Hamzanama
Also called: Dastan-i-Amir Hamza · Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Hamzanama is a huge illustrated book of the adventures of Amir Hamza, a legendary hero. Stories about him were popular across the Persian-speaking world. Akbar's painting workshop made it in c. 1562–1577. It had about 1,400 large paintings on cloth. It was the first great project of Mughal painting. Persian masters and Indian artists worked on it together, and this teamwork helped shape the Mughal miniature style.
Example
The work was supervised by the Persian masters Mir Sayyid Ali and Abd al-Samad, who had come to India with Humayun. A storyteller would hold up the large cloth paintings while reading the tales aloud to Akbar.
Don't confuse with
- Razmnama: the Persian translation of the Mahabharata ("Book of War"), made later in Akbar's reign. The Hamzanama is an Islamic adventure tale, not a Sanskrit epic.
Related concepts
- Fatehpur Sikri
- Buland Darwaza
- Panch Mahal
- Ibadat Khana
- Din-i-Ilahi
- Maktab Khana
- Razmnama
- Daswanth and Basawan
- Navaratnas of Akbar
- Birbal