Prince Dara Shikoh

Dara Shikoh was the eldest son of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his favourite wife Mumtaz Mahal.
Shah Jahan named Dara heir to the vast Mughal Empire, but his younger brother Aurangzeb, usurped the throne and had Dara assassinated.
Dara Shikoh was a liberal, cultured and spiritual prince, a follower of Sufi saints and a friend of one of the Sikh gurus. He sought to link the two oceans of spirituality: Hinduism and Islam. The conservative Aurangzeb declared him an apostate, and went on to demolish some of the most sacred Hindu temples in India, and to force conversions to Islam.
It is often speculated as to how the history of India would have been very different had Dara Shikoh prevailed over Aurangzeb.

Incidentally Dara was considered a talented painter.

Shahjahan

Bodleian Library Collection, The Emperor Shahjahan riding, with the Aftabi or sunshade held over his head.

Dance

Mughal

Exhibition - State Library of Victoria

The Youth and the Singing Girl
(detail)

From a leaf from a disbound manuscript of Jami, Baharistan (Garden of Spring), copied for Mughal Emperor Akbar, dated year 39, Ilahi era (1595 AD), Lahore. Painting by Madhu.

Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, MS Elliott 254, fol 35v

This folio is from a magnificent Mughal copy of a 15th-century Persian classic that was prepared for Emperor Akbar at Lahore and represents the high point of Mughal luxury manuscript production of its era.

The Baharistan (Garden of spring) is divided into eight chapters, one devoted to love. In it, a young man hears a girl singing on the terrace of her master’s house and falls in love with her. Despite the mutuality of their ardour, he renounces his love in favour of chastity.

Exquisitely painted, the image conveys the poignancy of the moment of falling in love and the lush detail of the scented garden in which it occurs.

The exhibition Love and devotion: from Persia and beyond (9 March–1 July 2012) celebrates the beauty of Persian manuscripts and the stories of human and divine love told through their pages from the early 11th century on.

Many of the manuscripts on show have been loaned from the world-renowned collection of the Bodleian Libraries of the University of Oxford; other exhibits are rare works from the State Library of Victoria and other Australian collections.

The Dervish and the King

Holi

Celebration of Holi, Mughal 18th century.
Holi is the festival of colours, celebrated at this time in India.

This image is from the Kapoor Galleries website.
kapoorgalleries.com

Blossoms

Details, Mughal, Bodleian Library Collection.

Capricorn

A Mughal depiction of the astrological sign Capricorn.

Prince and Lady

detail. 
Source: Forge Lynch

Princess Foot-soaking

More Elephants

Victoria & Albert Museum, Emperor Akbar inspecting a wild elephant, from Akbar, Emperor of India.

Elephant

Dancing

Victoria & Albert Museum, Two Girls joining hands and performing a Kathak Dance. Tempera. India, Mughal period, c.1675

Jahangir Hunting with a Falcon

Bodleian Library Collection

Siege

detail

Two Women Riding

Detail
Bodleian Library Collection

Procession

Scholars

Riding Elephants

Young Maharana

Young Maharana, probably Raj Singh II, from the Small Clive Album. Mughal period, 16th-18th century.

In cold climates, people tend to like paintings with blue sunny skies; but in India, dark monsoon rain clouds are welcome relief from the long dry season, and are considered auspicious, hence their frequent appearance in Indian miniatures.

Elephants

detail