Jahangir Shoots Malik Anbar

The African Slave Who Stood Up To The Mighty Mughal

 ملک عنبر

Jahangir Anbar

"Jahangir Shoots Malik Ambar," Folio from the Minto Album

Artist: Painting by Abu'l Hasan (Indian, born ca. 1588/89, active 1600–1628)

Object Name: Album leaf, illustrated

Date: ca. 1616

Geography: India

Culture: Islamic

Medium: Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Dimensions: H. 10 3/16 (25.8 cm) W. 6 1/2 in. (16.5 cm)

Classification: Codices

Credit Line: Trustees of the Chester Beatty Library

On the exhibition, please refer to the separate blog, click here.

Of the various artifacts on display in the exhibition in Met, the  Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700: Opulence and Fantasy what fascinated me the most was this painting.It shows the Emperor Jahangir aiming yet another arrow at the severed head of his nemesis Malik Anbar.

Many things gather my attention in this painting.

This is not an Deccani painting. It is a Mughal painting from1616 by Abul Hasan
.

Malik Anbar had recaptured Ahmadnagar (now in the state of Maharashtra) occupied by Akbar.  Now Jahangir, the next emperor, fought relentlessly to take it back but did not succeed. Malik Anber was his antithesis; to add insult to injury he was an African Slave turned General who stood up to the Royal Mughals.

Malik Anbar is one of the patron saints of the Siddi tribe. This population which is dispersed all over India and Pakistan is supposed to originate from the Africans who were brought or rather bought as slaves over a prolonged period. In Pakistan many in Makran are from this heritage. Manghu Pir is supposed to be from the same ethnicity. They have many African derived rituals. Some say bhangra was introduced in India through their various spiritual traditions. Notable Pakistani scholar N M Danish claims to be a Siddie. Yakut Khan, the slave general in Razia Sultana, was her lover and a Siddie. Aye dille naadan

Malik Anbar was probably sold by his father in Ethiopia due to poverty. His journey as a slave took him to many places including Yemen and Baghdad and finally to South India. He rose eventually to the rank of a General in the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmadnagar.

Slave trade routes from the North were cut of for Deccan as the adversarial Delhi Sultanate was in the way. Later it was replaced by equally adversarial Mughal rule. That provided for the Middle Eastern route of African slave trade. They were preferred as army men as they did not have any kinship issues of their own and would be loyal to the Sultan.

As compared to Africans sold into slavery to the Europeans, the route to the East was more promising. There was good chance that one may rise in the ranks; and as in the case of Malik Anbar, Ikhlas Khan and Yakut, to name a few, one may end up being a General, a Prime Minister or a royal consort. 

Back to the painting. 

Here Jahangir stands in full regalia on the top of the world.  World is depicted as round. This is 1600's and was well known by that time that Earth was round and revolved around sun. Still in this painting, it rests on a cow which rests on a fish which rests on air. This concept of cosmology is old and is also mentioned in the Mantiq uq Teer by Farid uddin Attar.

Full of his royal blood pride, the mention of his pedigree starts with Tamerlane, ie Nooruddin Muhammad Jahangir Padshah e Ghazi, son of Padshah Akbar, son of Padshah Humahyun, son of Padshah Babar, son of Umar Shaik Mirza, son of Miran Shah son of AMir Timur Sahib Qiran.

Anbar is depicted without turban, a sign of insult without the head gear.

Owl is sign of bad omen, and darkness. 

Angels and Cherubs are handing Jahangir the arrows and sword to use against Anbar

It seems strange to me that Jahangir, the Mughal character most associated with tender feelings, the lover Prince Saleem who enamoured Anarkali, and later Noor Jehan (and many in between), the upholder of legendary Twelve Decrees and the Chain of Justice, seems to have quite an appetite for savagery. The fascination with beheading the enemy and displaying the head on a spear and desecrating it as an object of play and wanton is the essence of this painting. These connoisseurs of art were equally brutal in the art of killing.

The description of the painting and the inscriptions:

Jahangir, standing in the light and on top of the world, is aiming another arrow at the severed head of Malik Anbar, which has been pierced by a javelin. The head is without turban, a sign of disrespect.  The severed head is positioned on a spear which is longer than the whole world and the celestial subjects it sits on. An owl, sign of darkness and doom, is sitting on the head of Anbar.  

To the side of the severed head is inscribed:

 خاںی بم شدہ کلیہ شب رنگ غلام 

The night colored head of the dark slave has become the house of the Owl

In between the two, Jahangir and Anbar, is the wishful statement of the fact:

اللہ اکبر 

ہر کاہ کہ در کمان در آئ 

رنگ از رخ دشمن روباہی 

God is Great

whenever it (the arrow) seats it self in the bow 

The color of your enemies' faces fade away

and underneath it

ھو

عنبر بوم کہ از نور گریزاں می بود

تیر دشمن فکنت کرز زی عالم برون 

He (the Lord): 
Anbar, the owl, had fled the light

And has been dispatched from the world by your enemy's arrow.

On the left of the Javelin

 ھو 

باطن گہہ عدوت را چو خکست از خونش سر سنان تو تسر 

He(the Lord): 

The real nature of your enemy is like a swine

whose blood sated your Javelin's head

Jahangir's musket is parked by the spear and on its right is inscribed:

الله اکبر 

تفنگ  شاہ نور الدین جہانگیر 

خطا نبود درا و چوں حکم تقدیر 

کند از سہم جانسوزش بہردم 

زمیں بوسی پلنگ و شیر و نخچیر 

God is Great

The royal musket of Shah Noorudin Jahangir

Does not err just like the Fate's Decree

Because of its arrows' scorching fire, every moment

The leopard, the loin and the wild animals kiss the earth

There is a scale, denoting the legendary sense of Jahangir's justice hanging from a wire between the world and the spear, in perfect balance. It implies that the justice is always done by the Emperor even if the balance seems skewed by external elements.

It gives the example of justice that the lion is suckling milk from goat's teets. A strange example, I thought justice would be manifest if the goat is able to suckle the Lioness. Anyhow, it reads:

اللہ اکبر

عدل شاہ نور الدین جہانگیر

 مکیدہ شیر از پستان بزشیر

God is Great

The justice of Shah Nooruddin Jahangir

The lion is suckling milk from the breasts of goat

Below that

ز یمن مقدم ظل اللہی 

زمیں گشتہ سبک بر گاؤ ماہی 

Due to the good graces of the Shadow of God's ( the Emperor's) feet

The Earth rests lightly on the Cow and the Fish

There is a heavenly bird on the back of Jahangir. Below that and above the Royal Crown is inscribed

ہو 

نو پشت تو تاجور زی یزداں 

He (the Lord)

Nine predecessors of yours were given a crown by the Almighty

And in the roundel below the crown are the names of those nine predecessors:
Starting in the center with his own name and then from one o clock position in the clockwise direction:

نور الدین محمد جہانگیر پادشاہ غازی 

ابن اکبر پادشاہ 

ابن ہمایوں پادشاہ 

ابن بابر پادشاہ 

ابن عمر شیخ مرزا 

ابن سلطان ابو سعید 

ابن سلطان محمد مرزا 

ابن میران شاہ 

ابن امیر تیمور صاحب قراں 

Nooruddin Muhammad Jahangir Padshah e Ghazi, 

Son of Padshah Akbar

  Son of Padshah Humahyun

Son of Padshah Babar

Son of Umar Shaik Mirza

Son of Miran Shah

Son of Amir Timur Sahib Qiran

And finally the signature:

عمل کمترین مریدزاد ہائی 

با اخلاص ابوالحسن 

Work of the Lowest of Low

Son of Disciples

With sincerity

Abul Hasan