FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE: The Emperor’s Body and the Artist’s Brush

IN JULY 1600, Emperor Akbar’s son Prince Salim (the future Jahangir, r. 1605–27) proclaimed himself padshah (emperor) and established a rival court in Allahabad, around three hundred miles southeast of Akbar’s imperial residence in Agra. The father and son reconciled some four years later—time enough for the seditious Salim to patronize a number of gardens and tombs and establish a manuscript workshop in his fledgling capital. The latter endeavor was among his chief priorities, if a portrait of him dated AH 1009 (1600–1601 CE)—the inaugural year of his rebellion—is any indication (fig. 3.1). The portrait