Akbar Visits the Tomb of Khwaja Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer | Restored Mughal Wall Art

Emperor Akbar approaches the tomb of the great Sufi saint Khwaja Mu'in ad-Din Chishti at Ajmer — a sea of attendants, courtiers, dervishes, elephants and servants surrounding the imperial procession. At the top of the page, inside the canopied shrine, the holy figure is presented to the emperor in quiet exchange. Below, a Mughal nobleman dismounts from a tall white elephant.

Akbar made the pilgrimage to Ajmer on foot many times — the Khwaja's shrine was the spiritual centre of his court's Sufi devotion, and his veneration of the saint was a public sign of his religious ecumenicism. Painted by Basawan, the towering master of Akbar's atelier, ca. 1590, for an illustrated Akbarnama.

Restored from the museum archives by aurahliving.com.