{"id":12072,"date":"2022-04-18T09:59:08","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T09:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chughtaimuseum.com\/?p=12072"},"modified":"2022-04-18T09:59:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T09:59:08","slug":"the-hindu-calligraphers-of-lahore-a-famous-lahore-mal-family-of-katibs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.chughtaimuseum.com\/?p=12072","title":{"rendered":"THE HINDU CALLIGRAPHERS OF LAHORE; A FAMOUS “LAHORE MAL” FAMILY OF KATIBS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE HINDU CALLIGRAPHERS OF LAHORE;
A FAMOUS “LAHORE MAL” FAMILY OF KATIBS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lahore was always a culture center, where in all nationalities mixed with each other. It was here that Hindu students were trained by Muslim Masters in the art of miniatures. Many famous mussawars are on record. But we have Hindu students excelling in Muslim calligraphy, both in the Arabic and Persian script. These “Katibs” made a name for themselves. Our blog is on the subject and a link is provided for the same. Here we refer to the Mal family of calligraphers of Lahore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have seen and heard of many manuscripts written by Hindu calligraphers, on many subjects. Mostly we come across Inshas composed by Hindu Munshis and written as well by Hindu Calligraphers. But the subject does not end here. Astronomical tracts are there too but mostly we find them in Sanskrit script and language.\u00a0 But these calligraphers were at many subjects, including Ilm Najoom. The most interesting is religious subjects related to Islam. We find manuscripts like Masnavi Maulana Rum, written by them. I have myself seen a two-volume huge Masnavi written by Hindu calligraphers in Lahore in times of Aurangzeb. A Quran written by a Hindu calligrapher was offered to us once.\u00a0 Obviously, we come across many Qitas written by Hindu calligraphers. We have in our collection a Punj Sura written by a Hindu Calligrapher in times of Emperor Jahandar Shah, who was Emperor for one year only in 1039 AH or 1713 AD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n