Verses Praising the Ascetic Life, calligraphy by Mir `Ali Haravi, with elaborate figural paintings in the border by an unknown artist, folio from the Gulshan Album

Figures from Christian and European iconography were popular in Mughal painting under emperor Akbar who promoted a new religious policy of “universal peace” (sulh-i kull) with all faiths. This trend continued under his son and successor, Jahangir. This folio, from the so-called Gulshan Album assembled for Jahangir, is decorated with several figural vignettes in a golden landscape. The two seated women on the right are modeled on classical or biblical figures depicted in European engravings. Above them is the crucifixion of Christ. In Islam, Jesus (ʿIsa) is the penultimate prophet. Muslims, however, believe that he did not die on the cross but was raised to heaven by God. In Sufi literature, Jesus is represented as a renouncer of worldly life, and that association is alluded to here in the presence of two ascetics on the left and in the Persian quatrain, which reads: For the sake of a morsel and a cloak every moment, it is not fitting to cause harm to people. A piece of bread for sustenance is sufficient. A tattered dervish garment for life is enough.