Deccani painting

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Deccani painting

Before we leave the subject of Mughal painting, it is worth considering a parallel tradition that offered an artistic counterpoint to Mughal art. While both Mughal and Deccani painting owed a great deal to the Safavids, they represent two very different historical processes. The Deccan boasted a painting tradition that remained outside the orbit of Mugha1 painting until the Deccan sultans lost their independence to the Mugha1s. Following the demise of the southern Vijayanagara empire in 1564, the rival Bahamani dynasty in the Deccan splintered into the Sultanates of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Bidar, Berar, and Golconda. These successor states, which had close links with Safavid Iran through trade and marriage, fell prey to the Mughals on account of their lucrative foreign trade and diamond mines, which until the eighteenth century were the major source of this precious stone. Golconda was renowned internationally for its dyed textiles, and later for the export of chintz, while in the eighteenth century Bidar acquired

a high reputation for its refined inlaid metalwork, the so-called Bidriware.

The most familiar Deccani paintings are those associated with Ibrahim Adil Shah II (1586-1627) of Bijapur, an enlightened patron of poetry, music, and painting. They are portraits with fully rounded figures, seen through flowing, transparent skirts. Ibrahim also had portraits painted of himself, attired in coloured silk garments and adorned with jewellery, in standing or seated poses against a low-key background. Ibrahim, whose ancestors were Ottoman Turks, repre­sented a synthesis of Hindu and Muslim cultures. His mother tongue was Marathi but he was well-versed in Persian. Hindus, notably his adviser Antu Pandit, enjoyed positions of power within his kingdom. A skilled painter and calligrapher himself, Ibrahim inspired innova­tions in painting.

However, it is the intriguing case of Ibrahim Adil Shah's favourite court painter, Farrukh Husain, that has continued to attract scholarly attention. He has been identified as Farrukh Beg, who was born around 1547 and received his training in Khorasan in Persia. He joined Akbar's karkhana at its initial stages but mysteriously disappeared between the years 1590 and 1605. It is almost certain that during this period this talented painter was working for Ibrahim. Subsequently, he rejoined the Mughal court and was honoured by Jahangir with the title Nadir al-Asr ('Wonder of the Age'). Around 1627, as the Deccani kingdoms increasingly succumbed to the Mughals, so Deccani paint­ing failed to resist the influx of Mughal art.