A dynastic portrait of the Mughal (Mongol, though they spoke Chagatai, a Turkic language with Mongol influences, and were culturally Persianized which is made obvious by their choice of Persian names) Gurkhani (in laws to the Mongol Borjigins which is a traditional title they carried ever since Tamerlane's decree)Dynasty starting with Tamerlane himself sitting on the throne(who in 1620 when this painting was commissioned by Jahangir had been dead for two centuries).
To Tamerlane's right, Babur is seated, dresses in muted yellow, the very founder of the Mughal Dynasty(who is also a maternal descendant of Genghis Khan) and also, I may add, a great autobiographer who composed the Baburnarma.
His son Humayun, the man with the elaborate red and white headscarf who would become the next ruler of the Mughal Lineage, is seated on the opposite side, to Tamerlane's left, and seemingly imitating the gestures of his great ancestor. He was a great patron of the arts and architecture, the first man to commission what would later be called Mughal Architecture.
Humayun's son Akbar, the smaller man wearing an orange headscarf and dressed in purple robes, is generally considered to be one of the greatest, most openminded and innovative rulers in the history of the subcontinent. Born to an aristocratic Persian mother, he would go on to expand the Mughal Empire's borders greatly.
Akbar who enjoyed the cultures of the lands he had conquered and wrote extensively about them in his own autobiography, the Akbarnarma which was composed in Persian rather than Chagatai Turkic(Ali Shir Navai would not approve), took a Hindu Rajput Princess to be one of his many wives and made Jahangir, a man who - even though he was not nearly as accomplished a ruler as his father had been and relegated many difficult tasks concerning government to his wife - was very well aware of the fact that his ancestors were Great Strong Proud Powerful and Mighty Mongoloid Men and Conquerors.
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