T his exhibition wafts you to the paradise that Shah Jahan, fifth of the Muslim emperors of much of modern India and Pakistan , wanted to create on Earth. A floor-covering decorated with red poppies sets the scene for this idyll of calmness. A rippled stone panel with myriad water spouts had me dreaming of fruit trees and pavilions while I was cooled by a stone jali screen that once filtered air through one of his buildings.
These lovely objects help to fill in for his masterpiece, which for obvious reasons can’t be here: the Taj Mahal. It is shown on a big screen above the portable delights, twinkling white in the hazy Agra sky. Shah Jahan famously built it as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth in 1631; his tomb is there beside hers.
It may be familiar but this piece of architectural heaven captivatingly distils the extraordinary civilisation that a warlike dynasty from Central Asia bequeathed to the world. The original founder of Mughal power led his armies from Kabul into northern India . When this first empire collapsed it was resurrected by Akbar, first of the exhibition’s “great” Mughal rulers, who combined military might with a love of culture and beauty that his successors would share.
Akbar was illiterate but that didn’t stop him employing Hindu and Muslim artists to create a library of illuminated manuscripts. He had readers to tell him what the words said; anyway you can follow the epics he favoured from the ravishing.
