Describe the process of manuscript production in the Mughal court.
All the Mughal books were manuscripts. In other words, they were handwritten. The centre where the work of manuscript production was taken was known as the imperial kitabkhana. This Kitabkhana was like a library. It was a scriptorium. In other words, it was a place where the emperor kept his collection of manuscripts and produced new manuscripts.
A large number of people were involved in the creation of manuscript. They included the following:
(i) Paper makers who prepared the folios of the manuscript.
(it) Scribes or calligraphers who copied the texts.
(iii) Guilders who illuminated the pages of the manuscript.
(iv) Painters who illustrated scenes from the text.
(v) Book binders who gathered the individual folios and set them within ornamental covers.
In the end, all these manuscripts were considered very precious and invaluable. They were a work of beauty and intellectual wealth.
