London, Oct. 28 (ANI): India's Mughal treasures are going on display in a major new exhibition in London, exploring the most powerful empires in history.
Jewels, rare ornaments, paintings and intricately illustrated manuscripts will feature in the British Library's exhibition exploring the extravagant lives of the Mughal emperors, who ruled in the South Asian subcontinent for more than 400 years.
The Mughals are renowned for their patronage of the arts, merging Indian and Persian influences to create works and monuments, including the Taj Mahal.
According to the Telegraph, among the exhibition's highlights will be the gold and gem-set crown worn by Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor who ruled from 1837 to 1858, who was deposed and exiled to Burma after Britain took full control of India.
The exhibition, which opens next month, will also include treasures during the reign of Jahangir Shah, who ruled from 1605 to 1627 and was renowned for his love of jade and natural history.
They include a jade terrapin, modelled on a 'three-striped roofed turtle'.
Among more than 200 exhibits from the British Library's collection that will go on display is an ivory sculpture of Akbar Shah II, the emperor from 1806 to 1837, who the British often referred to as "the King of Delhi", the report said.
"These stunning jewelled objects, manuscripts and paintings from Mughal India, some never before exhibited, open a window into a long-diminished world," Malini Roy, the curator of visual arts at the British Library, said.
"They reveal how the Mughals were determined to leave behind legacies of huge wealth and power and capture the true flavour of what Mughal court life must have been like - extravagant and colourful," she added.
According to the report, the exhibition will also feature drawings, paintings and photographs of majestic Mughal buildings, including the Taj Mahal.
Rare manuscripts in Persian, the Mughals' cultural and administrative language, will also be on display, the report added. (ANI)
