Arafat

This is a versified account, written in Persian, of the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina of Muhyi al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Lari al-Ansari (d.1527), and dedicated to his patron, Muzaffar ibn Mahmud, the ruler of Gujarat, India. The evidence suggests that illustrated copies of the text were 'mass produced' as souvenirs in Mecca, and bought by pilgrims eager for a remembrance of their hajj. At the top of this illustration is Mount Arafat, with a small shrine at its peak. To the right are three mahmils, or camel-litters, identified as being from Syria, the Yemen and Egypt; and two rows of tents are set up at the base of the mountain to offer shade and housing for the pilgrims. Beneath these, at the lower left, is a multi-tiered lamp and, to the right, an area for prayer, at the lower edge of which is an arcade with spherical lamps hanging from its arches.