The social status of women musicians in Iranian and Indian paintings. Case study: Safavid and Gurkhani era

In the tenth century AH, India and Iran became great powers under the rule of two prominent Safavid and Gurkhanid dynasties. The peak of Safavid power in Iran coincided with the glorious power of the Gurkhanids in India, and this coincidence led to the establishment of relations between the two countries. The emergence of a special Indian painting style that arose due to the migration of Iranian painters to India is very important in the history of Islamic Indian art.The images of this period in both countries show that Iranian and Indian women in this period acted not only as dancers but also as musicians. According to the pictures under review, it seems that women musicians were not present in other places except in private gatherings (sometimes in the presence of the king himself and sometimes in a completely feminine manner without the presence of men). . It also seems that female musicians are only shown playing certain instruments, which could indicate that women are more skilled in those instruments than men.In this study, an attempt has been made to take a comparative and analytical look at the drawings of the two schools of Iran and India to find out whether women musicians have an equal position in the two countries and what is the variety of instruments used by them. ?. The results were obtained by examining 20 drawings from each school and using written sources as evidence. This research is a documentary-library with a comparative and analytical method and its data collection method.