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{{Short description|Painting by Govardhan}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image = Govardhan. Jahangir Visiting the Ascetic Jadrup. ca. 1616-20, Musee Guimet, Paris.jpg
| artist = [[Govardhan (artist)|Govardhan]]
| year = {{circa|1620}}
| medium = Opaque watercolor on paper
| movement = [[Mughal painting|Mughal]]
| height_metric = 32.5
| width_metric = 19.3
| metric_unit = cm
| museum = [[Louvre]]
| city = Paris
}}

'''''Jahangir Visiting the Ascetic Jadrup''''' is a [[Mughal painting|Mughal]] painting by the artist [[Govardhan (artist)|Govardhan]], dated to about 1620.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Mumtaz |first=Murad Khan |author-link=Murad Khan Mumtaz |year=2023 |chapter=Sufi in the Garb of a Yogi: Visual and Literary Articulations of Sanctity |chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789004549449/BP000015.xml |title=Faces of God: Images of Devotion in Indo-Muslim Painting, 1500–1800 |url=https://brill.com/display/title/65073 |location=Leiden, Netherlands |publisher=Brill |pages=100–104 |isbn=9789004549449 |oclc=1381313480}}</ref> It depicts the lavishly dressed Mughal emperor [[Jahangir]] visiting the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] Jadrup, inside the latter's [[cave]] dwelling.<ref name=":1" /> It is now in the [[Louvre]], Paris.

== Background ==
[[Govardhan (artist)|Govardhan]] was an artist in the court of the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor [[Jahangir]]. The work was painted in order to illustrate a scene from Jahangir's autobiography, the ''[[Tuzk-e-Jahangiri|Jahangirnama]]'', wherein he recounts his visit to the [[Asceticism|ascetic]] Jadrup. Jadrup is described as a follower of the [[Vedanta]] tradition.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Goswamy |first=B. N. |author-link=B. N. Goswamy |date=October 7, 2012 |title=Where Silence Reigns: Paintings of Sufi Saints Often Take One into the Enchanting World Which They Endeavoured to Reach |url=https://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20121007/spectrum/art.htm |website=Spectrum}}</ref>

Several scholars, including [[Kavita Singh (scholar)|Kavita Singh]], have noted that in depicting the visit of a Muslim emperor to a Hindu ascetic, the painting proves to be an example of religious [[syncretism]] that developed at the Mughal court. [[Murad Khan Mumtaz]], however, argues against this interpretation, noting that the Mughal would have seen Jadrup and his beliefs with an Islamizing lens. In his autobiography, Jahangir writes, "the science of Vedanta is the science of [[Sufism]]".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

The structure of the painting is heavily inspired by a scene often illustrated in manuscripts of the [[Iskandarnameh (Nizami)|Iskandarnameh of Nizami]]. The scene would consist of [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] on the left and [[Plato]] on the right, with a city in the background, and Alexander's horse, groom, and attendants nearby.<ref name=":1" />

== Description ==
The painting is divided into two registers. The upper register, occupying the upper one-third of the painting is occupied by the emperor Jahangir and his host, the ascetic Jadrup. In a traditional Mughal painting of a ''[[Durbar (court)|durbar]]'' scene, this top-most register would contain the throne. Jahangir and Jadrup are both seated, facing each other, outside the latter's cave. While the emperor is dressed in [[brocade]] and [[Pearl|pearls]], Jadrup is wearing only a [[loincloth]]. Furthermore, Jahangir is depicted to be larger than Jadrup and unlike Jadrup, has a [[Halo (religious iconography)|halo]] around him. Jahangir has his feet tucked beneath him, as if he is performing the Islamic [[Salah|prayer]]. Jadrup has his hands raised, as if making a point, while the emperor listens to him. The entire upper register is painted in a similar gradient of [[ochre]], yellow, and brown. This family of colors is used to depict both the skin of Jahangir and Jadrup as well as the soil, thus indicating their connection to the soil.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Kavita |author-link=Kavita Singh (scholar) |date=March 7, 2017 |title=Real Birds in Imagined Gardens: Mughal Painting Between Persia and Europe |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jo0mDwAAQBAJ |location=Los Angeles |publisher=Getty Publications |pages=41–45 |isbn=978-1-60606-518-1 |oclc=954719958 |language=en}}</ref>

There is an intermediate tier between the two registers. This portion, which in a traditional scene would be occupied by high-ranking nobles, is left empty, as if to indicate that Jahangir and Jadrup have attained a spiritual status that no one else in the painting could even come close to.<ref name=":1" /> There is a dark green [[hedge]] that separates this tier from the lower register.<ref name=":0" />

The lower register occupies the lower one-third of the painting. It is occupied by Jahangir's entourage and includes various courtiers and officials.<ref name=":1" /> This register contains symbols of worldly life, such as a horse, an [[umbrella]], and a [[Hand fan|fan]].<ref name=":0" />

== Reception ==
[[B. N. Goswamy]], in an article, writes that through the work, the artist asks the question of who, between Jahangir and Jadrup, is the real king.<ref name=":2" /> [[Murad Khan Mumtaz]] posits that the painting portrays a convention wherein "a worldly king submits, almost ritually, to a king of the spiritual realm".<ref name=":0" /> [[Kavita Singh (scholar)|Kavita Singh]] praises the painting, writing, "It is with paintings like this that Mughal art is said to have reached its apogee under Jahangir".<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1620s paintings]]

[[Category:Caves in art]]
[[Category:Indian paintings]]
[[Category:Mughal art]]
[[category:Paintings in the Louvre]]
[[Category:Watercolor paintings]]
[[Category:Islamic art in the Louvre]]

Jahangir Visiting the Ascetic Jadrup - Revision history

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