Reflection of flora and fauna in Mogul miniature : these paintings speak volumes about nature

  

Jahangir with Falcon

When we look at paintings, we slowly realise how these paintings communicate to us. Each line, each form, each colour, the spatial arrangement speaks volumes. By studying these paintings, we can realise what kind of culture prevailed during that period. The very word ‘culture’ itself denotes lot of things like material culture, the way of living, the behavioural aspect, tastes,  ideas, concepts and values. Keeping all these things in mind, one can have a look at these rich paintings for deeper understanding. When I look at these mogul miniature paintings in the backdrop of  fast growing urbanisation in recent years, which is a matter of concern for all of us,   these  paintings beautifully unfold before us the richness of vegetation, which the artists have captured in fine lines and colours. Now cities are growing both horizontally and vertically because of the greediness of real estate people and that too at the cost of beautiful, rich vegetation.  If urban development continues in the same manner, the next generations will see vegetation only in paintings and books.       

Moghul  and Rajput miniatures, two independent schools of art,  are considered to be the cream of Indian art, which flourished from 15^th  to 17^th century. The Mogul Dynasty was established in India by the emperor Babar. Emperor Babar was much more in interested in expanding his empire, so he could not give much attention to the developments of art and architecture, though he had a strong liking for art, literature and music.  But the emperors who followed  Babar have given India a huge collection of unforgettable miniatures  and architecture of excellence to India.  The emperor Barbar’s son Humayun, when he ascended to the throne, was forced in to exile to Persia in the beginning as one of his generals rose against him. Emperor Humayun as a refugee was given shelter by Safavid Dynasy which was ruling Persia then. During his stay in Persia, Humayun got acquainted with the Persian art and artists. As a result, while coming back to India after defeating the general with the help of Safavid  emperor, he brought a couple of famous artists from Persia. Those Persian artists and Indian artists worked together and produced a body of interesting works , which is the fusion  of Indian and Persian  sensibilities.  Today also, we see these works with great pleasure as these have tremendous charm.

Coming to the point, in Mogul miniatures we see a lot of importance being given to vegetation. The rulers and the artists as well gave priority to detail about the vegetation. It shows their close connectivity with nature and love for it. While going through the pages of Mogul history, I read that emperor Jahangir, the grandson of Humayun, was very much interested in collecting the rare spies of birds, plants and flowers. He used to instruct his ministers to collect rare things and document them through painting. And these paintings were preserved in a systematic manner in a chronological way.  As a result, we see mogul miniatures, especially the borders embellished with beautiful flora and fauna. Most of the portraits of these emperors and their family members have beautiful borders interlaced with flowers, birds and plants.  Human being as a part of nature, his/her association with nature is essential for harmonious living and these borders inhabited with vegetation reflect the same concept.

Shah Abbas II with falcon

During his time, the emperor Jehangir used to get his portraits done by famous artists. As a result, we see a series of portraits of Jehangir in various moods. Not only his portraits, his family members too had got their portraits done by the court painters. The court painter culture had developed during the reign of Jehangir, who was very much interested in art, literature and music. Those highly respected court painters were very skilled   and  each one was expert in a certain field. Sometimes the artists expert in a certain field used paint that part and other artists used to contribute their expert skills to the remaining parts, so it used to be a collective work. So, most of the paintings are not signed by the artists.  Due  to the existence of these court painters, the practice of painting had continued for a long time. The emperor Jehangir had an eye for beautiful and rare species;  the rich portrait of Jehangir with Falcon on his right hand is the indication of his genuine interest in nature. The falcon seems to be in a sweet mood as wings have been raised to cheer up the majesty and the emperor is looking at the bird intently. The most interesting fact is the long gown of the emperor has been covered with animals like deers, tigers, birds and plants.  Roland Barthes has written extesively about the dress and decoding, and we can apply the same decoding theory here to get deeper meanings.

Here is one more painting belonging to a dynasty called Safavid Dynasty, which  ruled Persia then. The portrait belongs to Shah Abbas II who ruled Iran from 1642 to 1666. He was the seventh Shah of Safavid dynasty. The emperor Jehangir’s portrait and the portrait of Shah AbbasII have similarities. Shah Abbas has been shown with a falcon on his right hand and the borders have been covered with the thick vegetation with animals and birds. Life of animals and birds has been observed closely and depicted naturally by the artists in both the paintings. Love making, copulating, killing – all have been depicted through delicate sensuous lines and colours. Though these borders give pleasure at the first sight, on the second and third look, the paintings reveal the secrets of the vegetation. The birds, animals, tress, plants have been rendered very realistically.

The Moghul Miniatures are a source of eternal inspiration for artists and the onlookers. Though small in size, they speak volumes.      

Black and white Photographs : My experience with a famous photographer

When we see the black and white photographs, they certainly give us a kick, and take us to back to some particular period and unfold some beautiful memories, which have been treasured for the present. Through these photographs we come to know the material culture of the particular period and this material culture speaks about the economical and social conditions, fashions, gender equations and so on. These are documentation which communicate about family history. When I visited our village, in the big old mud house, I found a row of black and white photographs hung on the wall in each room. The photographs were in odd sizes, some big and some very small, framed in coffee colour frames. The photographs have turned yellow with the passage of time but they seemed very interesting. Some of the senior family members were photographed in their youth with their wives and husbands. Time waits for no one. When I shifted my focus from photograph to the elderly faces there was pain because of inexplicable loss. Some of the kids in the photographs have flowered into young beautiful girls, and some into handsome boys. The interesting and revealing thing is the small girls in the photographs are all boys dressed up as girls. The small boys in the photo are wearing long skirts and small tops revealing their bellies. Their hair has been woven into plaits and lots of flowers in it. One of the boys has long plait almost touching to the ankle which is woven with jasmine flower garland. The boy is made to stand in front of a big mirror and the mirror placed behind the boy reflects and shows how beautifully the plait is made with flower. In those days, especially in 50s and 60s, people were interested in dressing up boys in girls’ costumes and decorate their plaits with flowers and getting them photographed. That was a prevalent fashion in those days and every house used to flaunt some photographs in such fashion.

In 60s and 70s, when we were studying in the colleges, after graduation every graduate used to get himself or herself photographed in black convocation gown and with a rolled paper in hand which was supposed to be the graduation certificate. The graduation photographs in rows decorated the walls of the house till the late1980s and one could count how many graduates were in a house. During those times, studios used to swell with the graduates and studio owners used to keep a couple of convocation gowns and couple of rolled papers as handy. Colour photographs were very rare then.

A few years back, I met a famous black and white portrait photographer. He had photographed all most all the famous personalities in India through his magic camera. I wanted to get myself photographed by him. I want to share this beautiful experience of mine with you. One day my husband invited him to our house for this particular session and he agreed to come next morning. No doubt, he was man of great experience. On his arrival, we all sat together for breakfast. Sitting on a couch, he was observing the light effects on my face, of which I was totally unaware. Sometime later, he asked me to apply a little bit of coconut oil to my face. Applying the oil, I came back and sat in the same place,and continued sipping my tea. Half an hour passed in chatting, suddenly he asked me to be quiet and asked me to turn my face slightly and took couple of photographs. That was all. After that he photographed my husband and my son in the same manner effortlessly. A fortnight later, we received the photographs, I looked glamorous and stunning like an actress with beautiful light effects in the background, in the photograph, so my husband and son. What I liked most was his casual approach. He did not make us to strain ourselves as other photographs do by asking one to pose repeatedly; his method was very unusual and casual and we were never given chance to become conscious while being photographed. My salutes to him!! He is none other than K.G.Somshekar, known for black and white portraits.

K.G.Somashekar was a painter in the beginning and for a brief period he painted on sandalwood sheets but due some eye problem he had to give up painting and take up photography. He was very simple and talkative person. When it came to photography, he was a natural photographer with an eye for light and shade and emotions. As eyes always communicate volumes silently, he always gave prominence and focused on eyes in the portraits and captured them at their best. He always preferred to capture famous writers, artists, and musicians rather to politicians. His lenses captured more than thousand famous personalities in various moods. Some of the known personalities are MotherTheresa,Salman Rushdie, Satyjit ray,J.R.D.Tata ,Ali Akbar Khan, Vijay Tendulkar, Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur, Pandit Bimsen Joshi, Vidushi Gangubai Hangal, Kamaladevei Chattophadyaya, Amrita Pritam,B.V.Karant, Kuvempu, Da.Ra. Bendre, Girish Karnad and so on. In Banglaore, Pune, Mumbai, and Dehli, he used to have his shows.

I cannot forget this famous photographer, whom I used to meet very often.