Notes on Shirani’s Laila Majnun Illustrated for Mohammad Shah Rangila Sadia Pasha Kamran

Abstract

The study is a stylistic investigation and a critical analysis of a previously undocumented illustrated manuscript of Laila Majnun. In doing so, it traces the development of book art in the Indian Subcontinent from antiquity to the later Mughal period. Various religious streams in India add up to the status of the book which is considered to be a sacred entity. Books are the portable treasures that help explain the complex issues of transculturation between different

societies. These cultural influences speak of a fair and free intellectual cross- over between Persia, India and subsequent regional and provincial centers

while establishing hegemony of Persian literature in Mughal India. Employing the pre-modern historiographic methodologies and relying upon the visual imagery as primary sources the study characterizes the later Mughal and provincial style as it metamorphoses from the luxurious, collectable imperial items to the everyday pocket size reader.