The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb holding audience

In this painting, an aged king, dressed in white, sits on his throne, his bowed head framed by a halo. The sixth Mughal emperor Aurangzeb (ruled 1658–1707) was known for his pursuit of austerity. There is both frailty and power in this depiction; while the diminutive, white-haired king is near the end of his life, he is surrounded by enduring emblems of sacred and royal authority that draw on a number of traditions.

The retinue of men behind Aurangzeb hold peacock feathers whose use as emblems of royalty dates to the pre-Islamic Achaemenid Empire in Persia (553–330 BCE). The throne of Aurangzeb’s father, Shah Jahan, was referred to as the “peacock throne” because of the jeweled peacocks that adorned it and invoked the celestial symbolism attached to the bird. One of the men behind Aurangzeb holds a scale that represents Mughal justice, and another holds the khamsa or “hand of Ali,” a symbol found in many West Asian cultures and believed to ward off the influence of the evil eye. Another of Aurangzeb’s attendants holds the trident associated with the Hindu god Shiva; this too is a protective symbol believed to possess the capacity to destroy evil. Aurangzeb is bent over a piece of paper with some writing on it that begins with bismillah, Arabic for “In the name of God.”

This painting depicts Aurangzeb holding court in Mewar, a Hindu Rajput principality that had rebelled against him in 1680–1681 and supported his son, Prince Akbar, who had attempted to seize the throne from his father. Aurangzeb had subdued the rebellion and Mewar had surrendered to Mughal administration. It was the last of the powerful Rajput kingdoms to do so, and the Mewar rulers prided themselves on this. In Indian popular culture, Aurangzeb is seen as a Muslim king who persecuted Hindus. This image of Aurangzeb comes from British colonial depictions of Mughal kings as either sectarian or syncretic; these images of kings were later adopted by Indian nationalists, themselves the products of British education. However, Mughal-Rajput relations cannot simply be seen through a Muslim/Hindu division. The Mewar Rajputs, for instance, collaborated with Prince Akbar, and many Rajput-Mughal alliances brought about mutual gain. This painting reveals how the sacred power of the king drew on the symbolism of multiple traditions, all of which enriched an empire that was a composite rather than a monolithic entity.