Hamzanama

The Hamzanama, or 'Book of Hamza' was commissioned by the great Mughal emperor Akbar in the mid-16th century. The epic story of a character based very loosely on the life of the uncle of the Prophet Muhammad chronicles the fantastic adventures of Hamza as he and his band of heroes fight against the enemies of Islam. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, in multiple volumes. These originally had 1400 illustrations, and their creation is known to have taken 15 years. Work is thought to have begun in about 1562. Fewer than 200 illustrations have survived, and the original text is only that on the back of each remaining folio, meaning that the complicated stories are often difficult to follow. This painting depicts the dismembered body of Hamza in the cave, following his death in battle at Mount Uhud.