The Iconographic Transformation of the Sacred Messenger in the Persian Ramayana Painting: A Case Study of the Freer Collection Manuscript

Abstract

The Persian translation and illustration of Hindu epics—particularly the Ramayana—under Emperor Akbar of the Mughal dynasty (16th century) represented a major intercultural and political initiative aimed at promoting harmony between the Hindu majority and the Muslim ruling elite. The illustrated Persian Ramayana manuscripts mark a pivotal stage in the formation of Indo-Iranian visual culture, where artists from both traditions collaborated in imperial and semi-imperial ateliers. This study focuses on the miniature titled The Sacred Messenger at the Sacrificial Ritual from the Freer Gallery manuscript as a case to explore the process of iconographic transformation born of this cultural exchange.

Employing a qualitative descriptive–analytical method and Erwin Panofsky’s three-level iconographic framework, this study investigates the iconographic transformation of the sacred messenger across three key Persian Ramayana manuscripts: the imperial Jaipur Ramayana, the Hamida Banu Ramayana, and the Freer Ramayana commissioned by ʿAbd al-Rahim Khan-i-Khanan. Data were collected through library-based research, consulting written sources in Persian and English texts, including illustrated manuscripts of the Ramayana and other relevant studies on Mughal miniature paintings.

At the pre-iconographic level, the visual elements of “The Sacred Messenger at the Sacrificial Ritual” in the Freer manuscript were carefully described. At the iconographic level, symbolic motifs and visual signs were compared with textual descriptions in the Ramayana and its illustrated Persian versions produced during Akbar’s reign. At the iconological level, the study interpreted the cultural and religious meanings of iconographic changes within the intercultural context of the Mughal court.

The Comparative iconographic analysis reveals a gradual metamorphosis of the divine figure—from black-skinned in the Jaipur manuscript, to fair in the Hamida Banu version, and finally to saffron-orange in the Freer copy. These changes illustrate how artistic reinterpretation replaced strict adherence to Hindu textual sources with symbolic recontextualization aligned with the sensibilities of Muslim painters. The study identifies the degree of “fidelity” or “transfiguration” in the depiction of the sacred messenger.

In the Freer miniature, the painter Nadim portrayed the messenger with radiant orange skin and simplified attributes, transforming the figure from a literal Vedic deity into an allegorical embodiment of sacred light. The choice of saffron—a color signifying sanctity, renunciation, and divine illumination in both Hindu and Islamic symbolism—reflects the artist’s interpretive awareness rather than ignorance of Hindu tradition. This chromatic reconfiguration expresses a process of iconographic istihalah (transfiguration), wherein an imported mythological motif acquires new theological and aesthetic meanings in a multicultural setting.

The sacred messenger’s transformation thus serves as a microcosm of the Mughal atelier’s dialogic spirit, where artists negotiated unfamiliar mythologies through creative adaptation rather than imitation. The resulting hybrid image testifies to an emergent shared visual language.

The findings reveal the process of iconographic transfiguration as an outcome of cultural synthesis between Islamic–Iranian and Hindu visual traditions. In this sense, the Freer miniature is not merely a record of visual deviation but a document of intercultural understanding and a symbolic messenger of peace—mirroring the very figure it depicts.

Ultimately, the Freer Ramayana miniature exemplifies how artistic collaboration functioned as a medium of cultural translation.