The Mughal Empire

The Salar Jung Museum

The Salar Jung Museum, located on the southern bank of the river Musi in the city of Hyderabad in present-day Telangana, is one of the largest and most important museums in India, with a collection that includes a substantial body of Mughal and post-Mughal artifacts gathered by the Salar Jung family, the principal ministers of the Nizams of Hyderabad, over a period of more than a century. The museum was established in 1951, three years after the death of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, the last Salar Jung, and it is one of the three national museums of India. The collection includes a wide range of Mughal artifacts, including arms and armor, textiles, paintings, manuscripts, jade and ivory carvings, the famous jade dagger of Jahangir, Aurangzeb’s sword, marble carvings from the palaces of Delhi, Bidri ware from the Deccan, Chinese porcelain, and a substantial collection of European paintings and decorative arts.

The Salar Jung Family

The Salar Jung family produced a line of prime ministers, the Salar Jungs, who served the Nizams of Hyderabad over more than a century. The title Salar Jung, meaning “Leader in War,” was first conferred on Mir Turab Ali Khan in 1853 by the third Nizam. The most prominent members include Salar Jung I, the principal minister of the third Nizam and the architect of the modern Hyderabad state, Salar Jung II, who served the fourth and fifth Nizams, and Salar Jung III, who died in 1949 and whose collection forms the nucleus of the museum. The family was a major patron of the arts, and the collection was supplemented by acquisitions from the Mughal imperial collections dispersed after the Rebellion of 1857, the collections of the nawabs of the Deccan, and other sources.

The Establishment of the Museum

The museum was established in 1951, three years after the death of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, and is housed in a purpose-built building on the southern bank of the river Musi. It was formally opened on 16 December 1951, originally as a state museum, and it became a national institution in 1958, when it was placed under the direct control of the government of India. The original collection, consisting of the personal collection of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, has been substantially expanded, and the museum now holds more than forty-three thousand objects, including Mughal and post-Mughal artifacts, European paintings, Asian art, and a number of other categories.

The Mughal Artifacts

The Mughal artifacts in the collection constitute bodies of Mughal material in any museum in the world. The jade dagger of Jahangir, objects in the collection, is a small but extraordinarily refined jade dagger reputedly part of the personal collection of Jahangir. The dagger is notable for the refinement of its carving, the quality of the jade, and the integration of the jade with the gold and precious stones that form the hilt and the sheath.

The sword of Aurangzeb, another celebrated object, is a substantial steel sword reputedly part of the personal collection of Aurangzeb, notable for the quality of the steel and the simplicity of the design. The marble carvings from the palaces of Delhi, another important body of objects, are carved and inlaid marble fragments removed from the Mughal palaces of Delhi following the Rebellion of 1857 and the dispersal of the imperial collections. The fragments include carved and inlaid marble panels, screens, and other objects, and they provide an important indication of the quality of the decorative art of the late Mughal period.

The Bidri Ware

The Bidri ware in the collection is a substantial body of metalwork objects from the Deccan tradition, in which zinc and copper alloys are cast into objects, inlaid with silver and gold, and finished with a black patina that produces a striking contrast with the inlay. The tradition was developed in Bidar in the seventeenth century, and the objects in the Salar Jung Museum include huqqa bases, spittoons, plates, vases, and other forms. The collection is among the most important bodies of Bidri ware in any museum in the world.

The Chinese Porcelain

The Chinese porcelain in the collection, gathered by the Nizams and their ministers over more than two centuries, includes vases, plates, bowls, teapots, and other forms drawn from the principal periods of the Chinese porcelain tradition, including the Ming, the Qing, and the later periods. The collection is among the most important bodies of Chinese porcelain in any museum in India.

The European Paintings

The European paintings and decorative arts, collected by the Salar Jung family and the Nizams of Hyderabad, include portraits, landscapes, religious subjects, and other categories drawn from the British, French, Italian, Dutch, and Flemish schools. The collection is among the most important bodies of European paintings in any museum in India.

Role in Preserving Mughal Heritage

The Salar Jung Museum has played a significant role in preserving the material heritage of the Mughal Empire. The collection of Mughal artifacts, including the jade dagger of Jahangir, the sword of Aurangzeb, the marble carvings from the palaces of Delhi, and the wide range of other Mughal and post-Mughal objects, has been a major resource for the study of the Mughal architecture tradition, the decorative arts of the period, and the broader cultural history of the dynasty. The museum has also been a major centre for the conservation of Mughal objects, for the display of the Mughal material heritage to the public, and for the publication of scholarly work on the dynasty, with the Salar Jung Museum: A Guide to the Collection being an important resource for the study of the dynasty.

Controversies

The Salar Jung Museum has been the subject of a number of controversies since its establishment. The most significant concerns the provenance of a number of objects in the collection, particularly the marble carvings from the palaces of Delhi and the jade dagger of Jahangir. The provenance of the jade dagger is debated, with some scholars arguing that the dagger was a later European production imitating Mughal styles, and others arguing that it was a genuine Mughal object from the personal collection of Jahangir. The provenance of the marble carvings from the palaces of Delhi has also been the subject of considerable debate in the context of the wider discussion of the dispersal of the imperial collections following the Rebellion of 1857, and the sale of objects from the imperial collections and their acquisition by museums and private collections in India, Europe, and North America have been the subject of considerable legal and political attention. The management of the museum has also been criticised for not doing enough to conserve the objects, develop the educational and scholarly resources, or engage with the public, and the institution has been the subject of a number of major management reviews in the post-Independence period.

For the broader context of the imperial building tradition, the Mughal architecture overview pillar offers a synthetic account, while the cluster page on the decline of the Mughal Empire provides the historical context for the dispersal of the imperial collections. The Red Fort cluster page examines the principal site of the imperial collections before the Rebellion of 1857.

Sources

  • Catalogue of the Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad, 3rd ed. (Government of Andhra Pradesh, 1975).