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THE EULOGY OF BADSHAH JAHANGIR: CULTURAL, HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXT IN THE MUGHAL VISUAL PANEGYRIC // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2016. Issue 2 (8). P. 53-70

The article is devoted to problems of the interpretation of the Mughal allegorical portrait. The author discusses the complex process of transformation of verbal signs into visual signs on a material of the pictorial panegyric. The article addresses the issues connected with various aspects of the visualization of concepts and motifs common in the Mughal culture. It is also shown that the formation of the royal portrait was influenced by political and socio-cultural realities of the time. Their introduction into visual text contributed to the actualization and concretization of the literary mythologems that formed the basis of the Mughal ideological programme.

Keywords: mughal miniature, allegorical portrait, visual panegyric, badshah Jahangir

THE EULOGY OF BADSHAH JAHANGIR: POETICAL VARIATIONS OF THE MUGHAL ALLEGORICAL PORTRAIT // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2016. Issue 3 (9). P. 97-114

The paper is devoted to problems of correlation between the Mughal allegorical portrait and its original source – the Persian poetic eulogy. The strategy of translation from the verbal language to the language of painting suggested different variations: a close adherence to the text by which the onomastical and phraseological units of panegyrical topics were reproduced literally on the visual level, and also associative abstracting by which individual motives and devices were applied and visualized indirectly through the significant attributes, recognizable hints, and the like. This article is intended only to sketch the basic lines of interaction between different levels of reading of the Mughal visual panegyric and to show how the difficult task of visualization of literary conventions was solved on a practical level to glorify the king.

Keywords: visual panegyric, verbal panegyric, mughal painting, allegorical portrait, literary conventions, badshah Jahangir

THE DYNASTIC PRIDE OF THE GREAT MUGHALS AND THE FORMS OF ITS MANIFESTATION // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2017. Issue 1 (11). P. 48-65

As shown by current research in the field of metaindividual psychology of art, emotional response to some action/event can have different forms of realization and manifest not only in the verbal form, pantomime or behavioral strategies, but also in visual art. The analysis given in the paper is an attempt to show the forms of manifestation of the Mughal dynastic pride on a specific empirical material and to explore meanings and value which could be assigned to the material objects of Timurid art and Mughal culture. The pictorial manifestation of dynastic pride of the Great Mughals was predominantly implemented in the field of visual propaganda (state regalia and miniature painting).

Keywords: dynastic pride, heirloom, family tree, genealogical seal, dynastic portrait, Great Mughals, Timur, Timurids

THE RADIANT FACE OF THE GREAT MUGHAL: THE CONCEPT OF FARR-I IZADI AND ITS VISUAL REPRESENTATION // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2017. Issue 2 (12). P. 9-29

The article is devoted to problems of interpretation and pictorial manifestation of the mystical concept farr-i izadi which was an integral part of the Mughal ideological programme. The crucial idea of this conception is to proclaim the divine origin of the Great Mughals’ power and their legal right to the heavenly patronage. Theoretical concepts and verbal formulas of farr-i izadi were visually represented in the official Royal portraits in the form of halo that adorned the head of a Mughal ruler. For allegorical portraits of the Mughal emperors were also developed more sophisticated pictorial forms.

Keywords: visual representation, divine light, king’s farr, holiness, halo, mughal painting, Great Mughals

THE IMAGE OF YUSUF IN MUGHAL PAINTING: ON THE ISSUE OF READING PICTORIAL TEXT // ΠΡΑΞΗMΑ. Journal of Visual Semiotics. 2018. Issue 2 (16). P. 195-204

The article is devoted to the study of the semantic, imaginative and iconographic component of the pictorial representation of the story of Yusuf in Mughal miniature painting of the 16th–17th centuries. In Muslim culture, Yusuf is a prophet and messenger in the Quran, as well as the main character of the famous poem “Yusuf and Zulaykha” of ʻAbd al-Rahman Jami. On the basis of the examples from the mughal pictorial art the author of the article consider the problem of existence in the Mughal cultural environment of the two artistic practices, the traditional visual embodiment of the image of Yusuf in the vein of Persian art and his pictorial and symbolic interpretation in the Mughal style. On the one hand, Mughal artists knew and skillfully applied iconography of the story of Yusuf which was elaborated in the Persian miniature painting. On the other hand, the conventional iconography and stylistic component could undergo certain changes in the Mughal painting. The Mughal pictorial interpretations corresponded to the refined aesthetics and philosophy of the Mughal court culture, as well as were consistent with the Mughal power ideology. Mughal miniatures with scenes from the story of Yusuf served not only as illustrations for the famous poem of Jami, but also decorated the divans of famous Indian poets and skillfully decorated Mughal albums-muraqqaʻ.

Keywords: interpretation of the pictorial narrative, Yusuf, Joseph, Mughal painting, The Great Mughals, India