UNIQUE ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT FOR PRINCE KHUSRAU MALIK GHAZNAVI AROUND 1150 AD, WESTERN SCHOLARS RELUCTANT TO CREDIT LAHORE WITH THIS CREATION OF GHAZNI INSPIRED

UNIQUE ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT FOR PRINCE KHUSRAU MALIK GHAZNAVI AROUND 1150 AD,
WESTERN SCHOLARS RELUCTANT TO CREDIT LAHORE WITH THIS CREATION OF GHAZNI INSPIRED

Lahore miniature 1150 AD 1

Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi founded the city of Lahore in a new phase and named it Mahmudabad. Coins were minted here in Lahore, and a golden coin was discovered in the Lahore Fort. With Sultan Bahram Shah, the might of the Ghaznavids was coming to an end. Bahram Shah sought recluse in Lahore after Ghazni was invaded and destroyed by the Ghauris. He ruled for decades. His son Khusrau Malik ruled Lahore for eight years. He lived here and died here. During his reign literary activity continued and here is proof of that. An illustrated manuscript of Fables of Bidpai, done in Lahore, around 1150 AD.

Lahore miniature 1150 AD 2
Lahore miniature 1150 AD 3

The fables of Bidpai involve the two foxes KALILA AND DIMNAH, and the fight between good and evil, recited through animal fables. The originator was Panchatantra. In two of the miniatures, the King Dabshallim and the Brahman philosopher story teller Bidpai are shown, and the poses reveals the local origin. In fact the poses are the origin of the many miniatures of Hindu Rajas which come to us though time. Enjoy!

Lahore miniature 1150 AD 4

THE NEED TO MEASURE LAND AND SPACE – EUCLID GREEK FATHER OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

THE NEED TO MEASURE LAND AND SPACE
EUCLID GREEK FATHER OF ISLAMIC ARCHITECTURE

DEFINING PLEASANT PROPORTIONS FOREVER IN TIME

Euclid

The Quran starts from the concept of proportionate in life, and everything in life is considered in proportions. Sura Fateha starts with our praise for Allah for the proportionate in life or the Surat ul mustaqeem of existence. The universe has its proportions, as well as the human body. The golden rule of existence. In this way Islamic Architecture starts from proportions and instead of being arithmetical is geometrical and is based on the principles of Euclid. The immortal Taj Mahal was created by Ustad Ahmad Mimar on the basis of Euclidian principles. He was a Master of ‘Euclidese’ as is well known. Regular discussions used to be held by him with another Master, that is Ustad Makaramat Khan. Many generations of him were experts in Euclid principles.

Euclid 100 AD
Euclid in Arabic
Euclid in Italian

Today hideous architecture is in full vogue in Pakistan. Aesthetics has been lost. View most of our mosques and you see a downfall of architecture as never before. The mosques look less of spiritual centres and more of domestic houses of the Mullahs inside it. When aesathetics fail, so does ideas. We have nincompoop intellectuals talk of Pakisaan as they understood it well. Pakistan cannot be understood by what is taught incourses these guys say. If Pakistan can only be discovered in literary festivals sponsored by foreign organization to diffuse the Ideology of Pakistan. Come on! Pakistan is not going away. The idea of Pakisan can never go away. The Quran is safe with us. Allah guaranteed that. The Idea will be safe with us too. Pakistan forever!

Euclid International
euclid-elements

THE GRANDEUR OF MASJID MARYIAM ZAMANI LAHORE – ITS REMNANTS WITH MISTAKEN IDENTITIES TO THIS DAY

THE GRANDEUR OF MASJID MARYIAM ZAMANI LAHORE
ITS REMNANTS WITH MISTAKEN IDENTITIES TO THIS DAY

All Muslims are warned by Allah not to impose on the rights of other religions. Allah says that if you want your way of life respected, do not question the way of life of others. We read about Guru Nanak with all due respects. He tried to reconcile two nations, the Muslims and the Hindus in a fresh equation. Obviously that would not work. But Guru Nanak sought the blessings of RAB and the word itself means a lot to us.

Maryiam Zamani Masjid Lahore

The Sikhs and the Muslims share a lot of things, and we here in Lahore, share Punjab as well as the city with historical narratives from both nations. We love our Sikh friends, and they love us. But history has not been kind to actions and reactions over the years. The criteria anywhere is TRUTH and truth should always prevail in any discussion. It is a fact that both nations fell into the deepest crevices at many moments in life. The fact is that with the advent of the Sikh capture of Lahore, there was a ban on AZAN in the city. The ban prevailed in the rule of the three Sikh Chieftains, as well as Ranjit Singh. It was there in Sher Singh times and the official record shows that the British tried to persuade him to undo the ban. It is a fact that about 2000 Muslims monuments, including mosques were brought down in Lahore, during the Sikh rule and most of the mosques were then only stables and ammunition dumps. In the post Abdalli period, we hear of pigs being slaughtered and thrown in the mosques by raiding Sikhs.

Dome of Hammam of Maryiam Zamani masjid

It goes back to the period of Jahangeer. Guru Arjun instigated the rebellion of Prince Khusrau against his father Emperor Jahangeer. The result political chaos as Guru Arjun was ordered to be obliterated by Emperor Jahangeer. All his belongings distributed to courtiers. The unrest went on into the times of Aurangzeb too. This up and down was there in 1947 too, when refugees fleeing India were slaughtered at the instigation of the Indian Prime Minister. Quaid e Azam promised the Sikhs a province of their own and they ended up in a trap laid by the Indian politicians. Their leader wielding a Sword declared animosity against Pakistan standing on the footsteps of the Punjab Assembly Lahore. Obviously we have forgotten that. We do not carry grudges. We respond to love with love.

Two incidents are worthy of being quoted here. One is the destruction of Masjid Shaheed Ganj and the other is the Hammam of Masjid Maryiam Zamani. Shaheed Ganj issue is for another blog. Here the Hammam of Maryiam Zamani Masjid. The identity of the Jamia Masjid is well known and is today occupied by car tyre sellers and iron merchants. Inside such a shop stands on a dome of Jahangeeri period. Dubbed by Sikh mythology as the Samadh of Bhai Mani Singh, it is not. It is a structure of Jahangeer period and in older maps of the mosque, it can be seen as such. The story of the martyrdom of Mani Singh is beyond my comphrension, for I have never heard of attempts to convert Sikhs here. But even if that is true, certainly this is no Samadh of the martyred hero. It is a plain hammam portion attached to the mosque. I covered it extensively in photographs and will put them on the net one day.

Emperor Jahangeer saying prayers at Masjid Maryiam Zamnani

No going back, only moving forward. We support the Sikhs in their endeavour for their Identity. Indeed they require a homeland of their very own. They are emotional people like us and react to love and affection as much as we do. Let us now carve a love which will not be shaken by FASADI people. Learning from past mistakes, and not relying on melodramatic tales, we share our truths together.

THE ERA OF GOLIATHS (JALOOTS) OF LAHORE – PRESERVED DEEP DOWN THE EARTH OF LAHORE

THE ERA OF GOLIATHS (JALOOTS) OF LAHORE
PRESERVED DEEP DOWN THE EARTH OF LAHORE

Goliath Lahori 5

A few years back we published a book on the “NAU-GUZZAS OF LAHORE”. Few people did pay attention, but nowadays, nobody is really bothered about the past. Simply for they see no future at all. They live in the present and the present is mostly awful under these times.

Goliath Lahori 4
Goliath Lahori 1

We will write a detailed blog on same as have done in the past. It  is the most interesting discovery about the past of Lahore. For people living in stereotypes of Lau and Kasu, it is a so startling to rattle their senses.

Goliath Lahori 2
Goliath Lahori 3

The Jewish origin of Lahore. Figurines of Lahore reveal a past which normally would have no common sense. Faces and costumes, not related to Buddhism or Hinduism. Obviously a pre-Muslim era we are talking about, but costumes which speak of Arabian and Egyptian head dresses. Warriors unlike any other. A field of research all its own. But people on the pay roll of lobbies across the border reject such discoveries for they do not suit their pay masters. More on it later. Till then, just enjoy!

Goliaths Lahori on mission
Reversal of David and Goliath with time

ADVERTISEMENTS MADE IN INDIA PROJECT INDIAN IDEOLOGY – BRING BACK OUR INDUSTRY BEFORE IT IS RUINED FOREVER

ADVERTISEMENTS MADE IN INDIA PROJECT INDIAN IDEOLOGY
BRING BACK OUR INDUSTRY BEFORE IT IS RUINED FOREVER

INCULCATING TENDER MINDS WITH RUTHLESSNESS NOT COMPASSION

Tourism poster

The Advertisement industry in Pakistan was a very big thing. Stalwarts like Sultan Mahmood of Lahore who made the UNITED ADVERTISERS in Karachi, swept the printed as well as electronic media with advertisements suitable to Pakistan. Chaudary Abdul Ghafoor of Adarts as well as Mr Punthakey were all doing excellent jobs. The message of the advertisements are getting worse and worse. Greed, rapacious attitudes dominate advertisements, and they are being a disaster to our country.

Patriotic advertisements

Obviously someone is masterminding this soft take over of our industry but the mastermind is an enemy of Islam and enemy of Pakistan. Islamic representation does not mean Mullahs representation,. nor secular one, in which the most foolish advertisements are presented to us., Pakistan is about ijjtehad in Islam and our advertisements should reflect progressive spirit of same. I think the best advertisements were made once by ZONG when they started in Pakistan. You could see a small child hungering for new shoes on Eid and then finally deciding to give the same to a poor child without any shoes. Sell but make your citizen relate to noble sentiments.

PIA at top

All that we see is frolicking my young boys and girls, in rampant ecstasy. Children licking their lips for more. All movement on thought element. Everything consumption. In that respect even today there are some excellent advertisements. Pakistani catch hold of your Ideology, do not let others diffuse it.

Rooh Afza

MANY REPAIRS TO BADSHAHI MOSQUE OVER THE AGES – WELDING OF THE PINNACLES OF THE MARBLE DOMES

MANY REPAIRS TO BADSHAHI MOSQUE OVER THE AGES
WELDING OF THE PINNACLES OF THE MARBLE DOMES

Badshahi Mosque Lahore

The Sikhs devastated the Badshahi mosque in all ways. It was a stable as well as an ammunition dump. It was even given as a residence to a European army person with Ranjit Singh. We discuss the various issues all the time. But when repairs to the mosque were under way and the initial repair was done under the Princess of Bhopal.

Princess of Bhopal

Those Princesses had won the heart of Hindustan with their conduct. The need was there to repair the golden pinnacles of the mosque. But as the metal was soft, diligent welding was required under the head of copper welding. It was more like TANKAS done to every day utensils. The need to search for a responsible welder in Lahore.

Umar Din Welder 1946

In came Umar Din Lahori. Knowing the responsibility of this job, he did the work in excellent manner. Even today his grand children run the shop outside Urdu Bazaar Chowk speak in a grand manner of their past. The tragedy that instead of being supported over the times, they lost their bigger shop and are now working in a very small space, barely making money to earn a living., This is what happens to honest people in Pakistan, while others rule the roost in arrogance of corruption.

Pinnacles of Badshahi Masjid being welded
Nawaz son of Umar Din Welder

SURELY WESTERN EXPERTS DO NOT KNOW THE INTRICACIES OF CHUGHTAI ART, MISPLACED EGOS PREVENT LISTENING TO THE GREATEST AUTHORITY ON CHUGHTAI ART

SURELY WESTERN EXPERTS DO NOT KNOW THE INTRICACIES OF CHUGHTAI ART,
MISPLACED EGOS PREVENT LISTENING TO THE GREATEST AUTHORITY ON CHUGHTAI ART

At Krishna’s Feet

A long time back the works of M.A. Rahman Chughtai started appearing in the Western world and there was a large untapped market for it. People took advantage of the lack of knowledge and made their wealth on ignorance. I kept telling those so called experts the defects of their analysis. But egos prevented them from listening to us. To this day I have received hundreds of request for authentication from all corners of the world. People will testify how quickly I gave them replies and settled their minds on the subject of authentication. Our web site includes a whole page dedicated to same. We have hundreds of letters of thanks. Doing it by remote is not an easy task but we do our job well. Sometimes high res are required for analysis. Some times the back of the Art work. A proud museum in Japan got wounded after finding out that they had invested in fakes. Bombay people acknowledged my debt. A number of Americans have thanked me profusely for same. A whole percentage of people listen to me.

IMMITATION OF CHUGHTAI ART

But there are hard cored people too. Backed by some sinister enemy of ours, they continue to believe that they know more than the family of the late artist. I have already written a book on this kind of CULTURAL TERRORISM. Decades have already proven the worth of our analysis. We will not wrong history. We are proud of our knowledge. A paintying was sent to me by a diamond jeweler from London and I gave him my response to same. The sane was also received from a European capital and I said the same. Then it came from Delhi too. Then finally they fooled some American expert and it is being offered for sale.

False inscription of Chughtai Art

A hundred and one things are rong with the same. The artist who was reluctant to deface his paintings with his own signature could never write an inscription on his works. The person tried to imitate the signature but would not know the writing of the artist. The artist would never refer to his work as insignificant or worthless na-chees. This is language of Lucknow not that of Lahore. The paper is wrong. The drawing is wrong. The line is wrong. It is an outright travesty of Chughtai Art. We add an outline of Chughtai Art on Krishna theme. Enjoy!

Original writing of Chughtai Artist

A RARE MENTION OF PRINCE AKBAR AS A PAINTER ON HIS MERITS – DREW PICTURE OF A CUT OFF BODY OF ENEMY “HEMU” IN HIS VISION

A RARE MENTION OF PRINCE AKBAR AS A PAINTER ON HIS MERITS
DREW PICTURE OF A CUT OFF BODY OF ENEMY “HEMU” IN HIS VISION

Emperor Humayoun

Emperor Humayoun had invited Mir Sayyed Ali and Khawaja Abdus Samad Shireen Qalam to be court painters to himself. Living in Kabul, he instructed both the painters to give a lesson to his son Akbar. Prince Akbar who was only 13 years old at that time, drew a picture of the arch enemy of his father Hemu and he drew the picture in no traditional style, but his own vision. He drew a picture of Hemu with his body portions cut off. All limbs separated from body. Literally it is a bizarre narrative written in history books and mentioned by Emperor Jahangeer too. Abu Fazl mentions same in 1601 AD and Jahangeer in 1605 AD. But the incident is after 1555-1556 AD.

Humayoun and Akbar

The bizarre part is that Prince Akbar fulfilled the picture’s vision and himself cut Hemu into such pieces. When accosted, he told Bairam Khan that he had already done that. This is the only detailed version of Prince Akbar as a painter but we all know that he was one of the greatest patron of painting in this region. Mughal Art reached its splendour under him.

Prince Akbar presents painting to Humayoun 1555 AD

INAUGURATION OF LEGENDARY BOOK AMAL-E-CHUGHTAI AT ALHAMRA LAHORE – RARE RECORD 30TH DECEMBER 1968 COVERED BY ALL NEWSPAPERS IN PAKISTAN

INAUGURATION OF LEGENDARY BOOK AMAL-E-CHUGHTAI AT ALHAMRA LAHORE
RARE RECORD 30TH DECEMBER 1968 COVERED BY ALL NEWSPAPERS IN PAKISTAN

President Ayub Khan inaugurated the legendary book Amal-e-Chughtai on 30th December 1968, at Alhamra Lahore. All newspapers covered the show extensively. Many made it headlines, others used up to four photographs to cover the event. Many wrote articles on the show. First hand coverage of all events. This was yesterday Pakistan. Today’s Pakistan is an open question! To read more, request a copy of our book for 2017, THE LEGENDARY BOOK.

THE TWO PRIZED POSSESSIONS OF THE SULTAN OF HERAT – KAMAL UD DIN BEHZAD MUSSAWAR AND KATIB MIR ALI SULTANI

THE TWO PRIZED POSSESSIONS OF THE SULTAN OF HERAT
KAMAL UD DIN BEHZAD MUSSAWAR AND KATIB MIR ALI SULTANI

Kamal ud din Behzad Masterpiece Yusuf Zulheiqa

When war broke out in Herat, the Sultan assembled a council of Ministers, to advise him of his most precious treasure. He was told that everything could be replaced with time but there were no substitute for the painter Kamal ud din Behzad and the calligrapher Mir Ali. The Sultan saved them in a mountain for years. Later on, when Timur invaded Herat, he knew about this treasure and abducted both Behzad and Mir Ali back to Central Asia. Attached is a calligraphy by Mir Ali done in Bokhara after the abduction by Timur. A masterpiece painting by Behzad. Vicious circumstances, ruthless behaviour, but love and respect for Culture there. This is the story of Islamic Civilization!

Katib Mir Ali Sultani