WESTERN SCHOLARSHIP ON THE DECLINE
NO UNDERSTANDING OF REGIONAL ART POLITICS

Fading glory of connoisseurship of past

There is no doubt that British understood this region well. The scholars they created in the Arts knew all this more, and excellence in scholarship was created by people like Sir Thomas Arnold, Laurence Binyon, Basil Gray, Robert Skelton, Ralph Pinder Wilson, Robert Hellebrand and others. But a new wave of students got their knowledge in India after 1947 and never got a chance to come to Pakistan after 1947. Their minds and eyes got muddled and soon scores of art dealers muddled the whole picture of Indo-Pakistani Art.

Yes, there are lies, and there are Art lies. The two Nation theory is ever dominant in the Arts too. Both nations had their own way of dealing with the Arts. A basic and natural aversion to sculpture which was to be worshipped was there. Muslims enjoyed figurines for pleasure, never for religious sake. And the figures they saw being worshipped, as iconoclasts, they destroyed in a political wave. Most of this sculpture was purely erotic and they would fail to understand why the LINGAM or the PHALLUS was worshipped as a natural god here. In Mandirs in deep down dark caves, young girls lost their virginity on lingams and this blood was offered as sacred duty to the gods. The most erotic sculpture was there, in unimaginable sexual positions, to wrest the equilibrium of these people. But the Hindus loved to revel in Stone in line of the Buddhist before them. But the local sculpture did not have the aquiline poses of Central Asia. The Shiva and Krishnas were stout warriors here in their own Art.

The Muslims did ART FOR ART SAKE only. No religion was involved here, and they accepted everything as a thing of beauty that could be a joy forever. Aurangzeb Alamgeer had all praise for the CAVES OF ELLORA (Even Mahmud Ghaznavi liked Hindu Architecture). He himself was a connoisseur of Art and Art did not falter but continued with its far reaching effects on the region.

Paper came from China but in this region it was introduced by the Muslims. So painting on paper became a tradition of Muslim Painting itself. And although all kinds of painting flourished here as Wall paintings too, they were replaced by Albums of paintings and the art of the miniature, for basically horse men and elephant riders, like the Muslims would love to carry Albums with them, to read and study by their campfire for enjoyment on the journeys. With times change, so did the composition and size of the paintings itself.

M.A. Rahman Chughtai would get irritated with the massive fake portrayal of CHERUBS in Fake Mughal Art. There was no scope for the depiction of silly images which only suited Western Art. Here the concept of Angels was bathed in beauty and the Angels wore beautiful clothes, peacock like feathers and beautiful faces. Naked Cherub boys were not in taste of these people. Scholars impose this image on the Mughals to raise their stature high, as that the Mughals were indebted to them for inspiration. It is a pity that the bigotry of these many western scholars have not been able to evade. We look at Mughal Art through Mughal eyes, not eyes tainted by jealousy and envy of culture.

Western scholarship recognized all this once upon a time. But now it seems funny that they have made STEREOTYPES of things with fixed accounts. This is just a call forward to the Western world to study our culture too and our point of view. Many of the works you hold for as genuine are just fake works. And M.A. Rahman Chughtai was the first to point out that. But more of this in another blog.

THE MELODY OF “AZAN” MORE THAN BEETHOVENS SYMPHONY
DECIBELS SHRIEKS IN MOSQUES DESTROYING EARDRUMS OF NEIGHBOURHOOD

The Mullahs obsession with unnecessary sound is OCD

When loudspeakers came in the region, the fatwa of the Mullahs was unanimous. Loudspeakers were Anti-Islamic in nature and should never be used. Then in their Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, the Mullahs realized that the same could be a tool for tyranny in their hands by destroying the peace and tranquility of the neighbourhood.

There is famous case of the a Hindu girl in a small village. She used to hear the Morning Azan every day and its melody, took her in so much ecstasy, that she embraced Islam for its harmony for the soul. Today loudspeakers clash with each other for dominance of sound. If one mosque has one loudspeaker, another has two, another four, perhaps some even sixteen. When the Azan is recited in a number of nearby mosques, mosque after mosque, the clashing sounds turn the eternal beauty and melody of the Azan into an eardrum piercing exercise. There is no religion or Deen involved here. Nobody objects to the Azan, nor anybody can do the same. It is the destruction of melody which disturbs most people and they do not have the GUTs to take the area Mullah in their hands and tell them that they are not involved in religious duty in any way by piercing eardrums, but a menace to society and peace of the neighbourhood.

The natural sound of the Azan was turned and tested by musicians and they put the musical nodes to it, and found that the sound itself is a Divine blessing and very pleasant to the ears. Even today on Television, there are some QARIS who rivet your ears to the beauty of the rendering of the Azan. It is a science in itself. But this science is disturbed by the zero aesthetics and sound understandng by an overruly Mullah of the neighbourhood, for whom more decibels mean more power. There was a blind Qari in the Wazeer Khan Mosque (no loudspeakers then) and when he recited the Azan, people used to stop in their tracks to hear it. It is said that his melody could even be heard near the Lohari Gate, just the voice and its purity of expression.

SOUND MASTERS should be hired to test the area of each mosque and like stereo harmony, set the decibels of each mosque, so that there should be no conflict, and that the purity of the Azan can come not only to the ears of Muslims, but also others, and like the Hindu Girl, they too should be forced to acknowledge the DIVINITY that is inherent in every choice of Allah. This does not require much investment but the result would be tremendous and the Blessings of Allah will dawn upon us.

DIARY OF A HINDU PRINCE OF DEV GEER (DAULATABAD) 694 AH (1294 AD)
PROFESSOR HASSAN NIZAMI’S EFFORT TO SAVE HISTORY

An important conversion of Allauddin Khiljis reign

The great Professor Hassan Nizami was obsessed with history and his contributions to Sultanate period in this region is indispensable. He was also an outright mureed of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and wrote whatever he could about him and his followers. In the life of the great Saint, he came across the diary of a Hindu Prince Raj Kumar Hardev. The story of Raj Kumar, put in isolation by Hindu historians, is a very important episode in the history of this region. But here we have life of a manuscript to discuss.

When the Mahrattas sacked Delhi, the loot they took to Bharatpur and in a Royal library of Bharatpur, was a manuscript of a DIARY OF A HINDU PRINCE RAJ KUMAR HARDEV. It was found that after his capture in Daulatbad, Allauddin Khilji took a tutor to him to teach him Persian langage and he became an avid Persian writer. Now and then he would jot own details about his life. The result was a diary which he called as CHAEL ROZA. Hassan Nizami was fascinated with this information, as this very Prince after conversion, not only became MIR IMARAT Chief Architect of the reign, but also the PRIME MINISTER and later married the daughter of Sultan Tughlaq. He is also known by his many Royal titles. So his story could not be diminished, and had to be saved for the future.

Hassan Nizami was all bent on publishing this diary separately, when riots broke out in India. The original MS was destroyed in Bharatpur to his information. The published book at Delhi was subject to watering and that was on the verge of total destruction. With a few copies in hand, Hassan Nizami fled to Deccan, the home of the ancient Hindu Prince himself. Here he gave those badly printed copies for publication. He could not check it himself as his eyesight was failing and had failed. His sons helped him in the review. It was printed in Deccan in 1948, and then again Deccan was annexed by the Delhi regime itself.

How many copies survived of the poorly printed Ms we do not know? But they must be out there. But their contents do not suit the Hindu historians who twists tales all the time. Here is a tale from a diary of an important Hindu Prince who converted to Islam at the hands of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia and he lies buried in his complex, as the SECOND OCTAGONAL MASOLEUM in INDO PAKISTANI REGION. The first being the Mausoleum of Ruknuddin Alam in Multan where the Prince had ruled as a Governor.

The mausoleum is in total ruins and lie in the complex of Nizamuddin Aulia. Neglected by the Historians and Conservators of India, it may soon see oblivion. But so does this important publication. It needs to be published again in fresh format. Maybe someone out there will do it. Hats off to Hassan Nizami Sahib. May Allah rest his soul in peace!