Grave of Emperor Aurangzeb, Khuldabad

From Johnson Album 3, 4, painted 1660-70
Featured in the British Library exhibition,
Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire.

Emperor Aurangzeb - the sixth Mughal ruler - had a long reign of nearly 50 years.

During his rule (1658 to 1707), the Mughal Empire reached its largest extent, covering almost the entire Indian subcontinent. In 1700, India's GDP accounted for one-fourth of world GDP, with textiles playing a major role. Nearly 15% of the population lived in urban centres; it was thus more urban than Europe at the time, or even more urban than British India in the 19th century.

Among the urban centres in the Deccan was Aurangabad. Earlier it was a village called Khadki; but it grew into a city under the patronage of Malik Ambar and the Nizamshahs of Ahmadnagar. When Aurangzeb took over the city, as the Mughal viceroy to the Deccan, he named it Aurangabad.

Aurangzeb spent the last 26 years of his life in an attempt to conquer the Deccan. He died at his military camp in Bhingar, near Ahmadnagar, at the age of 89.

His modest open-air grave in Khuldabad expresses his deep devotion to his Islamic beliefs. He desired in his will that not more than 8 rupees be spent on it - in marked contrast to the ostentatious splendour of the tombs of his predecessors.

Grave of Aurangzeb, painted by William Carptenter between 1850-56, British Library

Aurangzeb's tomb is in the courtyard of the shrine of the Sufi saint Shaikh Burhan-u'd-din Gharib, who was a disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi.

The epitaph reads his own couplet in Persian:
Az tila o nuqreh gar saazand gumbad aghniyaa! 
Bar mazaar e maa ghareebaan gumbad e gardun bas ast!
Translation: "The rich may well construct domes of gold and silver on their graves!
For the poor folks like me, the sky is dome enough!" 

Brahmanical Caves in Ellora

- By Deepa Krishnan

Ellora contains 34 caves adorned by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain art and figures. Caves 14 to 19 belong to the Brahmanical pantheon. Brahmanism is the predecessor of modern day Hinduism; it is primarily Vedic in nature and has several differences with modern Hindu practices.

This panel shows Shiva (large central figure) as the slayer of the demon, Andhaka (you can see the demon, represented in small form, speared on top right). Two hands of Shiva hold up the outstretched skin of the elephant demon Nila, one of Andhaka's allies. You can see the partial elephant head also on the top left corner of the photo. Shiva is in his fierce form as 'Veerabhadra'. In one of his hands, just under Andhaka, there is a cup, it is made of a skull, this is used to catch the blood of Andhaka as it drips (each drop spilt on the ground creates another demon). Parvati sits with her hand on her bosom, conveying either admiration or fear, I am not sure which.

The story goes that one day in a playful mood, Parvati covered Shiva's eyes with her hands. Darkness shrouded the world. From the heat and perspiration of her hands was born a dark child, Andhaka. Andhaka was raised by a demon, Hiranyaksha, who was childless and asked for a child as a boon.

When he grew up, Andhaka terrorized the world. He became the king of Asuras (demons). He tried to acquire or abduct Parvati, which enraged Shiva and led to Andhaka's death. Shiva's wrath is depicted in the panel.

Kailash Temple in Ellora

Kailash Temple in Ellora is is the world's largest monolithic structure carved from a single rock.It is noted for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original rock, and excavated downward. It is nearly one a half times taller than the Parthenon in Athens and occupies almost twice its area. That's not all - it also contains the largest cantilevered rock ceiling in the world.

The construction of this temple was sponsored by King Krishna I of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and took almost a century to complete.It contains several mythical creatures from the Puranas (Hindu text) and entire panels showing scenes from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Kailash Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It has been named after the Kailash mountain, which is the abode of Shiva.

Kailasa temple, according to the UNESCO world heritage site, is remarkable "on account of its striking proportion; elaborate workmanship architectural content and sculptural ornamentation."

Zebunnisa - The Hidden Sufi Poetess

- By Aishwarya Pramod

Zebunnisa (1638-1702) is one of the most enigmatic figures from the Mughal period. A highly educated young woman and a poet from the age of 14, she attended secret poetry parties in the court that her puritanical father, Aurangzeb, had no knowledge of.

A painting of Zebunnisa by Pakistani painter Abdur Rahman Chaghtai

When Zebunnisa was younger she was Aurangzeb's favourite child, and even wielded influence over his decisions. But he imprisoned her for the last 20 years of her life - some say for being a poetess, some say for having an affair, while others suggest she was sympathetic to her brother who led a rebellion against their father.

Zebunnia's Palace in Aurangabad, 1880s.

Zebunnisa never married despite having several suitors. She died while Aurangzeb was away on a campaign. Her works were later compiled into a collection, "Diwan-e-Makhfi".

Zebunnisa's pen-name itself was "Makhfi" - the hidden one. Her poetry and ghazals reflect a mystic's inner freedom and express her fierce love for the divine.

Here is one of her poems translated from Persian:

I bow before the image of my Love

No Muslim I 

But an idolater

I bow before the image of my Love

And worship her

No Brahman I

My sacred thread

I cast away, for round my neck I wear

Her plaited hair instead.

Malik Ambar: Jehangir's Obsession

Malik Ambar (1549 – 1626) was an Ethiopian slave in India, who rose to become a minister and then an independent ruler with his capital at Aurangabad. The Mughal emperor Jahangir was obsessed with defeating Malik Ambar and wanted to see him crushed at any cost. Unable to defeat him in reality, Jehangir had to be content with fantasy.

The Mughal artist Abu’l Hasan drew a painting of the Emperor shooting arrows into the severed head of Malik Ambar. There are small inscriptions on the painting, one of them says "The face of the rebel has become the abode of the owl." (the owl is a symbol of bad luck, a bad omen). And the other one says "Thy arrow that lays the enemy low, sent out of the world Ambar, the owl who fled from the light." Two owls are shown in the picture.

The emperor is shown as a just divine ruler of the world. The world is borne upon the fish and bull. A Sufi master named Farid al-Din Attar wrote: “God placed Earth on the back of a bull, the bull on a fish, and the fish dancing on a silver spool of light.”

At the top of the painting are two winged infants, called putti, they were believed to influence human lives (because of contact with Europeans in Jahangir's court, elements such as putti came into the painting).

Buddhist architecture in Ajanta

- By Aishwarya Pramod

Viharas (monasteries) and chaitya-grihas (prayer halls) are the two important structures in early Buddhist architecture in India.

Viharas began as temporary shelters for wandering monks, but were later developed to accommodate the growing and increasingly formalised Buddhist monasticism. Chaitya-grihas (or chaityas) were prayer halls with a stupa at the end. The stupa was the focus of the monks' meditation and prayer.

General structure of a Vihara and Chaitya-Griha

Ajanta caves are prominently Buddhist.

Out of the 30 caves of Ajanta, 9, 10, 19, 26 and 29 are chaitya grihas (places of worship). In the earlier stages the stupas inside the chaitya grihas were plain, with no bodily representation of the Buddha. They were symbolic in nature; with the stupas usually containing a sacred relic. In the later phases, the Buddha began to be featured prominently in the stupas.

Chaitya-griha in Ajanta's cave 26 from the Mahayana period

There are also many Buddhist viharas found in India, such as the one in cave 16 of Ajanta.

Entrance to Ajanta's cave 16 - A vihara

How the Ajanta murals were created

The Ajanta cave paintings (from around 200 BCE to 500 CE) represent India's art at a great height of sophistication and skill. These scenes of the life of Buddha and the bodhisattvas, natural beauty and royal splendour have been called "the birth of Indian art".

So how were these works of art created? The Vishnudharmottara Purana, an encyclopedic text that deals with arts and sciences, gives us insights. The third khanda (chapter) deals with Painting and Image Making. The Vishnudharmottara Purana admits that it is only repeating things from earlier sources. Since those sources are not available, the Vishnudharmottara Purana (said to date to 4 CE) is our best possible guide.

Here are some of the ingenious methods that Indian painters used to create paintings that enthrall us to this day.

Scene from the Jataka Tales depicting king Mahajanaka

Methods of lighting up a dark cave to paint in:

Painters used many methods to light up the interiors of dark caves they had to paint. Apart from using torches lit with vegetable oil, they positioned large metal mirrors to angle sunshine. They poured water into shallow depressions they had made on the floor, to reflect sunlight onto the ceilings of the caves. They would also whitewash the walls of the caves with lime plaster before painting them, which would create a natural halo of light that would help them with their paintings.

The plaster base that enables the painting:

The painters covered the cave walls with two layers of plaster made of mud, vegetable fibre, paddy husk, rock-grit, sand, etc. The plaster was then covered with a thin coat of lime. Then they made their drawings on this.

Materials used to make paints and brushes:
Six pigments were used by the painters. They were mixed with water to create paints.

• Yellow ochre (from a natural earth pigment containing hydrated iron oxide)
• Red ochre (the same pigment with a large amount of hematite in it)
• Blue (from crushed lapis lazuli)
• Green (from glauconite or 'green sand')
• White (from kaolin, lime or gypsum)
• Black (from lamp-black, the soot left over from oil lamps

The brushes used for different types of effects:

They used several types of brushes, of different materials. One brush was a pointed rod made of khachora-root mixed with boiled rice. Another was a thin bamboo rod topped with a cotton swab. A third was made from the soft ear hair of a calf, and fixed with lac. Hair from a squirrel's tail and a sheep's belly was also used.

So there you have it - isn't it marvellous?!

Different pigments used to depict skin colour variations

Bibi ka Maqbara - The Taj of Deccan

- By Aishwarya Pramod

Bibi ka Maqbara (Mausoleum of the Lady) was built for Dilras Banu Begum, the wife of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It was built after her death by her son, Prince Azam Shah between 1651 and 1661.

Bibi ka Maqbara - also called 'Taj of Deccan'

It was intended to rival the Taj, but eventually ended up with smaller proportions. So what, I say? It's still gorgeous! The symmetry and delicacy of the mausoleum, built in pure marble ox-carted all the way from Jaipur, is as stunning as ever.

Malik Amber: Founder of Aurangabad

- By Deepa Krishnan

Have you heard the name of Malik Amber?

He is the founder of the city of Aurangabad.

Painting of Malik Amber by Mughal painter Hashim, currently in Victoria and Albert Museum

Malik Ambar was born in Ethopia in 1548 with the name Chapu and was sold into slavery. He was eventually bought by a leading member of the Nizam Shahi court of Ahmadnagar, one of the Deccan sultanates. He rose through sheer personal capability to became a commander of the Nizam Shahi army. By 1600 he had become Regent of the Kingdom, effectively ruling Ahmadnagar until his death in 1626.

Malik Amber's tomb in Khuldabad

He originally founded the city of Khadki in 1610. After his death in 1626, the name was changed to Fatehpur by his son and heir Fateh Khan. When Aurangzeb, the Mughal Emperor invaded Deccan in the year 1653, he made Fatehpur his capital and renamed it as Aurangabad. Since then it is known as Aurangabad.

Shiva with the Mother-Goddessess in Ellora

Shiva with the series of Matrikas (mother-goddesses). You can see 4 of the goddesses here on the panel. The Matrikas are shown in their benign form. 

Carmel Berkson, author of Ellora - Concepts and Styles, says, "With the terrific aspect repressed entirely, the matrikas are depicted as benign and are worshipped in adulation. Sensuous, elegant, tender, beautiful adolescents, they are yet haughty and grand, quintessentially the creatrix."

Photo from wikimedia commons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ellora_Shiva_Matrikas.jpg

Yaksha Matanga, Ellora Caves, Aurangabad

In Jainism, yakshas (male) and yakshinis (female) are guardian deities to protect the well-being of the tirthankaras, and to be their devotee. Usually, they are found in a pair around the idols of Jinas.

Yaksha Matanga, Jain Caves, Ellora

The Yaksha Matanga (pictured here) is associated with the Jina Parshvanatha. Matanga represents prosperity. Matanga is characterised by the following:
- His colour is blue
- He is seated on an elephant
- He is sometimes represented with 4 hands
- He holds the nakula (a stringed instrument, a simple zither)
- He holds an ankush (elephant goad) and pasha (noose)

While yakshas are mainly guardians and devotees of the Jina, people worshipped them because they were credited with supernatural powers and the ability to fulfil wishes. 

This cave at Ellora is called the Indra Sabha, because early visitors assumed this was Indra from the Brahmanical pantheon of gods.

Hilltop View of Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad

View of section of Ajanta caves from hilltop opposite. The caves are cut into the rock-face. The river Waghora, not seen in this photo, flows down below. Originally, each cave had steps cut into the rocks, going down to the river below, so the monks could get water and also enter/exit the caves.

When they started excavating these caves, they threw grappling hooks into the stones above and suspended themselves, chiseling away with just basic tools into the hard black mountain.

Padmapani Avalokiteswara, Ajanta Caves, Aurangabad

The most famous painting from Cave 1, Padmapani Avalokiteswara, the Boddhisattva of Compassion. The mural tradition of Ajanta, spanning a whole millennium lasting up to the 8th century, occupies the walls of 27 caves.