Mirat ul Quds (Mirror of Holiness)

Mirat ul Quds (Mirror of Holiness) is a rare manuscript based on the life of Jesus Christ. It was written by the Jesuit priest Father Jerome Xavier on the request of the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605 AC).

Mirat ul Quds bears Akbar’s writing on the front page and his small round seal.

The manuscript contains 54 folios and 11 miniatures. The Persian text is written in Nasta’liq style on Samarqand paper. The calligrapher of the manuscript is Mahram Koka, foster brother of Mirza Kamran, who was half-brother of Emperor Humayun. He completed rendering the manuscript in calligraphy in 1604.The first two folios are ornamented with rich blue arabesque designs, with floral and other motifs around the border in gold, black, red, green and orange colours. The margins (Jadwal) are ruled in gold, blue, black and green colour; headings and quotations are written in black and in some places in red.

The miniatures of Mirat ul Quds are of Mughal pattern, mixed with some European style. The name of the miniaturist is not given, however, it has been suggested that these may have been the work of Basavan who was ranked fourth among 17 finest painters during Akbar’s time according to Abul Fazl in "Aina e Akbari"