Painting

The illustrated volumes describing the fantastic adventures of Hamza (called the "Hamzanama" or "Book of Hamza") were commissioned by the Mughal emperor Akbar who ruled from 1556 to 1605. Their production was the first major project of the royal painting workshops during Akbar's reign: it took 15 years to complete, probably between 1562 and 1577. The stories, from a long-established oral tradition, were written down in Persian, the language of the court, and originally had 1400 illustrations of which fewer than 200 have survived. The artists were directed by Mir Sayyed 'Ali and 'Abd as-Samad, two Iranian masters brought to India by Akbar's father. No independent, contemporary version of the text is known, and so many of the original pages are lost that it is difficult to reconstruct the complicated stories depicting battles between Hamza and his heroic followers, and their enemies. These included unbelievers, dragons, witches and giants.