Paper short abstract:

Focusing on an illustrated translation of the ‘Ain-i Akbari, commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Gentil (fl. 1752-99), this paper explores the notion of visual translation and its capacity to create and shift meaning. It considers both the initial production of the manuscript and its later reception in Europe.

Paper long abstract:

In the sixteenth century, as the Mughal empire expanded under the emperor Akbar I (r. 1556-1605), his prime vizier Abu'l Fazl compiled a multi-volume encyclopedic text with statistical and narrative descriptions of India, covering topics from Indian geography to the tenets of Hinduism. Known as the 'Ain-i Akbari, or Annals of Akbar, the work proved invaluable as the emperor conquered and consolidated territory in South Asia. Two centuries later, the 'Ain-i Akbari drew the interest of European scholars, translators, and collectors.

Focusing on what I argue is one of the earliest translations of the 'Ain-i Akbari, commissioned by the French East India Company officer Jean-Baptiste Gentil (fl. 1752-1799), this paper explores the notion of visual translation and its capacity to create and shift meaning. Rather than undertake a complete and solely textual translation of the manuscript, Gentil selected particular passages, translated these from Persian into French with the help of Indian scholar-translators (munshis), and commissioned illustrations from Indian artists. I examine the extent to which the manuscript paintings exceeded their illustrative function, constituting encyclopedic and ethnographic narratives that functioned alternatively in concert with or independently of text. I also consider the way in which these images came to imbue the manuscript with new meanings, reflecting in particular on the object's reception in Europe and its subsequent classification as a "customs and manners" album. In addressing these questions, I reflect upon what is to be both elucidated and obscured, gained and lost, in the translation of Indo-Persian narratives in image and text.