This plate is featured in our children's book 'Adventures of Rama' co-published with the Freer and Sackler Gallery of Smithsonian. http://www.simplesites.in/bookinfo.php?id=75&catid=22

What an astounding illustration. Fabulous detail.

What does the writing say?

Amazing!

wonderful weightlessness

I wish people know more about Dara shikoh

I am proud to see the fusion, translation and moreover the globalisation of outstanding creations... great stuff Dipti... my one thing a day learning... :-)

The Persian Script is not readable from this picture, otherwise an attempt could be made to decipher what is written... Yeah Dara Shikoh's contribution to create an Interfaith Dialog in those days are commendable...

Mahadeva S Sarma : It is quite readable on my screen. I hope someone could translate this.

May be I will have to look for a monitor with greater resolution or is it possible for me to copy paste this as a pix and then blow it up.. to see the writing.. Sure a few words could be recognized...

YES! You are right RBSI, when I copied to Word 2010 it is very easily readable now I will attempt to "read" then work at the "meaning" at least of the passages here...

Mahadeva S Sarma : You can read Persian ??

Persian and Urdu have the same script called Nastaliq. The "pronunciation" may be different. We had a student from Afghanistan in our Engineering College. He used to read Urdu Newspaper. I had asked him whether he was able to understand anything. He had replied in the affirmative. Then I even reminded him that Urdu vocab is an admixture of 5 Languages. He said he knew about it. He also said that his mother tongue was Pushto the second language in Afghanistan. He also said, Mahadev you see Pushto and Sanskrit are "sisters"! Well, I had my resrvations but I had read earlier that Pushto has considerable Sanskrit content like Urdu for instance. He used to converse with us only in heavily accented English and not attempt Urdu. In the same way I will attempt this translation. I want to give it a try.

Your friend's observation that Pushto and Sanskrit are indeed sister languages might corroborate the theory propounded by Ranajit Pal ! Most interesting... Looking forward to your translation.

Pashtu language surprisingly does not share any linguistic similarity with any of its regional languages or with states or countries that border Pakistan and Afghanistan as most of the languages generally do. I can not comment on the Sanskrit Link but I would just like to add that the Afghanistan persian is known as Dari thats another accent of Persian and was not the Persian spoken by the Mughal Court. The Persian which was used by the Mughals was very much a Persian spoken in Iran or Tajikistan today.

Pashto people come from Pakhta tribe mentioned in our Vedas in the Up-gan-sthan now pronounced as Afghanistan long after Indian civilization lost its control of the region and much of its own language became a mix. Pashto's similarity with sanskrit won't be a surprise hence just as Dari's existence is not a surprising coz Persia ruled that region in parts from time to time even during Mughal times. Afghan ruler Abdali was in fact a general of Nadir Shah the Persian ruler whose most gruesome and inhuman invasion on Delhi marked the beginning of the end of the Mughals . Abdali's rule of Afghanistan was the first independent rule on that region after several centuries.

Permit me to make a few corrections to the discussion (above) on " Hanuman in a Persian translation of a Ramayana (1597-1605)". First, the name "Hanuman" is mis-spelt in the painting above as "Sahib-i Hamunan". The word 'Sahib' is added as a mark of respect. Second, this Persian translation was not done by Prince Dara Shikoh (who was born around 1615) as discussed above. During a recent visit to India, I was able to buy the book "Muntakhib-ul-Tawarikh" written by Mulla Abdul Qadir Badayuni in the time of Emperor Jalaluddin Akbar. (Badayuni was a contemporary of Abul Fazl, the chief advisor and writer for Emperor Akbar). Badayuni states that Akbar asked Badayuni to translate the Ramayan into Persian.It took him four years to complete the translation and he prepared two copies. He presented the Ramayan translation to Akbar in 1591 (999 Hijri). He writes that Akbar then asked him to write a Foreword. Later, Akbar rewarded Mulla Badayuni generously so that he could take a vaction for one year in Yasawar and Badayun.One sentence that I do not understand is that Akbar, on receiving the manuscript, asked "How many juz did it take to complete the work?". Badayuni replied "70 for the first one, and 120 for the second which is more elaborate". [What is the 'juz'? Can someone please explain.] It was then that Akbar suggested that, like all authors, you should also write a Foreword - a request that Badayuni quietly ignored. So the dates for the translation (1597 - 1605) are approximate; the actual date was 1591. This interesting book is more like a diary of events in Akbar's reign.