ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND PLATO IN MUGHAL MANUSCRIPT

The Mughal Empire, or Mogul Empire, was an early-modern empire in South Asia .For about two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus basin in the West, Northern Afghanistan in the Northwest, and Kashmir in the North, to the highlands of present-day Assam and Bangladesh in the East, and the uplands of the Deccan Plateau in South India. The legacy of this Empire has greatly influenced the history of India and the monuments of these kings are among the most famous sights of the subcontinent.

The Khamsa of the Indian poet Amir Khusrau includes a section on the Greek King Alexander the Great, who in Khusrau’s telling of his life led expeditions to China, Russia, and the Western Isles, and also undertook quests of a spiritual dimension. Here, Alexander depicted as a turbaned king is seated on the right, listening to the sage Plato, who offers advice on rulership but also warns of Alexander’s impending death.

This image is essentially symbolic, since Plato lived before Alexander and the two of them never met in real life. However, Plato's Cave is a theme mentioned in the Koran; and so is Alexander the Great. These two major personalities of Ancient Greece, who had a tremendous impact in world History, appear together in this picture of a scholarly work created by Amir Khusrau, one of the most iconic Indian Sufi artists and scholars.

Sources: Wikipedia, The MET Museum , Oumar Sankhare: Le Coran et la Culture Grecque