Daswanth and Basawan
Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Daswanth and Basawan were two leading Indian painters in Akbar's royal painting workshop. Their work helped create the Mughal style of miniature painting, which means small, detailed pictures painted for books. Daswanth, the son of a palanquin-bearer, rose through talent alone. He worked on the Razmnama, the Persian version of the Mahabharata. Basawan was admired for his portraits, crowded scenes and lifelike landscapes.
Example
Daswanth painted pictures for the Razmnama, which was made in Akbar's "house of translation" at Fatehpur Sikri. Basawan's paintings showed real depth and real-looking faces.
Don't confuse with
- Abul Fazl: he was Akbar's court historian and wrote the Ain-i-Akbari. He was not a painter, though he praised these artists in his writings.
Related concepts
- Fatehpur Sikri
- Buland Darwaza
- Panch Mahal
- Ibadat Khana
- Din-i-Ilahi
- Maktab Khana
- Razmnama
- Hamzanama
- Navaratnas of Akbar
- Birbal