padshah Ka Granth: By Guru Govind Singh (1675-1708).
• Dasabodh: By Ramdas Samarth, Guru of Shivaji. Ramdas was preceded in the preceeding centuries by Eknath and Tukaram, Followed by Vaman Pandit.
• Chulam Husain wrote Siyar-ul-Mutherin in the mid-eightenth century.
• Alawal was a Muhammadan poet, who translated in the 17th century the Hindi poem Padmavat into Bengali.
• Jam-i-Jahan Numa: A Persian weekly of the early 19th century.
• Humayun-Namah: By Gulbadan Begam, the daughter of Babur.
• Bolts, Croufrud and Seraftan: They were the 18th century European writers.
• Tawarikh: Written by Sayyid Maqbar Ali, a minister of Babur.
• Chandi-mangal: By Madhavacharya, a Bengali poet of Triveni and a contemporary of Akbar.
• Tarikh-i-Alfi: By Mulla Daud.
• Ain-i-akbri and Akbarnamah: By Abul Fazl.
• Muntakhab-ul-Tawarikh: By Badauni.
• Tabqat-i-Akbari: By Nizam-ud-din Ahmad.
• Akbarnamah: By Faizi Sarhinidi.
• Ma’asir-i-Rahimi: By Abdul Baqi. Completed under the patronage of Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan.
• Mahabharat: It was compiled in other languages under the title of Razm-Namah.
• A.D. 1589: Badauni completed the translation of Ramayan.
• Haji Ibrahim Sarhindi translated into Persian the Atharva Veda.
• Faizi translated Lilavati, a work on Mathematics.
• Mukammal Khan Gujarati translated Tajak, a treatise on astronomy.
• Abdur Rahim Khan-i-Khanan translated into Persian the Waqiat-i-Baburi.
• Maulana Shah Muhammad Shahabadi translated the History of Kashmir into Persian.
• Ghizall: The most famous among the verse-writers, under the patronage of Akbar.
• Other prominent poets under the patronage of Akbar were Muhammad Husain Naziri of Nishapur, who wrote ghazals of greatmerit, and Sayyid Jamaluddin Urfi of Shiraj, the most famous writer of Quasidas.
• Ghiyas Beg, Naqib Khan, Mu’tamid Khan, Niamatullah and Abdul Haqq Dhilawi adorned the court of Jahanger.
• Ma’asir-i-Jahangiri and the Zubd-ul-Tawarikh were written during Jahangir’s reign.
• Iqbalnamah-i-Jahangiri; Written by Mu’tamid Khan.
• Jahangir wrote his memoirs titled Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri.
• Abdul Hamid Lahori wrote Padshah-namah (in Shah Jahan’s time).
• Aminani Qazwini: Authored Padshahanamah.
• Inayat Khan: Wrote Shah Jahan-Namah.
• Muhammad Salih: Authored Amal-i-Salih (in Shah Jahan’s time).
• Works of Aurangzeb’s time:
• Khafi Khan: Authored Muntakhab-ul- Lubab. It is the most famous history of this period.
• Mirza Muhammad Kazim: Wrote Alamgirnanah.
• Muhammad Saqi: Wrote Ma’asir-i-Alamgiri.
• Sugan Ral Khatri: Wrote Khulasat-ul-Tawarikh.
• Bhimsen: Wrote Nushka-i-Dilkhusha.
• Ishwar Das: Wrote Fatuhat-i-Alamgiri.
• Religious literature of the Mughal period.
• Sur Sagar: By Surdas, a discriple of Vallabha-charya and his son Bithal Nath. He was born at Agra.
• Ras-panchadhyayi: By Nand Das.
• Chaursi Vaishnav Ki Varata: By vithal Nath (in prose).
• In Bengal:
• Krishnadas Kaviraj (born in A.D. 1517) in Burdwan): He is the author of the most important biography of Chaitanya, bearing the title of Chaitanyacharitramitra.
• Brindavan Das (born in A.D. 1507): Authored Chaitanya Bhagavata, which bedises being a standard work on the life of Chaitanya Deva, is a store-house of information concerning the Bengali society of his time.
• Jayanand (born in A.D. 1513): the author of Chaitanya Mangal, a biographical work giving some fresh information about Chaitanya Deva’s life.
• Trilochan Das (born in A.D. 1523 at Kowgram, a village situated thirty miles to the west of Burdwan); Authored Chaitanya Mangal
• Narahari Chakravarti: authored Bhaktiratnakar, a voluminous biography of Chaitanya Deva.
• Kasiram Das: Translated Mahabharata into Bengali.
• Kavikankan Chandi: Written by Mukundaram Chakravarti in Bengali. It enjoys to this day as much popularity in Bengal as the famous book of Tulsidas in upper India. It depicts a graphic picture of the social and economic conditions of the people of Bengal of his time, and it is for his that Prof. Crowell has described him as “the Crabbe of Bengal”.
• Muhmmad Husain of Kashmir was the most distinguished penman of Akbar’s court. He got the title of Zarringalam (gold-pen).
• Sundar Sringar: By Sundar. Satsai: By Bihari Lal. Both were written in Shah Jahan’s time.
• Zia Nakhabi (died in A.D. 1350): He was the first to translate into Persian Sanskrit stories. He translated Kok Shastra into Persian.

• Qutb Minar: completed in A.D. 1231 by malik Shams-ud-din Iltutmish; named after Khawawa Qutb-ud-din, held in much esteem and veneration by Iltutmish.
• Alai fort or Koshak-i-Siri: Built in 1303 by the order of Ala-ud-din Khalji.
• Mosque at Adina: Built at Pandua by Sikandar Shah, ruler of Bengal, in 1368. Comprises of 400 domes.
• Kali Masjid and Lal Gumbad: Built by Firuz Tughluq.
• Moth Ki Masjid: Erected by the prime minister of Sikandar Lodi.
• Lodis used enamelled tiles: made double dome structures.
• Nasir-ud-din Nusrat Shah, the ruler of Bengal (1519-1532), caused the “Bara Sona Masjid” and Qadam Rasul (meaning, “Foot of the prophet”) (in 1530) to be constructed at Gaur.
• After an indecisive fight between Mahmud Khalji of Malwa and Rana Kambha of Mewar, both sides claimed victory, and while the Rana built the “Tower of Victory” at Chittor, the Sultan of Malwa crected a seven-storeyed column at Mandu.
• Hazara temple: Built during the reign of Krishna Deva Raya, the Vijayangar ruler. Vitthalaswami temple: It is a fine example of Vijayanagar style.
• Temple of Jagannath at Puri: Built during the reign of Anantavarman Choda Ganga (c. 1076-1148) of Orissa.
• Temple of Sun-God at Konarka in the Puri district: Built by I (1238-64).
• Two principal monuments of ‘Aaaud-din Khalji’s reign are: The Jama at Khana Masjid at the Dargah of Nizam-ud-din Auliya and the Alai Darwaza at Qutb Minar. These show the growing preponderance of Muslim ideas over those of Hindu architects.
• Jaunpur style of architecture: Massive slopping walls, square pilars, smaller galleries and cloistersare clearly Hindu features; and the mosques of Jaunpur have no minarets of the usual type.
• Atala Devi masjid: Founded in 1377, but completed in 1408. It is an example of Jaunpur style.
• Chhota sona Masjid: Built by Wali Muhammed during the reign of Husain Shah Between 1493-1519.
• Buildings built in the city of Mandu: Jama ‘Masjid, Hindola Mahal, Jahaj Mahal, Hushang’s tomb, Baz Bahadur’s and Rupamati’s palaces.
• Chand Minar was built at Daulatabad (in 1435) in the time of Ahmad Shah Bahmani (1422-1435).
• College of Mahmud Gawan at Bidar was built in 1472.
• 1639: Ali Mardan Khan, under Shah Jahan, built or repaired, the Ravi canal.
• Ustad Isa: May be master-architect under whose guidance Taj Mahal was designed and completed. Others : Ahmad Laheri, Verenio
• Shah Jahan repaired the collegte named Dar-ul-Baqa (abode of Eternity).
• Babur’s buildings: One building a commemorative mosque at Kabuli Bagh at Panipat (1526) and the other, the Jami Masjid, is at Sambhal in Roliikhand (A.D. 1526).
• A mosque at Fatehabad in Punjab is of the time of Humayun.
• Akbar’s buildings: Palace, and Jahangiri Mahal.
• Babur laid a garden at Agra, called Nur-i-Afsan.
• Shalmimar bagh (at Srinagar in Kashmir) was laid by Jahangir.
• Nishat Bagh (at Srinagar) was laid by Asaf Khan, brother of Nur Jahan.
• Qila-i-Kunha Masjid: Built by Sher Shah Sur; in 1545.
• Fatehpur Sikri: Remained as imperial capital from 1569 to 1584. Built by Akbar.
• The Jama ‘Masjid at Agra is otherwise known as Masjid-i-Jahan Nama.
• The copies of the Mughal paintings Khandan-i-timuria and Padshahnamah are preserved in the Khudabakhsh Library of Patna.
• Mir Sayyid Ali, a pupil of the famous Bihzad of Herat, who has been styled “the Raphael of the East”, and Khwaja Abdus Samad were persuaded by Humayun to come to his court at Kabul in A.D. 1550. Humayun and Akbar engaged then in the task of preparing the illustrations to the Dastan-i-Amir Hamza between 1550 and 1560.
• Other foreign artists in Akbar’s court were: Farrukh Beg, Khusrau Quli and Jamshed.
• Of the seventeen leading artists of Akbar’s reign, no less than thirteen were Hindus. Chief among them were Basawan, Lal, Kesu, Mukund, Haribans, and Dasawanth.
• The famous Muslim artists in the court of Jahangir were: Aga Raza and his son Abul Hasan, of Herat; Muhammad Nadir and Muhammad Murad of Samarqand, who were among the last foreign artists to come to India; and Ustad Mansur.
• The Hindu painters of Jahangir’ sereign were: Bishan Das, Manohar and Govardhan.

Musicians at Shah Janan’s court were: Jagannath and Janardan Bhatta.