THE PRESTIGE OF BEING INCLUDED IN A ROYAL ACADEMY SHOW
A RAREST EVENT FOR A MUSLIM ARTIST M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI

The Royal Academy Show was the ultimate dream of participation of every artist. To be included in that show was not a joke, for a panel of international experts had to give their approval to same. Two works of M.A. Rahman Chughtai were selected. One was Mourning of Shah Jahan and the other was Mughal Princesses. But due to lack of space, only one painting was exhibited, and made headlines here. Finally M.A. Rahman Chughtai was represented at the Royal Academy of Arts.

We do not know the latest situation but are sure that the artist M.A. Rahman Chughtai even till today would be one of the very few Muslim artists represented at the Royal Academy. Take pride in your artist, Pakistan!

MEMORABLE TWO UNKNOWN EXHIBITION SHOWS OF M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI
JOINT SHOW HYDERABAD SINDH 1939 AND ONE MAN SHOW IN PESHAWER 1956

M.A. Rahman Chughtai enjoys the distinction of not only being shown around the world but also all around Pakistan. A little known show of Indian Paintings in Hyderabad Sindh in the 1930s, probably around 1939, in which a number of his works were there. The funny part is that with the invitation catalogue, attendance required an entrance fees of Two Annas. The location TRAINING COLLEGE FOR MEN, in HYDERABAD, SINDH. A number of other artists were there and there were sales too. Dr James Cousin, a famous scholar of India gave a lecture on the subject and the same man wrote an introduction to both books, namely Murraqa e Chughtai and Chughtais paintings.

M.H. Zuberi was responsible for the Peshawar show in 1956 and it was a memorable show at Abbassen Art Centre. Zuberi Sahi also wrote a note on the show and t was a very well attended, first show of its kind in that city. Not repeated to this day.

We share such rare information with others. Enjoy!

A STARTLING DIMENSION IN INSPIRATION IN SULTANATE PAINTING OF REGION,
HAJI MAHMUD HERATI, PAINTER OF SULTAN NASIR SHAH KHALJI 1500-1510 AD

Every one who is a student of regional painting knows that Emperor Babur and Emperor Humayoun brought painters here from the Iranian territory. Every one knows that the Persian Masters intermixed here and formed a new School of Art, that is known as the Mughal School of Art. We also do know the School of Art in Herat before those times, being spearheaded by Ustad Kamal ud din Behzad, the greatest painter of them all. But little do we know that the Herat School even before the Mughals touched the painting of this region and inspired Schools of Art here. One such painter was Haji Mahmud who also came from Herat and did work for Sultan Nasir Shah Khalji at MANDU. The period covered is even earlier of the father, that is Sultan Ghias Khalji. A Sultanate volume of the BUSTAN is preserved in the National Museum in New Delhi which testifies to this, with the title page listing all these details.

The painting era in the region has always been an enigma, for the lapse of centuries between Master pieces of Ajanta and other schools of art in the region. Stone was the basic unit of art work here and there was no respect for paper. It was the Muslims who brought paper in the region and gave spur to the creative upsurge of the miniatures. More is recorded and we will share such exclusive information. Suffice to talk of the Persian influence on painting in the Sultanate period here. Dr Abdullah Chaghatai has written a special book on the subject.

A PORTRAIT OF THE ARCHITECT GARDENER OF KHUSRAU BAGH
BY THE MUREED BA IKHLAS SALEEM SHAH, AGA REZA PAINTER

A portrait designated as the Chief Gardener of Prince Saleem, and obviously by some one concerned with the project of Khusrau Bagh. It is noted that Aga Reza is designated as mureed of Saleem Shah, which means that the person is there as a mureed of a Prince and not an Emperor. It was later that Prince Saleem became the Emperor Jahangeer. He was the painter who was given the commission to build the Khusrau Bagh complex for Prince Saleem. The calligrapher was Abdullah Maskeen Qalam. The portrait is designated as that of BAHISTH QUL USTAD BABA. Although the name written here is by different hand and a presentation signature only.

It is rare that we get portraits of every day personalities. It may be a commission from the Prince or merely satisfying a Gardener colleague by the Architect involved in the construction of same. In any case, enjoy a rare work!

THE VARIED TREATMENT OF EMPEROR JAHANGEER IN PORTRAITURE
THREE MASTERS, BICHITER, REMBRANDT AND M.A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI

Every artist is of his own times. He also represents figures of other times. Emperor Jahangeer, the Mughal, was an aspiration in many times. Obviously he was drawn by many court painters in his own reign as well as afterwards. The Dutch Master Rembrandt saw a miniature and painted his own version of Jahangeer, which in all ways is a mixture of best of the East and the West. M.A. Rahman Chughtai in the 20th century did his own job, and presented Jahangeer as the painter. Holding a brush in his hands, the young Prince stands before a voluminous statute of an elephant. According to Stuart Cary Welch ii well represents his father Emperor Akbar, cold and on a grandiose scale. In any case compare and enjoy the work of three Masters of different times.

THE RISE OF ADINA BEG KHAN FROM PATAWARI TO GOVERNOR
PROPERTY OF ADINA BEG KHAN IN MOHALLA CHABUK SAWARAN

Direct neighbor of the Mimar family of Lahore

Little is known about Adina Beg Khan. A small 12 page manuscript supplies us with most of information about him. Very few have written abut him. The article by Dr Muhammed Baqir is very illuminating, but the most information is collected by Dr Hari Ram Gupta Of F.C. College, Lahore. Interestingly it is literally impossible to even find this printed source on Adina Beg Khan. A very rare book. Some books in Urdu are romantic fictions. Sikh story telling is contrived history at most, for gullible consumption.

Adina Beg Khan was by caste an Arain, and born in Sharakpur in Tehsil Lahore, in the house of a common person by name of Channu. However due to reasons, he was brought up by a Mughal family and identified himself as a Mughal. His skills were extraordinary in every way and he knew how to manipulate people as well a situations. And his rise is very much due to his knack for manipulating things. It is reported that he married a Syed girl, but finding out that she was a Syed, he divorced her but gave her maintenance all his life. The truth looks different. It is said that he married a street girl and had a son and a daughter by her. The daughter was married to Khawaja Mirza Khan and the son tried to take his position after his death but failed, for he lacked the abilities of his father.

From the position of a Patawari, he ended up as the Governor of the province, by doing one thing or the other, and black mailing people into serving him. But he did enjoy the highest position in the Punjab and that for one year too. There were three strong parties. The Mughals, the Sikhs and the Maharattas, and he played all three against each other, getting the best out of situations. The present governmental trait of buying land cheap and then selling same at high prices was his forte. It seems people today are direct spiritual descendants of Adina Beg Khan.

We noticed in a deed to our house in Mohalla Chabuk Sawaran dated 1757 AD, as reference to land and property owned by Adina Beg Khan as a neighbor to the Mimar family of Lahore. We were truly surprised. Here was an information not recorded anywhere else of his holdings in Lahore. We decided to add the information to the history of Adina Beg Khan. We will research that document in a separate blog.

THE OBSESSION OF ISLAMIC RINGS
KING’S ROYALTY AS WELL AS COMMON PEOPLE

Fascination with metal and stone on fingers

Every representation of people of the past comes with rings around their fingers. Not one or two, but many. Exquisite stones, exclusive metals, as well as fantastic calligraphic inscriptions. All lie in the fascination of rings. It is a wonder that many specimens are saved in the world to present a fascinating imagery of Muslim Culture.

ABANINDARANATH TAGORE AND M. A. RAHMAN CHUGHTAI
THE VERY FIRST COMPARISON OF BOTH PAINTERS

Individual expression of identity

In 1911 Abanindaranath Tagore was the acknowledged Master Painter of India of the Bengal School. His fame was international and his stature in India extra-ordinary. No one even came close to them. Then emerged M.A. Rahman Chughtai from Punjab, India to challenge the position of the Master Painter of India, as a young teenager of Lahore. We can compare works done on the same theme set as a challenge of the times.

There are more works, which can be compared at the start of the career of the artist. Eventually we will post more.

THE MURDER OF FIFTEEN YEAR OLD SHAMSHAD BAI LAHORI
NAWAB NAWAZ KHAN OF DAB KALAN GOT AWAY WITH MURDER

Nawaz Khan came to Lahore on 28th October, 1941 for medical treatment, and during his stay at Faletti’s hotel, he became acquainted with a 15 year old Lahori call girl, Shamshad Bai. On 6th November, he made her stay in his room all night and gave Rs 1700 extraordinary for her rampant services. He became so infatuated with her, that he took her back to Multan district. In their family mansion, she was accompanied by her pimp brother, Talib Hussain.

Nawaz Khan was drunk to the core and wanted to be amorous to the girl. But his condition was pathetic and the girl made fun of his lack of masculinity. He got so irritated that he took out a pistol from underneath his pillow and shot her dead. It was a case which was started 6 months afterwards. Money poured in from the Nawab to save himself and his influence all over did save him from hanging. A doubt was deliberately created that he did not do it and planned to marry her. Why did he kill her? She laughed at him for his lack of manhood and he could not tolerate that. But he loved her so much that he stayed besides her dead body for ten hours. An incident which rocked Lahore in those days.

THE BIZARRE CREDOS OF MODERN ARTISTS
DOES NUDITY LEADS TO SPIRITUALITY?

Pablo Picasso posed in the nude in 1937 with a bull head and a forked stick. Sadequain did something like that in the Lahore Museum, in idealizing the starving Buddha at the back in the show case. I think Hinduism believes in eight ways to reach the Al-Mighty. For us normal Muslims, the last communication of Allah was through the Quran and the Quran is now the only way to reach Allah. Rest keep on trying! Self deception is not the answer to anything.