FINE ARTS & CULTURE
Shahjahan's Padshah Nama in New Delhi: A Feast of Mughal Miniatures
Exactly two centuries after The Padshahnama – the imperial Moghul manuscript which chronicles the first decade of Emperor Shahjahan's reign - left the shores of the country; illustrations of this one-of-a-kind document have been brought to the country for a monthlong exhibition.
The exhibition which opened at the Capital's National Museum (on 27 January, 1997) has on view 44 paintings and two illuminations ("shamsa - the sunburst symbolic of divine light which at the start of a manuscript indicates a royal patron). This is the first time that the manuscript - which is now part of Britain's Royal Collection in Windsor Castle - is being displayed for public viewing.
Equally significant is the fact that so far only one opening of the bound book could be seen at any one time. This exhibition of all the illustrations together has been made possible because the book was unbound recently as part of conservation project.
After a month long stay in Delhi, the illustrations will be displayed at the Queen's Gallery in London's Buckingham Palace before moving to the United States where it will be mounted at The Freer Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum, the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Then it will be rebound and returned to the Royal Library.
The exhibition is part of the golden jubilee celebrations of India's Independence. For most of the 200 years of its stay in Britain, the volume has remained wrapped in the very same Lucknawi silk cloth in which it was presented to King George III in 1799. (In 1797) the ruling Nawabof Awadh handed over the manuscript to Governor-General Wellesley.
Dr. Milo Beach, Director of Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. who along with Ebba Koch has catalogued the manuscript was unwilling to put a price to the manuscript as there is nothing comparable to it.
The Padshah nama chronicles the first 10 years of Shah Jahan's reign. In 1639, the Emperor commissioned Abdul Hamid Lahori to create a historical narrative from the meticulous records that his officials kept right from the beginning of his rule in 1628. It was written in the official language of the Moghul Court, Persian and only one copy of the document - including the colourful illustrations executed by some of the best artists of the time - has survived.
While the text has not been put on display, all the illustrations have been mounted. Such is the attention paid to detail in the illustrations that it could put modern-day photographs to shame. The medium used is vegetable and mineral dye and the colour has not faded primarily because the paintings have not been exposed to harsh light. Dr. Beach explained. Magnifying glasses are available at the Museum for those who want to study every small detail in the miniature paintings.
If this is the first time that the miniatures are being displayed together, it could well be the only time. For the only way this document - described as the jewel among the Oriental manuscripts in the Royal Collection - can be saved for. Posterity in its original form without corrective "touches" is by keeping it away from harsh lights.
Proposal to Declare Qutub Area as Archaeological Park Sayed A. Shafi's Letter in the Pioneer,28 December, 1996
The proposal to create commercial ambience through fashion shops, boutiques, etc. in the vicinity of the Qutab Minar and its historic sites and monuments is nothing but a "reverse acculturation" which had its beginning with the way the Hauz Khas village has been transformed beyond recognition.
For sure, it has become a tourist point of attraction and visitors from abroad love it for its up-scale shops, boutiques, haberdashers and trendy eateries with the famous Hauz Khas monuments in its propinquity. However, the village, especially its historical monuments and the tomb of Ghyasuddin Tughlaq, have been left to wreck and ruin.
Very few are aware that within the Mehrauli-Qutab precincts are reposed different archaeological layers and remnants of several ancient and medieval cities that lie buried underneath. For Delhi, Qutub Minar is an acknowledged tourist attraction, but let us not forget that it is a part of Delhi's priceless heritage.
The Conservation Society of Delhi has been urging the authorities to declare the entire area as an Archaeological Park, so that whatever development undertaken is sensitively done scrutinised and permitted so that the environment and heritage are not debased. Hopefully, the Archaeological Department and Delhi Urban Art Commission would take serious note of these plans.
