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Humanities and Arts

IMAGES FOR INSTRUCTION: A MULTILINGUAL ILLUSTRATED DICTIONARY IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY SULTANATE INDIA

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VIVEK GUPTA

VIVEK GUPTA

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© attribution CC-BY-ND

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1536 Views

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2022-04-05

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/22118993-00381P04

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Philosophy
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Abstract

When I began studying the Miftāḥ al-Fużalāʾ (Key of the Learned), Robert Skelton, the doyen of the art of the book in India, challenged me to imagine the many other manuscripts that would have been available to the artists who made this book. Attributed to the central Indian sultanate of Malwa, the Miftāḥ is the only known illustrated Persian dictionary (farhang) in the Islamicate manuscript tradition. For its fifteenth-century makers, the Miftāḥ was a wholly new text, written in 1468–69 by Muhammad ibn Muhammad Da⁠ʾud Shadiyabadi. The Miftāḥ required its artists to search for and codify visual representations of particular words from canonized manuscript genres such as the Islamicate cosmography (ʿajāʾib al-makhlūqāt) or works of belles-lettres (adab). This process of selectively adapting from an array of genres in order to create a new one, namely the illustrated farhang, would have allowed artists to experiment with the Islamicate manuscript tradition in India. By illustrating definitions, the Miftāḥ also became a manual on literary and visual languages for students in the fifteenth century. This article demonstrates that the book was conceived as a didactic work intended to educate members of sultanate society.

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ARTICLE USAGE


Article usage: Apr-2022 to May-2025
Show by month Manuscript Video Summary
2025 May 111 111
2025 April 83 83
2025 March 72 72
2025 February 46 46
2025 January 50 50
2024 December 54 54
2024 November 68 68
2024 October 52 52
2024 September 64 64
2024 August 38 38
2024 July 38 38
2024 June 31 31
2024 May 30 30
2024 April 47 47
2024 March 50 50
2024 February 31 31
2024 January 26 26
2023 December 44 44
2023 November 48 48
2023 October 21 21
2023 September 21 21
2023 August 10 10
2023 July 29 29
2023 June 19 19
2023 May 28 28
2023 April 18 18
2023 March 24 24
2023 January 2 2
2022 December 17 17
2022 November 57 57
2022 October 30 30
2022 September 32 32
2022 August 44 44
2022 July 42 42
2022 June 93 93
2022 May 43 43
2022 April 23 23
Total 1536 1536
Show by month Manuscript Video Summary
2025 May 111 111
2025 April 83 83
2025 March 72 72
2025 February 46 46
2025 January 50 50
2024 December 54 54
2024 November 68 68
2024 October 52 52
2024 September 64 64
2024 August 38 38
2024 July 38 38
2024 June 31 31
2024 May 30 30
2024 April 47 47
2024 March 50 50
2024 February 31 31
2024 January 26 26
2023 December 44 44
2023 November 48 48
2023 October 21 21
2023 September 21 21
2023 August 10 10
2023 July 29 29
2023 June 19 19
2023 May 28 28
2023 April 18 18
2023 March 24 24
2023 January 2 2
2022 December 17 17
2022 November 57 57
2022 October 30 30
2022 September 32 32
2022 August 44 44
2022 July 42 42
2022 June 93 93
2022 May 43 43
2022 April 23 23
Total 1536 1536
Related Subjects
History
Music
Language
Philosophy
Classics
Art
copyright icon

© attribution CC-BY-ND

  • 0

rating
1536 Views

Added on

2022-04-05

Doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/22118993-00381P04

Related Subjects
History
Music
Language
Philosophy
Classics
Art

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