Music, art, and power in 'Adil Shahi Bijapur, c.1570–1630

TY - CHAP

T1 - Music, art, and power in 'Adil Shahi Bijapur, c.1570–1630

AU - Schofield, Katherine Ruth

A2 - Singh, Kavita

A2 - Singh, Kavita

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Despite scholars having expended a great deal of energy on the question, the relationship between rāgmālā paintings and their melodic inspiration, the rāgs, remains unclear. From the beginning, rāgmālā paintings were often framed with verses evoking the rāg icons, but generally speaking they floated free from the music-theoretical tradition embodied in written treatises. For their part, Sanskrit, Persian, and vernacular music treatises were overwhelmingly concerned with the sonic properties of rāgs. Even when they did incorporate rāgmālā descriptions, they were apparently never intended to be illustrated visually. There were, however, a small number of exceptions to this rule, in which large-scale music treatises extensively incorporated painted illustrations. Most of the early examples, 16–17C, were associated with the Deccan. In this chapter I will focus on one major treatise, Shaikh ‘Abdul Karim’s Javāhir al-Mūsīqāt-i Muḥammadī, written in Persian for Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur (r. 1627–56) but incorporating large portions of an illustrated Dakhni music treatise composed c. 1570 probably for ‘Ali ‘Adil Shah. I will place it in dialogue with the famed Chester Beatty Nujūm al-‘Ulūm, whose paintings have been used to date the Javāhir. When read together I will argue that these two manuscripts reveal the key to the link between painted and sounded renditions of the rāg—affective and supernatural power, articulated through a blend of Shaivite tantrism, Sanskrit rasa theory, and Islamicate techniques for crafting a balanced emotional self. Throughout, I reflect on the complex interrelationships between music, art, and affective power in early-modern Islamicate India.

AB - Despite scholars having expended a great deal of energy on the question, the relationship between rāgmālā paintings and their melodic inspiration, the rāgs, remains unclear. From the beginning, rāgmālā paintings were often framed with verses evoking the rāg icons, but generally speaking they floated free from the music-theoretical tradition embodied in written treatises. For their part, Sanskrit, Persian, and vernacular music treatises were overwhelmingly concerned with the sonic properties of rāgs. Even when they did incorporate rāgmālā descriptions, they were apparently never intended to be illustrated visually. There were, however, a small number of exceptions to this rule, in which large-scale music treatises extensively incorporated painted illustrations. Most of the early examples, 16–17C, were associated with the Deccan. In this chapter I will focus on one major treatise, Shaikh ‘Abdul Karim’s Javāhir al-Mūsīqāt-i Muḥammadī, written in Persian for Muhammad ‘Adil Shah of Bijapur (r. 1627–56) but incorporating large portions of an illustrated Dakhni music treatise composed c. 1570 probably for ‘Ali ‘Adil Shah. I will place it in dialogue with the famed Chester Beatty Nujūm al-‘Ulūm, whose paintings have been used to date the Javāhir. When read together I will argue that these two manuscripts reveal the key to the link between painted and sounded renditions of the rāg—affective and supernatural power, articulated through a blend of Shaivite tantrism, Sanskrit rasa theory, and Islamicate techniques for crafting a balanced emotional self. Throughout, I reflect on the complex interrelationships between music, art, and affective power in early-modern Islamicate India.

KW - Music

KW - Art History

KW - South Asia

KW - Indian history

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-93-83243-25-9

SP - 68

EP - 87

BT - Scent upon a southern breeze

PB - Marg

CY - Mumbai

ER -