Thank you for downloading this episode of a history, the image is almost everything.

We're all familiar with the more important to be seen with the right religious leader and it can be riskier to be

seen shaking hands with the Pope or the Dalai Lama for instance may bring electoral benefits

though it may also have tricky political consequences, but few political leaders today

would choose to make a public display of humility by being seen receiving religious

instruction or even reprimand. All the objects this week explore the relationship between different faiths four to five hundred years ago.

In 17th century India, the dialogue between power and faith was every bit as complex and

as explosive as it is today. But around 1610 the photo

opportunities were very different. No press photographs, no 24-hour

television news, just painting. Painting aimed at a very targeted

audience and it's such a painting that I want to look at in this program. A

miniature from Mughal India that embodies a rare, perhaps a unique relationship

between the world of the ruler and the realm of faith.

The message is that a ruler must know his people, his subjects, especially in a country like

India where there were several religions coexisting and they also should know that their king is to protect every

single religion. A history of the world in a hundred objects. Watercolor miniature of a mughal prints from India.

Painted around 1610.

In the 16th and 17 centuries, Europe and Asia were dominated by three great Islamic empires, Turkey, Iran and riches by far, Mughal India.

It reached its height in the years around 1600 under Emperor Akbar,

who was almost an exact contemporary of our Elizabeth I,

and it continued to flourish under his son

Jahange. Our painting was made during Jahange's reign. The Mughal Empire was

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