Mosques, Abul Fazl, Sher Shah Suri, and Mughal Painting

Every mosque built in India tells two stories at once: the story of a universal faith and the story of the land where it stands. From the wooden mosques of Kashmir to the sandstone courtyards of Fatehpur Sikri, builders combined Islamic principles with local materials, climate needs, and decorative traditions. This topic also covers three other subjects that shed light on medieval India: Abul Fazl’s detailed portrait of Mughal society, Sher Shah Suri’s impressive administrative legacy, and the evolution of painting from Persian miniatures into a distinctively Indian art form.

The Mosque in India: One Faith, Many Faces

From the very first mosque established in Medina by Prophet Muhammad, mosque design has responded to the climate, materials, and artistic sensibilities of the region where it stands. Indian mosques are no exception. They share a set of core features rooted in Islamic worship, but they also carry the unmistakable stamp of local traditions.

Five Features Every Mosque Shares

No matter where a mosque is built, certain elements remain constant because they are tied directly to the requirements of Islamic worship and identity:

• Orientation towards Mecca — Every mosque is aligned so that worshippers face the holy city during prayer. This directional alignment is the single most fundamental design requirement.
• The minaret (tower of the azan) — A tall tower from which the faithful are called to prayer. The azan, or call to prayer, is announced from this structure, making it both a functional and symbolic landmark.
• Domes — Most mosques feature domes decorated with symbolic motifs. The dome serves as the central visual element of the structure, much like the shikhara does in a Hindu temple.
• Provisions for light — Mosque interiors balance covered and open spaces. Hanging lamps illuminate roofed sections, while open-to-sky courtyards allow natural light to flood in. This interplay of light and shadow is a deliberate design choice.
• Quranic calligraphy — The walls of mosques are adorned with verses from the Quran, rendered in elaborate calligraphic scripts. Since Islam does not permit images of living beings, calligraphy becomes the primary decorative art form.

How Indian Regions Shaped Mosque Design

When these universal principles met India’s enormous geographical and cultural diversity, the results were striking. Local builders adapted mosque construction in ways that made each region’s mosques distinctive:

• Climate-driven construction — In places with heavy rainfall and cold winters like Kerala and Kashmir, builders moved away from the standard stone-and-mortar approach. The Aali mosque in Srinagar is a remarkable example: it is built entirely with a wooden structural framework, a direct response to Kashmir’s climate and seismic conditions. This is quite different from the stone and sandstone mosques of the drier northern plains.

• Borrowing from Hindu and Jain temples — The Jami mosque of Ahmedabad is perhaps the most vivid example of cross-cultural borrowing. It carries a kalash (a decorative water-pot finial taken from Hindu temple rooftops) on top of its roof, features a lotus-shaped dome, and includes hanging bells reminiscent of Jain temple interiors. A visitor unfamiliar with the context might mistake some of these motifs for temple architecture.

• Mughal decorative influence — Across much of northern India, the Mughals left their mark on mosque design through their distinctive treatment of arches, minarets, and domes. This decorative vocabulary gave a regional consistency to mosques built under Mughal patronage, setting them apart from the mosques of southern or western India.

• The mosque at Fatehpur Sikri — This structure is a blend of Hindu and Jain architectural elements executed in locally available Sikri sandstone. It demonstrates Akbar’s broader approach of synthesising different building traditions into a unified imperial style.

Inside the Ain-e-Akbari: Abul Fazl’s Portrait of Mughal India

Abul Fazl’s Ain-e-Akbari is one of the most detailed windows into the social, economic, and religious life of medieval India. Written by a scholar who enjoyed the direct patronage of Emperor Akbar, it covers an enormous range of subjects, from caste and occupation to taxation and religious policy. But this same closeness to the emperor is also the source of its biggest weakness.

Society and Economy Under Akbar

Abul Fazl documented a society that was complex, hierarchical, and evolving:

• The caste system remained deeply entrenched. He recorded that 16 different sub-castes had emerged from inter-marriages between the main castes. Despite this multiplication of social groups, a person’s career options were still largely determined by the caste they were born into. Birth, not ability, decided what work a person could do.

• Land revenue was the backbone of the state. Agriculture was the primary source of government income. Raja Todarmal, one of Akbar’s most capable officials, reformed the system of land measurement and assessment, bringing greater accuracy and fairness to tax collection. This was a significant administrative achievement that improved the relationship between the state and its farming communities.

• Royal patronage powered the arts. Literature, music, painting, and architecture all flourished under the generous financial support of the Mughal court. This was not an accident. Mughal emperors deliberately invested in cultural production as a way to project imperial prestige and attract talented individuals from across the subcontinent and beyond.

Religious Life: Akbar’s Experiment

On the religious front, Abul Fazl painted a picture of genuine reform:

• Akbar ended formal religious discrimination. He abolished the Jazya (a tax levied specifically on non-Muslims) and the Pilgrim tax, removing two of the most visible markers of religious inequality under earlier rulers.

• Greater religious freedom became the norm. Akbar’s Din-e-Ilahi (literally “Religion of God”) was an ambitious attempt to bring people of different faiths together under a shared set of spiritual principles. While it never gained a mass following, it reflected the emperor’s genuine interest in religious dialogue.

• Hindu law continued for Hindu subjects. Hindus were tried under their own legal codes, not under Islamic law. This legal pluralism was a practical acknowledgement of India’s religious diversity.

• Underlying tensions persisted. Abul Fazl tried hard to find common ground between Hindu practices and Islamic beliefs, but his very effort reveals the differences that still existed. Religious harmony was a goal, not yet a settled reality.

A Brilliant but Biased Source

Abul Fazl was a scholar of enormous learning. His observations about society, economy, and religion give historians an invaluable record of the Mughal period. But there is a fundamental problem: he was a courtier writing under royal patronage. He was under obligation to praise the emperor.

This bias shows up most clearly in a striking contradiction. On one hand, Abul Fazl repeatedly emphasises the importance of rationality and logical thinking. On the other hand, he claims that Akbar could control rain at will, an absurd exaggeration meant to flatter the emperor. This inconsistency is the most commonly cited weakness of the Ain-e-Akbari. Despite these shortcomings, the work’s sheer depth and breadth of coverage make it an indispensable source for understanding medieval India.

Sher Shah Suri: The Administrator Who Built to Last

Sher Shah Suri is one of those rulers who accomplished more in a brief reign than many dynasties managed over generations. He did not simply want territory. He wanted to govern it well. His approach was practical and systematic, and his policies drew openly from the successful experiments of Alauddin Khalji before him.

Military and Revenue Reforms

• A well-paid, loyal army — Like Alauddin Khalji, Sher Shah understood that unpaid soldiers become disloyal soldiers. He paid his troops regularly to prevent dissatisfaction and made a point of interacting with them on a regular basis, maintaining direct personal contact with his military forces.

• Fair taxation through measurement — He introduced a measurement-based revenue system that calculated tax obligations on the basis of actual land holdings. This prevented the overburdening of the peasant class and brought a degree of fairness that earlier ad-hoc systems had lacked.

Roads, Infrastructure, and Lasting Legacies

Sher Shah’s infrastructure projects connected a fragmented subcontinent:

• The Grand Trunk Road — He rebuilt the highway running from north India to Bengal, one of the oldest and longest routes on the subcontinent. This road, later known as the Grand Trunk Road, became the main artery of trade, communication, and military movement for centuries to come. Along its length, he also planted trees for shade and built sarais (rest houses) for travellers.

• The Rupiah — Sher Shah is credited with giving Indian currency the name by which it is known today: Rupiah. This was part of his larger project of creating standardised systems that made administration simpler and more efficient.

• His tomb at Sasaram — Located in Bihar, Sher Shah’s tomb is one of the finest pieces of architecture from his era. It stands in the middle of an artificial lake, its reflection doubling the visual impact. The structure is so striking that it has earned the title of the second Taj Mahal of India.

Mughal Painting: Where Persian Miniatures Met Indian Colour

The story of painting in medieval India is a story of creative blending. Painters took traditions from Persia, combined them with India’s own rich visual vocabulary, and eventually absorbed European techniques as well. The result was a new school of art that belonged fully to none of its sources and yet drew from all of them.

Roots in the Delhi Sultanate

The tradition of miniature and portrait painting was already alive during the Delhi Sultanate period. What makes this era remarkable is the ambition of some of its painters:

• They attempted to paint classical ragas, giving visual form and colour to something as abstract as music
• They created baramasa paintings (seasonal paintings depicting the twelve months), turning the cycle of the year into a visual narrative

These early experiments laid the groundwork for the explosion of painting that came with the Mughals.

The Mughal School: Three Traditions in One

The Mughal school of painting, spanning the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, gave rise to the Indo-Persian school of miniature art. It combined landscapes with human figures and costumes, and when these Persian-trained painters came into contact with Indian artistic traditions, their work became more natural and grounded. The practice of artists signing their miniatures also started during this period.

Mughal paintings served multiple purposes: they documented the construction of major monuments, recorded the technologies used at sites like Fatehpur Sikri, and illustrated important books. Dedicated painting workshops called karkhanas were set up under royal patronage. The art was technically un-Islamic (since Islam discourages depicting living beings), but a liberal interpretation allowed it to flourish at court. Painters captured court scenes, hunting expeditions, and wars in vivid detail, and over time developed distinctly Indian pigments and colour palettes.

How the Style Evolved Across Emperors

The Mughal painting tradition did not stay frozen. Each emperor’s personal tastes pushed it in new directions:

• Humayun’s era — An important painting from this period is Princes of the House of Timur, executed on cloth and thought to be connected to the Mongol artistic tradition. The early phase was clearly shaped by Persian conventions: symmetrical compositions, restricted movement of figures, and formal arrangements.

• Akbar’s era — Painting under Akbar broke away from both Persian and earlier Indian styles by focusing on historical subject matter. The two most popular themes were daily events of the court and portraits of leading personalities. Indian traditions began to blend in: naturalistic rhythm, clothing and objects reflecting daily Indian life, and more dynamic, energetic compositions replaced the static Persian style.

• Jahangir and Shah Jahan — Mughal painting reached its peak under these two emperors. Jahangir favoured paintings of hunting scenes, birds, and flowers, and his court produced works noted for their realism. Under Shah Jahan, the palette became more decorative, with gold used more frequently for embellishment. New subjects appeared: portraits of female members of the royal family and paintings featuring the superimposition of animals (composite animal images).

• European influence (17th century onwards) — In its later phases, the Mughal school absorbed significant European elements. A large number of European paintings were copied, adapted, or reinterpreted by Mughal artists. Two European techniques became particularly prominent: the attempt to make paintings three-dimensional (creating depth and perspective), and the use of light and shade, which was most commonly applied in battle and fight scenes.

Mughal vs Rajput Painting: Two Schools, Two Worlds

The Rajasthani and Pahari schools of painting grew out of the Mughal miniature tradition, but they developed in very different directions. Understanding what separates them is essential:

Feature	Mughal School	Rajput School (Rajasthani and Pahari)
Subject matter	Secular: hunting campaigns, portraits, court scenes	Religious and emotional: Radha-Krishna, Gita Govinda, Rajput lifestyle
Patronage	Largely a royal art, confined to the imperial court	Practised by common folk as well as nobles
Colour palette	Muted, subdued colours creating shadow and depth	Bold primary colours giving a flat, abstract quality
Stylistic origins	Evolved from Persian miniature painting, with marked Persian influence blended with local styles	Considerable local and regional influence
Emotional range	Focused on the splendour of the emperor and court grandeur	Expressed emotions, nature, religious sentiments, and life outside the royal sphere

The Rajput tradition, particularly the Pahari school, could reach into corners of life that the Mughal school never touched. While Mughal painters were occupied with the magnificence of the throne, Pahari and Rajasthani artists captured devotion, longing, seasonal moods, and the beauty of the natural world.