Overview: Painting Under the Delhi Sultanate

The early rulers of the Delhi Sultanate are often viewed as iconoclastic pillagers, best known for their indiscriminate destruction of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain temples. They enacted prohibitions of anthropomorphic representations in art, which had been common at the time. Scholars previously believed that the Delhi Sultanate did not patronize painting because of this Islamic injunction against the portrayal of living beings in art; however, literary evidence and the discovery of illustrated manuscripts from the period suggests otherwise. Indeed, royal painting workshops appear to have flourished under more liberal rulers.

Painting Style

The painting style of the Delhi Sultanate borrowed heavily from the flourishing traditions of Islamic painting abroad, resulting in the development of an Indo-Persian style. This style was based essentially on the schools of Iran but influenced by the individual tastes of Indian rulers and local styles, including Jain styles of painting. It is now believed that numerous painters and architects were invited from foreign countries, and illustrated manuscripts, handily transported, must have been easily available. 

Features of Delhi Sultanate paintings that are based on Indian traditions include groups of people standing in rows and identical poses, narrow bands of decoration running across the width of the painting, and bright and unusual colors that replace the muted hues found in earlier Timurid paintings.

History and Notable Works

The earliest known examples date from the 15th century, including a copy of the Shahnama, or Book of Kings, created under Lodi rule. This work of art bears a close relationship to contemporary Jain paintings. Other notable works include the Khamseh ("Quintet") of Amir Khosrow of Delhi, a Bostan painted in Mandu, and a manuscript of the Ne'mat-nameh painted for a sultan of Malwa in the opening years of the 16th century. The illustrations of the Ne'mat-nameh manuscript are derived from the Turkmen style of Shiraz but show clear Indian features adapted from the local version of the western Indian style. 

Though the western Indian style was essentially conservative, it was not unfailingly so. It began to show signs of change over the years, most notably in two manuscripts from Mandu, a Kalpa-sutra and a Kalakacaryakatha of about 1439, and a Kalpa-sutra painted at Jaunpur in 1465. These works were done in the opulent manner of the 15th century, but for the first time the quality of the line is different, and the uncompromisingly abstract expression begins to make way for a more human and emotional mood. 

By the opening years of the 16th century, a new and vigorous style had come into being. Although derived from the western Indian style, it is clearly independent, full of the most vital energy, deeply felt, and profoundly moving. The earliest dated example is an Aranyaka Parva of the Mahabharata (1516), and among the finest are series illustrating the Bhagavata-Purana and the Caurapañcashika of Bilhana. A technically more refined variant of this style, preferring a fine line, meticulous ornamentation, and the pale, cool colors of Persian derivation, existed contemporaneously and is best illustrated by a manuscript of the ballad Candamyana by Mulla Daud (c. first half of the 16th century). The early 16th century thus appears to have been a period of inventiveness and set the stage for the development of the Mughal and Rajput schools, which thrived from the 16th to the 19th centuries.

Rustam Kills the Turanian Hero Alkus with his Lance

Shahnama, Delhi Sultanate, c. 1450. This miniature comes from a manuscript made by an artist who was highly influenced by Jain art from western India. Both the intense palette and the depiction of figures differ from those found in other Islamic painting.