"Portrait of Raja Bikramajit (Sundar Das)", Folio from the Shah Jahan Album

Bichitr|Mir 'Ali Haravi

recto: ca. 1620; verso: ca. 1540 · Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper · Islamic Art

Sundar Das was a Hindu whoses ancestors had been considerable landowners. He entered the service of Prince Khurram (Shah Jahan) and in 1617 Jahangir awarded him the title of Raja Bikramajit "which among Hindus is the highest" as Jahangir wrote in his memoirs. Raja Bikramajit was a brilliant military strategist and instrumental to the success of Prince Khurram's campaigns in the Deccan. In Shah Jahan's rebellion against Jahanagir in 1623–24, Raja Bikramajit sided with the prince, and when he was killed in battle, Jahangir was unashamedly gleeful, writing "By losing him the Wretch [Shah Jahan] lost courage, as though his luck, ambition, and reason were all found up with that Hindu dog." In Bichitr's brilliant portrait, the figure positively pulses with life.

Artist

Bichitr|Mir 'Ali Haravi

Date

recto: ca. 1620; verso: ca. 1540

Medium

Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper

Department

Islamic Art

Credit line

Purchase, Rogers Fund and The Kevorkian Foundation Gift, 1955