Development of art, architecture and literature during the Mughal period.
The Mughal period achieved remarkable progress in the field of art, architecture, literature, paintings and music. Babar was a refined scholar who was well versed in Arabic, Persian and Turkish. Akbar Jehangir and Shah Jahan contributed a lot in the field of art, architecture and literature. The development of art, architecture and literature have been discussed under the following heads.
Architecture: The Mughal rulers were great patron of architecture and they built a large number of buildings which are famous for their architectural designs and style. Babar constructed a mosque in Kabul Bagh and Jami Masjid at Sambhal. Humayun constructed a mosque at Agra and Fatehabad which are the only specimen of his love towards architecture. Akbar was much interested in architecture and constructed a great many buildings which is composed of great skills. He built Humayun's tomb, palaces of Fatehpur Sikri, Jama Masjid, Buland Darwaza, mausoleum of Shaikh Salim Chisti, Panch Mahal etc. These architecture display excellent art and technique. He constructed the Fort of Agra and Lahore under his own supervision.
Jehangir, though not much interested yet he constructed some buildings. Noorjahan built a beautiful tomb of her father Itmad-ud-Daulah at Agra. Mughal architecture reached its zenith during the reign of Shah Jahan. The Taj Mahal is regarded as one of the finest specimen of Mughal architecture which was constructed by Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal. The other buildings of the reign of Shahjahan are Moti Masjid, Jama Masjid, Diwan-i-Aam, Diwan-i-Khas and Rang Mahal. There is marked difference in the architecture of Shah Jahan and his predecessors. He used marble in constructing his buildings. But it must be noted that the Mughal architecture suffered a great set-back under Aurangzeb. He had no love for art and architecture. However, he constructed certain buildings that is Moti Masjid inside the Red Fort at Delhi. In addition to it, he constructed the tomb of Queen Rabia-ud-Durrani at Aurangabad, Badshahi mosque at Lahore and Benaras and his own tomb at Aurangabad.
Development of Literature : During the Mughal period there was remarkable progress of literature. Some of the rulers were themselves great scholar and writers who composed varieties of literature and books. Babur wrote his life history which came to be known as Tuzuk-i-Baburi. The literary personality of the reign of Babur were Zainuddin, Mulla Shihab, Khwandamir and Gulbadan Begum who was Babar's daughter. She wrote Humayun Nama on the request of Akbar. Humayun also composed certain books called Masnavi, Rubai, Diwan and Ghazal. Humayun was a great patron of literary personalities like Shaikh Amanullah Panipati, Shaikh Abdul Wahid Bilgrami, Shaikh Gadai etc. Though Akbar was illiterate but he was a great patron of scholars and learned personalities. The scholars who lived in the reign of Akbar contributed a lot in the development of literature. Mulla Daud composed Tarikh-i-Alfi, Abul Fazal composed Akbarnama, Nizamuddin Ahmad composed Tabakat-i-Akbari etc. During the reign of Akbar Hindi literature also flourished. Akbar patronised scholars like Tulsidas, Sur Das, Abdur Rahim Khan Khana, Senapati, Kavindra Acharya, Keshav Das etc, who contributed a lot in the literary development. Besides, there were great scholars of Sanskrit literature like Padma Sundar, Acharya Siddha Chandra Upadhyay etc. A Persian Sanskrit dictionary known as Farasi Prakash was prepared. In addition to it Akbar inspired his royal scholars to translate outstanding works of Sanskrit, Arabic into Persian by Badauni and Shaikh Sultan. Atharvaveda was translated by Hazi Ibrahim Sirhindi. Abul Fazal translated Panch Tantra and Maulana Sheri translated the famous history of Kashmir of Rajatarangini.
Jahangir also patronised great scholars who achieved remarkable progress in the field of literary development. Jahangir wrote his own autobiography entitled Tuzuk-i-Jahangir. On the other side Shah Jahan followed the foot prints of Akbar in patronising scholars in his court. The important scholars who lived in the reign of Shah Jahan were Abu Salih, Haji Muhammad Jan, Chandra Bhan Brahman, Abdul Hamid Lahauri etc. Abdul Hamid Lahauri was the court historian of Shah Jahan. He wrote Padshah Nama. In addition to it, Shah Jahan also patronised Sanskrit and Hindi scholars who were shown due regard by the emperor. Dara Shikoh, who was one of the sons of Shah Jahan, was also a great patron of learning. Under him Hindi scriptures like Gita, Upanishads and Yoga Vasistha were translated into
Persian. Aurangzeb, who was an orthodox, took great interest in Islamic theology and jurisprudence. He was not interested in art, architecture, literature and paintings. However, some of his scholars produced some important books which throw much light on the political, social, economic and religious conditions of his time. Alamgir-Nama of Mirza Muhammad Qasim and Massir-i-Alamgir of Ishwar Das are important books of the reign of Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb directed his theologians to produce books of Muslim law. This culminated in the production of Fatawa-i-Alamgiri.
Development of Paintings : The art of painting was mainly developed by Jahangir who personally understood this art. Abul Hasan was the best painter. Other prominent painters were Mansur, Aga Raza, Muhammad Nadiv, Bishan Das, Manohar, Govardhan etc. But after the death of Jahangir painting began to decline because the rulers were not much interested in the art of paintings.
Development of Music: The Mughal rulers except Aurangzeb were very much fond of music. There 5 were numerous musicians in the court of Akbar. Tansen was the most famous musician of the reign of Akbar. Sanskrit works on music were translated into Persian. Vocal as well as instrumental music flourished side by side. But Aurangzeb totally banned the music and prohibited dancing. Not only this he banished the singers and dancers from the royal court.
