"Hamza's Heroes Fight in Support of Qasim and Badi'uzzaman", Folio from a Hamzanama (The Adventures of Hamza)

Tara · 1564-01-01T00:00:00Z

The Hamzanama relates the story of Hamza, an uncle of the prophet Mohammad and an ardent defender of Muslim faith. In this folio, two of Hamza’s allies, Qazim and Badiʿuzzaman fight under a pavilion. The scene is overrun with chaos as other groupings of rivals join the brawl. The drama-filled story of the Hamzanama was a favorite of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who commissioned this magnificent manuscript in 1562. Composed of 1400 illustrations and bound into several volumes, the work took nearly one hundred artists fifteen years to complete.