Faces of God: Images of Devotion in Indo-Muslim Painting, 1500–1800

Murad Khan Mumtaz, Ph.D. (2018), University of Virginia, is Assistant Professor at Williams College. He has published numerous articles on South Asian painting. Mumtaz is also a practicing artist trained in traditional Hindustani painting techniques.

Acknowledgements IX


List of Illustrations XIII


Note on Translation and Transliteration XXVI





Introduction: The Need for an Ontology of Art


 1 What Is Islamic Ontology?


 2 Can “Indian Painting” Be Islamic Painting?


 3 Ṣūrat and Maʿnī: Islam and Islam


 4 Presence


 5 Organization of the Book





1 Viewing the Face of a God’s Friend: Conceptual and Literary Premises


 1 Sufism


 2 Taẕkira Literature


 3 Looking at the Face of ʿAli Is Worship





2 Sufi in the Garb of a Yogi: Visual and Literary Articulations of Sanctity


 1 The Yogi in Medieval Sufi Romances


 2 Yogis in Princely Albums





3 Allegories, Symbols, and the “Marvelous Magic” of Imperial Mughal Painting


 1 Akbar: The Saint-King


 2 Jahangir: The King of Universal Manifestation


 3 Shah Jahan and the Army of Prayer





4 “I Saw My Lord in the Form of a Beardless Youth”


 1 In the Company of Dervishes


 2 The Princely Youth, Alone


 3 Interpreting the Dara Shikoh Album


 4 Persianate Antecedents for the Dara Shikoh Album





5 The Face of Shah … the Face of God


 1 Jahanara Begum: Sufi Patron and Practitioner





6 Sacred Viewing: Miraculous Gatherings and Iconic Portraits


 1 The Majlis Paintings


 2 An Iconography of Devotion





Conclusion


Bibliography


Index