Category Archives: Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Nawabs and their love to see self on canvas

November 2, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leaders, World Opinionmpositiveone@gmail.com

Lucknow :

Narcissism omnipresent now in the form of ‘selfies’—pictures people click of themselves—was manifest in the form of portraits the high and mighty got painted of themselves for posterity. Nawabs of Avadh contributed immensely to the Company School of Painting, a genre of portraits during the British Raj, providing opportunity for many artists. They created vivid testimonies of the socio-cultural practices of the period.

The nawabs’ patronage to painters became a tradition. At a workshop in the city, Indian and Bangladeshi painters drew inspiration from ‘How nawabs patronised the palette’.

* Tilly Kettle’s Father and Son

Tilly Kettle (1735-86) was a portrait maker from London who traveled to India with the East India Company. He met Shuja ud Daulah in Calcutta where he painted his portrait and later accompanied him to Faizabad. He captured many facets of the aristocratic life but his most famous work was portrait of Shuja-ud-Daulah with his heir apparent Asaf ud Daulah. “The nuances of their work are remarkable. The intricacies as in the bejeweled ‘bajuband’ (armlet), and poise on the face of the two kings is an inspiration,” says Vipul Varshney, a city architect. Painters from Delhi such as Mir Kalan Khan also found refuge in Avadh with Mughal aristocracy declining.

* John Zoffany’s Cock-fight

The tradition of patronising painters was inherited by Asaf ud Daulah. This benevolent nawab is given credit for making Lucknow a subject for painters. The grandeur of his personality was captured on paper by Johann Zoffany (1733 – 1810), a painter of German origin and the work became a stencil for many local artists. Myraid representation of cock-fight match in the court of Avadh speaks volumes of the times. Claude Martin and another painter Ozais Humphery (of the Jane Austen portrait fame) are also in the picture. Later, Martin became a route for entry to the nawab’s court. Ozais made the painting of Haider Beg Khan (1786), a royal in nawabi court. The work, now in Victoria and Albert museums of London, showed that painters found clientele in people other than nawabs too.

* William Hodges, the first professional

Better known for a voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Hodges came to Avadh in 1778, under the patronage of Warren Hastings. He was one of the first British professional landscape painters to visit the country. He remained here for six years, staying in Lucknow with Claude Martin in 1783. His painting of (Fatehpur Sikri) is in Sir John Soane’s Museum. His depiction of the nawabi palace in Faizabad is noteworthy.

King Nasir-ud-Din Haider’s role

This nawab would be remembered more for promoting local artists. One of the paintings of the King with an English lady, probably the wife of Lord Bentinck, is quite striking. It shows the influence of British lifestyle on Avadh. A research work by Neeru Mishra has studied over 300 paintings on Krishna done by artist Ram Prasad who was known to be patronised by Nasir-ud-Din Haider, bringing to fore the nawab’s faith in the Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb.

Fusion of genres

Researcher Pran Neville has noted that Indian artists took the opportunity to work for their new British patrons, especially because the traditional patronage of Indian rulers and their courts was rapidly declining. “While adopting some features of Western art they took care to preserve traditional elements. Since their own skills were more than adequate, they did not need formal training from the British,” he writes. Scholars at Colombia University also noted that Zoffany was being imitated by local artists. One of his famous works, portrait of Nawab Asaf-ud-daulah, has seven versions besides the original.

Price of vanity

Getting a portrait made was a costly affair. Artists even advertised in newspapers to reach out to clients. One such advertisement that appeared in April 1798 was given by one lesser known artist named Morris. He charged 15-80 gold mohurs for different sizes such as bead size, three quarters, kit cat, half length and whole length. Zoffany charged Rs 2,500 from the wife of a British officer. “The well-to-do, in fact, were ready to spend any amount to get their portraits made for it was a fashion statement,” suggests Neville.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / by Shailvee Sharda, TNN / November 02nd, 2014

Begum Akhtar’s legacy to be honoured by UP government

October 31, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Lucknow :

To mark the birth centenary of ghazal queen Begum Akhtar, Uttar Pradesh government has directed its cultural department to take forward its four proposals that stand to bring back Begum to our times.

The government will rename two roads after her — one in Lucknow and the other in Faizabad, her birthplace. An award in her name is set to be christened, while the house in Faizabad, where she was born, would be restored.

While the directive had come in over a month now, the house in Faizabad is yet to be acquired and converted into a museum of her relics. With the present owners of the house unwilling to part with the property, the district administration is focussing on an alternative land or building in Faizabad to replenish the musical genius of Mallika-e-Ghazal, said a senior officer.

The draft for the award in Begum’s memory has been set, ready to be sent to the cabinet, after which it will be finalized and given the green signal.

The road around her residence after marriage with Barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi, on Fawn Brake Avenue in Lucknow and the one around her maternal home ‘Mushtari ka Makaan’ in Faizabad are the two proposed to be renamed after Begum Akhtar. The municipal corporations of the respective cities have been directed in this regard, awaiting the final work to be taken up, said joint director, culture department, Anuradha Goel.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / TNN / October 30th, 2014

Know the magic of ‘four’ in Charminar

October 29, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Travel & Tourismmpositiveone@gmail.com

M.A. Qaiyum, historian, with his new book "Charminar in Replica of Paradise" Photo: Satyanarayana Gola / The Hindu — M.A. Qaiyum, historian, with his new book “Charminar in Replica of Paradise” Photo: Satyanarayana Gola / The Hindu

Do you know that great geometric combinations and mathematical reasoning has gone into the construction of Charminar? Visitors are usually astounded by the beauty of the 16 century monument, but not many know how the number ‘char’ (four) and its multiples figure in the designing of the structure. In at least 22 spots the magic of four dazzles.

Of course, the main Minars and arches are four. So are the small arches decorated on each side of the main arch. The number of galleries built in each Minar at different level is four. Again each Minar is divided into four parts. The supporting arches (big petals) to galleries and main dome in each Minar are four. The number of entrance arches built in four directions to enter the Minar is also four. And it was the fourth Qutb Shahi king, Mohd. Quli Qutb Shah, who built the Charminar!

There are also effigies of pigeon, parrot, squirrel and peacock in the delicate stucco work of Charminar. Mind-boggling, isn’t it? If your curiosity is aroused, don’t mind. You can now find all about Charminar, the little known and not so well-known things, in the new book on the monument authored by M.A. Qaiyum, retired deputy director, Department of Archaeology and Museums.

The book titled “Charminar in Replica of Paradise” is, perhaps, the first publication devoted entirely to the legendary Qutb Shahi masterpiece.

“So beautiful, so old and so complete”. One is compelled to repeat this comment of a western traveller after going through the 220-page book. The 190 multi colour photos, illustrations and paintings on real art paper make it a collector’s item.

Mr. Qaiyum traces the 400 years of journey from Qutub Minar to Charminar (1192-1591 AD). He throws light on monuments all over the world which sport Minars to explain the concept of minarets. For instance, there are references with pictures of the first Turkish mosque with four Minars built between 1569-75, the Qaismi Mosque with four minarets built in Iranian architects in Baghdad, the four Minars on the main entrance gate of Emperor Akbar’s mausoleum in Agra. Not just this. The book contains pictures of spiral minaret (Iraq), square minaret (Morocco), cylindrical minaret (Afghanistan).

Mr. Qaiyum discusses in detail the Paradise gardens and their significance in Persian life and culture. A well laid out garden is a symbol of happiness and prosperity. The ‘Char Bagh’ or four garden pattern was introduced in India by the first Mughal king, Babar. This concept was also followed when Charminar was constructed. “In later years the gardens and parks gave way to streets and houses and few know that Hyderabad once had a virtual garden of Paradise”, says Mr. Qaiyum. He can be reached on phone 8978877448.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Hyderabad / by J.S. Ifthekhar / Hyderabad – October 28th, 2014

Tipu’s watchtower under attack by visitors

October 29, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leadersmpositiveone@gmail.com

Mangalore :

It was meant to be a watchtower to contain enemies, but today the 224-year-old monument constructed by Tipu Sultan at Sultan Bathery is under attack from within: visitors scribbling messages on its walls and throwing garbage, including liquor bottles, all around.

The monument has fallen on hard times and been subject to vandalism as there’s no attendant to guard it. Besides, the Archaeological Survey of India’s foreman at Karkala visits the monument just once a fortnight.

The watchtower, constructed in 1784, is the favourite haunt of star-crossed lovers from the city and students of various colleges. The monument is 4km from the city and is located on the banks of the scenic Gurupur River where visitors can have the spectacular view of the Thannir Bavi and Bengre and the vast expanse of the Arabian Sea. Sultan Battery, the watch tower, is said to have been built to contain the entry of enemy battleships to the Gurupur river. The watchtower looks like a mini fortress with several musket holes for mounting guns all around.

While vulgar messages being scribbled by miscreants on the walls has been a problem for long, now many use the spot to binge. Beer bottles, cake wrappers, empty plastic bottles and bags lying around reveal what the monument is being used for in the absence of an attendant there.

ASI Karkala sub-circle foreman YB Bhajantri pleads helplessness. “The attendant posted there has been transferred to Barkur (Udupi district). The ASI gives Rs 4,500 per month for maintenance, which is hardly sufficient. I come once in 20 days, get labourers and clean up the monument structure and its surroundings,” he said.

He said rains had prevented him from visiting the monument recently and he has been informed of the grass growth and the rubbish strewn at the monument. He said that by this month-end he would get the place cleaned up again.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Mangalore / by Stanley Pinto, TNN / October 20th, 2014

Ghostly grandeur of Fatehpur Sikri

October 23, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Community Involvement / Social Issues, Leaders, World Opinionmpositiveone@gmail.com

Fatehpur Sikri : Revisiting Akbar’s Masterpiece
Lucy Peck , Roli Books, 2014, pp 145, Rs 795

As I flip through the pages of this handy hardcover with its lacy jharokha artwork that recalls the rosy orange sandstone elegance of its subject, my mind rewinds to my own Fatehpur Sikri experience, years back — the ghostly vacant expanse of a Mughal city, a beautiful haunting, desolate oasis of huge stables, green gardens, a musically serene marble mausoleum to a Sufi saint, as well as the high and mighty Buland Darwaza off whose walls boys jumped, for a few paise, into a baoli stepwell all the way below. So it’s been a pleasure to revisit this masterpiece from the 16th century, a period of Renaissance under the relatively benign Mughal, Akbar.

In this new book, architect, conservationist, Mughal-India specialist author Lucy Peck attempts to dispel popular myths that accompany this well-preserved piece of history, the abandoned city of Fatehpur Sikri. The very first page sports an exquisite ‘company’-style painting from 1836, depicting the marble dargah of Sheikh Salim al-Din Chisti, the saint who satisfied Emperor Akbar with the happy prediction of a long-awaited heir (PrinSalim, later to become King Jahangir), and two more to boot. Ironically, this city of victory, an enigmatic, silent, solid, spectator from the past, owes its own birth to the progeny-predicting powers of a Sufi sheikh.

The remaining 130-odd pages are equally satisfactory, glossy and replete with well-researched text, conjectures and surmises, interesting trivia, paintings, maps and excellent photographs, old and new, overall perspectives, as well as close-ups of the designs that grace lintels, awnings, and all the minutiae of mahals adorning a geometrically designed Indo-Persian city.

Peck is on sure ground as she collates information from diverse sources — the skeptical yet informative Muslim cleric Bada’uni, the official biographer Abu’l-Fazl with his Akbarnama and Ain-i-Akbari, Latin memoirist Monserrate — people who lived in Akbar’s court during his reign. Peck also quotes from a few 17th-century European travellers — like Peter Mundy and William Finch. She simultaneously reveals that many travellers’ tales and court records have not survived the centuries.

Unlike historian John Keay, who refers to Fatehpur Sikri as Akbar’s ‘wildest extravaganza and weirdest folly’, Peck is kinder to Akbar. She talks of the ‘romantic enigma’ that was Fatehpur Sikri, a city that was planned and built quickly from 1571 to 1585, and then equally promptly abandoned, as per general belief. Yet, Peck believes ‘that the fable of Fatehpur Sikri’s desertion is misleading’.

The king and his courtiers left, but some ladies of the royal family (including Akbar’s mother) lived on for decades, as did members and descendants of Sheikh Salim Chishti’s family, a few of whom became powerful members of the royal court. In subsequent years, a few became unofficial guides to gullible international travellers who furthered the spread of myths about the city. Lucy Peck attempts to deflate a commonly held myth about water shortage leading to Fatehpur Sikri’s abandonment. She points to the presence of numerous baolis (stepwells), taals and hammams (royal and common baths), as well as the historical reality of later Mughal construction continuing in and around Sikri village that strides a ridge plateau beside a lake (now farmland) formed by the Yamuna basin.
The author transports the reader through Akbar’s world and his times, delineates his character and philosophy personified in his syncretic sect, the Din-i-Ilahi, which was the very touchstone of his own and the new city’s existence. Through his years at Fatehpur Sikri, Akbar became less and less Islamic, more all-encompassing and secular, filling his court with people of diverse faiths.

The visual delight that is Fatehpur Sikri — with its unique architectural specialties like a single central-columned Diwan-i-Khas, the multi-gated three-sided wall, the lesser-known, interestingly named buildings like Samosa Mahal and Tansen’s Biradari — cannot blind one to an important truth: that this city continues to be a holistic experience, traversing the centuries, still speaking to us. And Lucy Peck’s book helps greatly in this process.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> Supplements> Sunday Herald Books / by Lalitha Subramanian / October 19th, 2014

Creators of timeless art pieces struggling with medical bills

October 23, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainmentmpositiveone@gmail.com

Mir Adil Hussain (55) is an expert at making agarbathi stands, walking sticks and key chains, which have all been displayed and sold at the famous Cauvery Emporium in Bangalore for over 30 years. But now his family has been running from pillar to post to make arrangements for his medical bills after he recently suffered a heart attack.

With no medical benefits or insurance provided to the artisans who toil hard to put up a display at the emporium, Mr. Hussain’s family has had to raise loans to pay for his treatment. His brother, Mir Shabbir Ali, who also worked in the emporium for 45 years, died of cancer this July.

“We spent Rs. 12 lakh on his hospital bills, but were neither reimbursed nor given compensation. A meagre Rs. 5,000 was offered as death compensation and that too two months after he died. There are no pension benefits either,” said Mir Hassan Ali, a family member.

The plight is the same for 140 artisans and their families whose works have impressed thousands of customers at the emporium managed by Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation (KSHDC).

Suresh Pushpangathan, whose father worked as an artisan for 25 years, had to wait till August this year to avail Rs. 5,000 compensation. His father had passed away in November 2013.

“Many artisans’ families are dependent on their work for their bread and butter. If the artisans’ licence or ID card is transferred to another member of their family, they can continue to work there. But, the transfer process just doesn’t progress despite providing all the paperwork,” said Mr. Pushpangathan.

Purushottam L, President of the Karnataka Sandalwood Artisans Association, said that these 140 artisans are treated as individual workers and not permanent employees. “It is a government undertaking and their ID cards are issued by the Small Scale Industries Department. They can work as long as their cards are renewed every year,” he said.

“About 20 acres of land had been allotted to the artisans in 1996 near Peenya by the State government, which had promised to build about 200 houses in a five acre plot, but is yet to deliver its promise.” he said.

However, KSHDC Managing Director G.S. Kariyappa said, “The corporation is not getting grants and is only a facilitator. According to Government of India guidelines, a separate nodal agency has been appointed for the welfare of artisans.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bangalore / by Vinayshree Jagadeesh / Bangalore – October 19th, 2014

Mangalore: All cultural associations merge in first ever press meet

October 22, 2014Arts, Culture & Entertainmentmpositiveone@gmail.com

Mangalore :

The first ever joint press meet of Karnataka Tulu, Beary, Konkani, Kodava Sahitya academy and Karnataka Arebashe Sanskriti and Sahitya academy presidents was organized at Hotel Srinivas, here on Monday October 13.

All cultural associations came together and explained their mission and vision of preserving the culture and languages of the state collectively.

B A Mohammad Hanif president of Karnataka Beary Sahitya academy briefed the press regarding the activities of Sahitya academy and their importance in the present society. He said, “Karnataka government has established seven language academies and six cultural academies in the state. It is a prime responsibility of these academies to promote and save the culture and languages of the state. Tulu, Beary and Konkani Sahitya academies are centred in and around Mangalore and Kodava Sahitya academy and Karnataka Arebashe Sanskriti and Sahitya Academy are deep rooted in Madikeri”.

“District administration has included Tulu, Beary, Konkani, Karnataka Arebashe Sahitya academy in the decision making committee and asked our collaboration in Karavali Utsav which is indeed a very good news. We also request to district administration to include Kodava Sahitya academy in decision making committee?.

“We have planned to organize joint cultural Utsav and programmes in Madikeri, Sullia and Puttur regions in the coming days. Government of Karnataka has also asked our opinion in shortlisting the candidates for Rajyotsava awards, the second highest civilian honour award of the state”.

“We are also planning to have a joint ‘Convention 2015’ a cultural extravaganza next year in month of April or May in Mangalore. To mark unity and togetherness for the coming years of working together, we have organized the first ever joint press meet today”, he informed.

Roy Castelino, president of Karnataka Konkani Sahitya academy, said, “The government has allotted Rs 65 lac for Sahitya academy to organize cultural programmes. If the government raises the funds to Rs one crore, we can reach to all parts of Karnataka and effectively organize the programmes. We have also shortage of permanent staffs. We appoint many on temporary basis during the events. This is the reason why funds are not fully utilized”.

Janaki Brahmavar, president, Karnataka Tulu Sahitya academy, Biddathanda Thammaiah, president of Kodava Sahitya academy and Girish Kollya Karnataka Arebashe Sanskriti and Sahitya academy president and members of Karnataka Tulu, Beary, Konkani, Kodava Sahitya academy and members of Karnataka Arebashe Sanskriti and Sahitya academy were also present during the press meet.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Karnataka / DaijiWorld Media Network – Mangalore (CLP) / Mangalore – Tuesday, October 14th, 2014