There must be plenty of art enthusiasts who don’t know what a regular Mughal is, let alone a Great Mughal. The memory of a dynasty that was once the world’s richest has been fading everywhere, except wherever William Dalrymple is taking his one-man word manufactory. For a dazzling visual reminder, there is the V&A’s latest exhibition in London: The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, which opens to the public this weekend.
The museum that bears the name of the first Empress of India is going beyond the bling. It’s a subject the size of a subcontinent, with the accomplished hand of curator Susan Stronge steering the juggernaut through a maze of misapprehensions and hostility. Juggernaut (originally Jagannath) is, of course, a Hindu entity as well as a term that used to be heard a lot more than it is nowadays. The impression made by India in the 19th century is immense: "Juggernaut" was used by Dickens, HG Wells and RL Stevenson. The references were rarely favourable; Mr Hyde, for example, was described as a vehicle of this deity.
