A.
Cultural Encounter
→The first contact between Mughal Empire and
European travellers was first initiated in 1573 after the emperor Akbar led his
forces into Gujarat and captured the great port city of Surat.
→As a result of his encounter with members of the
Portuguese settlement at Goa, Akbar sent an embassy to Goa, which, in turn,
stimulated several Jesuit missions to the Mughal court in the hope of
converting these leading Muslims to Catholics.
→The Jesuits brought gifts, prints and paintings
that are then shown to the royal artists who adapted and copied certain
elements within the distinctive Mughal style.
→Example of a refined, naturalistic painting done
by an unknown artist at the Mughal royal court between 1600 and 1610. This
shows how the Christian subject is reworked within the Characteristically
Mughal style.
B.
Jesuit Missions to the Mughal Court
The Jesuits: Cultures, Sciences, and the Arts, 1540-1773 Volume1
18/ The
Truth-Showimg Mirror: Jesuit Catechism and the Arts in Mughal India by
Gauvin Alexander Bailey P.381-P.400
·
The mission was invited to Akbar's court for two purposes: (1) to
provide Catholic debators for an interfaith forum, and (2) to provide works of
European late Renaissance art for his enjoyment and his court artists'
edification.
(1) Religious Impact
→The Mughal misson of the Society of Jesus to
convert to Catholicism is viewed as a failure.
→It, however, provoked a literary partnership of
great subtlety and erudition.
·
Akbar's goal in holding the religious debatees was not to abandon
Islam, as many have maintained, but to create a syncretic brotherhood.
·
To be specific, he took on the dual meaning of the Islmamic
proclamation Allahu Akbar - translated to both 'God is Great' and 'God is
Akbar'. The emperor admired many aspects of Catholicism and was impressed with
Jesuit rhetorical style and ritual. He tried to imitate them but did maintain
his original agenda to only adopt Catholic devotional art.
·
The context of Jesus, Mary and the saints remained Indian, as
biblical stories were related to a wide range of Koranic and even Hindu
traditions, allowing the emperor to maintain ideological control over both
major ethnic groups in his realm.
(2) Cultural Impact
→The Mughal mission is regarded as one of the
most flourishing artistic exchanges.
→The Jesuits provided a representative collection
of European engravings, paintings and statues. So Mughal artists were able to
master the Late Renaissance style.
PICTURE 2
PICTURE 3
→Akbar and Jahangir helped erect churches in
Mughal cities (PICTURE 3) and covered their palaces, gardens, tombs,
jewellery and royal albums with pictures of Christ, the Virgin Mary and a
panoply of Catholic saints. (PICTURE 2)
·
Xavier's Persian literature had a profound and lasting effect on
the intellectual life of the Mughal court.
→In the
Truth Showing Mirror, Xavior applies Ciceronian rhetorical justifications
to images, showing how they can delight, teach and move. He draws on another
classical notion, the Aristotelian concept of 'inner senses' common to both
Islamic and Western European literature.
→His justifications for imagery were taken very
seriously by his Muslim patrons.
→Jahangir began to cover the walls of his public
architecture with murals of Christian saints, a practice which soon was
imitated by members of The
Turth-Showing Mirror, he commissioned a series of highly emblematic
self-portraits in a short-lived attempt to adapt the European Renaissance
frontispiece to imperial portraiture.
→The first Islamic paintings to make use of
complex allegory are the direct result of discussions in the debates.
