Miniatures are small-sized paintings generally done in water colour on cloth or paper. The earliest miniatures were on palm leaves or wood.
These painters illustrated manuscripts containing historical accounts and poetry. The Mughal Emperors patronised these highly skilled painters

Amritsar had developed around the central Gurudwara known as Harmandar Sahib, the Golden Temple. It was virtually a self-governing body and the modern historians refer to the early 17th century Sikh community as 'a state within state'. This made the Mughal Emperor Jahangir hostile to the Sikh community.

Baba Guru Nanak had a large number of followers. They belonged to a number of castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated.

Ramanuja was a Bhakti saint. He was born in Tamil Nadu in the 11th century. He was deeply influenced by the Alvars. The main points of his preachings are
(i) He taught people to get salvation by showing devotion to Vishnu.
(ii) He propounded the doctrine of Vishishtadvaita or qualified oneness.

There are many saint-poets whose compositions have been included in this chapter. More about their works have been given in holy books. Most notable among them are Guru Nanak, Surdas, Kabir, Mirabai, Goswami Tulsidas. Their religious poems, songs are read out and are sung at religious places and by devotees who are singers and composers. Devotional songs, poems can be heard in radio also. I have read certain books which belong to Guru Nanak. Many pada, poems, depict scenes about his life and good deeds that he did. It all speak about the upholding of ethical values, deeds, paths one should go after.

The given picture depicts the figure from Gita, the holy text of Hinduism. In the picture, the Lord Krishna is looking back to convince Arjuna, the one of five Pandavas to go ahead, fight for truth. Lord Krishna is explaining the philosophy of 'KARMA' (Duty) to Arjuna that is do your duty, under all circumstances and leave the rest on God.

A New wave of Bhakti movement erupted during the 13th century. This was an age when Islam, Brahmanical Hinduism, Sufism, various strands of Bhakti, the Nath panthis, Siddhas and yogis influenced one another.
The main reason was that the ordinary strata of the society such as craftspersons, peasants, traders, etc showed their interest in listening to these new saints. The notable saints like Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak did not approve the orthodox religions. Tulsidas and Surdas accepted existing beliefs and practices but wanted to make these accessible to all. Tulsidas conceived of God in theform of Rama who wrote Ramacharitmanas in praise of him.
Surdas was an ordent devotee of Krishna. His compositions compiled in the Sursagara, Sursarawali and Sahitya Lahari, express his devotion. Shankaradeva of Assam emphasised devotion to Vishnu and composed poems and plays in Assamese. Besides, Surdas, Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai are worth mentioning about their role in Bhakti movement.

(i) Guru Nanak, (ii) Mirabai, Narsi Mehta (iii) Surdas (iv) Shankaradeva (v) Eknath, Tukaram, Namdev