Journal of Law and Society
Vol. 41, No. 57 & 58
Law College
University of Peshawar
January & July, 2011 issues
CULTURAL HISTORY OF INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT; WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE
TO ARTS AND MUSIC
Raazia Hassan Naqvi*, Muhammad Ibrar**,
Salman Bangash***1
Introduction
Before partition in 1947, the Indian subcontinent includes Pakistan,
India and Bangladesh; today, the three independent countries and
nations. This Indian Subcontinent has a history of some five millennium
years and was spread over the area of one and a half millions of square
miles (Swarup, 1968). The region is rich in natural as well as physical
beauty. It has mountains, plains, forests, deserts, lakes, hills, and rivers
with different climate and seasons throughout the year. This natural
beauty has deep influence on the culture and life style of the people of
the region.
This land has been an object of invasion either from the route of
mountains or the sea, bringing with it the new masses and ideas and
assimilating and changing the culture of the people. The invaders were
the Aryans, the Dravidians, the Parthians, the Greeks, the Sakas, the
Kushans, the Huns, the Turks, the Afghans, and the Mongols (Singh,
2008) who all brought their unique cultures with them and the
amalgamation gave rise to a new Indian Cilvilization.
Indus Valley Civilization or Pre-Vedic Period
The history of Indian subcontinent starts with the Indus Valley
Civilization and the coming of Aryans both are known as Pre-Vedic and
Vedic periods.
* Lecturer, Department of Social Work (DSW), University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan
** Lecturer in Social Work, Institute of Social Work, Sociology & Gender Studies University of
Peshawar, Peshawar
*** Lecturer, Department of History, University of Peshawar
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The Indus River Civilization dates back to 2300 – 1750 BC and had two
main cities; Harappa in western Punjab and Mohenjo-Daro on the lower
Indus in Sindh – now the two important provinces of Pakistan. Both
cities were urban grain growing civilizations and were believed to have
run by Aryans who came from Iran (Mcintosh, 2008).
Sculpture:
The statues found at the sites include both human and animal forms with
intricacies and finest details. Some seals were found engraved with
figures and motifs also. All these things were made with limestone,
bronze, stone and terracotta (Pal, 1988).
Architecture:
The Harappa and Mohanjo Daro sites show the great architecture patters
of the time. The Houses were made of baked bricks, the drains and
bathrooms were also laid down by bricks. There was a proper drainage
system from the houses to the central drain. The houses were double
storey with the ground floor made of bricks and the upper storey of
wood. There was a public bath site found that could have been used for
religious motives. Thus the cities were scientifically laid down. The
construction of the houses was luxurious with bathrooms, upper story,
wells, assembly halls, granaries, barracks and workshops. There were
market places and beautiful personal ornaments found there. The gold,
silver, lead, copper, tin alloys, precious stones, cotton and wool had been
in use by the inhabitants and the domestic animals like buffalo, sheep,
elephant, bull and camel were present in the house holds (Mcintosh,
2008).
Dance:
In Harappa, a torso of a dancing girl was found which shows that dance
as an art was present there. The musical instruments of that time found
in the history are flute and drum. (Mcintosh, 2008).
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
There is evidence of cultural relationships of Indus valley civilization
with other communities like the similar items are found in Mesopotamia
(Mcintosh, 2008).
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Aryan Migration or Vedic Period (1750-1000 BC)
The Aryans were nomads who worshipped gods (their gods were all
representation of nature). Their literature known as Rig Veda has many
hymns for the gods, they distinguished between small gods and the
Supreme Creator. Their worship includes sacrifice followed by the
prayers.
The Aryans expanded their empire first towards the valleys of Ganges
and the Jamuna and later to include the whole of Nothern India (Gupta,
1999).
The local inhabitants resisted hard but at last were conquered by Aryans.
This merger brought into existence a new civilization where the Rig
Veda, sacrifice and prayers were changed into ritualistic worship
conducted by a priest class known as Brahmanas. The superstitious
beliefs in nature and spirits and the division of society into caste system
emerged and divided the people of the society into four classes; the fair
complexioned Brahamanas (priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaisyas
(Yeomen) and dark-skinned Sudras (the indigenous serfs). With the
passage of time the roles and duties of each class became rigid and
hereditary (Gupta, 1999).
Dance and Music:
In Rig Veda, there are references of dancing and other musical
instruments as part of religious practice. The hymns of Rig Veda were
chanted as a religious singing, it was more like a recitation than singing
(Gupta, 1999).
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Note:
The Vedas are the most primitive fictitious literary record of Indo-Aryan
civilization. It consists of mostly mantras or prayers and summons in
praise of various Aryan gods. The word Veda means insight, facts or
revelation, and it is valued and regarded as the language of the gods in
human speech. The core message of the Vedas is to control the social,
legal, domestic and religious traditions of the Hindus which are exactly
followed to the present day. All the customs of Hindus conducted upon
birth, marriage, death etc. are based upon Vedic principles and they are
being followed from time immemorial (Khanna, 2007).
The Rig Veda is a collection of inspired songs or hymns and is a main
source of information on the Rig Vedic civilization. It is the oldest book
in any Indo-European language and contains the earliest form of all
Sanskrit mantras that date back to 1500 B.C. - 1000 B.C. Some scholars
date the Rig Veda as early as 12000 BC - 4000 B.C.(Khanna, 2007).
Brahmanism (900 BC)
In the mean time a group of solitary persons or hermits and wanderers of
the forest evolved the concept of Supreme Reality in terms of “Brahma,
the infinite divine power which means that by stripping off everything
external a man can find its true being, the self, the soul. This gave birth
to the ideas of Hinduism, which later was the reason and inspiration of
many religious movements in the area. This later period is depicted in
the epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. However, the
Brahamanas remain the untouched and rare blood sacrifices were still
offered but the caste system became less rigid and the new gods along
with the spirits of waters, herbs, trees etc. appeared in belief system of
the people. The concepts of Karma, Maya, Mukti and Re-birth
(Reincarnation) came into existence as well as the feelings of pity for all
living beings (Bahadur, 1979).
40
Dance and Music:
There are legends about the origin of dance in Hinduism, like the great
Lord Siva gave the first glimpse of the dance who was a cosmic-dancer
and among his many great names is Nataraja meaning the Lord of
Dancers and Actors.
Another reference to the holy dance is that of Krishna and Radha, the
Eternal Lovers. Krishna through his divine love, shown in the dance
leads the couple to freedom. It is also believed that Brahama (the One
Creator of All), gave the Natya Veda to great Bharata, the father of
Indian Dance and Dramatics. The Brahamans and Buddhists literature
has references of musical theory and practice too (Bahadur, 1979).
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
The class system divided the society and the people of lower castes were
suppressed and brutally treated by the upper classes. There were no
mixing of the lower and upper classes people, no social contacts, no
marriages and lower classes were considered and treated like slaves and
there was no peace between these four classes.
Jainism and Buddhism (500 B.C or 6th Century B.C)
In the 6th century B.C two new religious movements, Jainism led by
Mahavirand Buddhism led by Buddha emerged to catch the attention of
people with their message of Truth, Non-violence and
Renunciation/Denial. They advocated for religion as a personal matter of
an individual and showed reflection on the daily conduct of life (Sen,
1988). Their message was for ethical values and they believed in love,
freedom and equality for all human beings. Soon the masses who were
the victim of class system and the tyranny of the priests, became prone
to their teachings and a large number of people among the middle class
and kings converted to Buddhism and Jainism was mostly followed by
the richer merchant class (Sen, 1988).
Sculpture:
The teachings of Buddha were against the development of art as it leads
to desire and shun the man from reaching the ultimate goal, so the
monks were forbidden to paint the pictures on the walls of the
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monasteries or to indulge in the art of sculpture. So we find no traces of
sculpture art in this period (Swarup, 1968).
Architecture:
From Indus Valley Civilization till the period of Maurya, we found no
traces of architectural remnant and have to depend upon the literature
and assumption for it. Might be the houses were made of wood, mud or
bamboos so we found no evidence of them. But the Vedic literature
states about houses, halls and fire-altars. In Ramayana and Mahabharata
also there is description of assembly halls, balconies, gateways and
double storey buildings (Swarup, 1968).
Alexander the Great (327 -26 B. C)
Alexander invaded the Punjab state of the region in 327 – 26 B.C and
linked India with Iranian Civilization (Gordon & Walsh, 2009).
Asoka Maurya (324 – 200 B.C or 273 – 236 B.C)
Asoka Maurya’s period was dominated by Buddhism but he also showed
tolerance to other religions (Sen, 1988).=
Sculpture:
He tried to give unity of culture by making stupas (Buddhist relic
shrines) and pillars engraved with his addresses and lectures. The pillars
of Asoka’s era were regarded as great piece of work in the Indian art
history as they represented bold designing, technical skills and
expressive symbolism. The Buddhist regime of Maurya instigated many
revolts from the followers of Hinduism and in 184 B.C, General
Pushyamitra Sunga commenced with reverting, reasserting and
42
rehabilitating Hinduism again with all its orthodox ceremonies, rituals,
sacrifices and the supremacy of Brahamanas. During this period, the
revival of Sunskrit language and the great epics took place. Under,
Pushyamitra and his successors, the Buddhists were allowed to decorate
their stupas and eventually the ritualistic worship was accepted in
Budhism also (Sen, 1988). This paved the way for art to flourish as the
Buddhists thoughts and ideas, myths and legends were presented in
visual forms. The pillars and stupas of that time depicted the
reincarnation stories of Buddha and were illustrated as scenes on them.
Architecture:
The use of stone in architecture started in Maurya’s regime (Schmidt,
1995). He established monuments, pillars and stupas engraved with the
teachings of the Master (Buddha).
Dance:
In Asoka time, the dance continued as a sacrificial practice (Schmidt,
1995).
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
The society developed due to the liberal values of its emperor and the
people enjoyed the riches and pleasures of life which is also evident in
the art of that period.
North India/South India
The Satavahana ruled over Northern Deccan and extended to South for
the period of nearly 300 years and their empire flourish with trade in
towns and ports. The Romans convoy came to its western coasts for
spices, diamonds and pearls and from eastern ports the ships went to
Ceylon, Burma, Malaya, Java and Annan. They also had vast plains on
the wide river valley in eastern coast. The Satavahanas were catholic and
offered charities to Buddhism and gifted marvelously to shrines and
monasteries where the monks could live and meditate (Thaper, 2002).
Invasion of North India (200 BC)
The north western borders of the country was swooped by first Greeks
who came from Turkestan and Northern Afghanistan. They were
followed by Sakas who came from Central Asia and ruled over lower
43
Indus region and western India. Afterwards came Parthians or Pahlavas
who were mostly Iranian wanderer/nomads and encouraged Hellenistic
civilization and arts in their empire (Thaper, 2002).
Kanishka (A.D. 78 – 123) belonging to Kushans tribe extended the
empire to include Kashmir, Upper Sindh, Bihar. Even beyond India
towards Hindukush, Herat, Kabul, Ghazni and Kandhahar provinces of
Afghanistan and Seistan and Balochistan. Kanishka changed the face of
the Budhism by converting it to theistic. The Buddha became the object
of worship and prayers, devotion, faith and charity became the guiding
principles of life (Thaper, 2002).
Sculpture:
As Buddha was the main Universal teacher and the Great Person of the
time, the seated and standing posture of Budha became the attention of
the artists (Brancaccio &Behrendt, 2006).
Gandhara Art:
The Gandhara art as is revealed in the ancient ruins of Jalalabad,
Bamiyan and Hadda of Afghanistan and the Peshawar (Takht Bhai) and
Taxila in Pakistan, had influence from many foreign sources including
the Persians, the Greeks, the Sakas, the Pahlavas and the Kushans. The
stories were still represented on the stupas and the pillars along with the
standing or seated image of Buddha and Budhisattvas (the stage of not
still acquiring the full Buddha - hood). (Brancaccio & Behrendt, 2006).
Architecture:
The Gandhara monasteries in Peshawar, Rawalpindi, Baluchistan and
Swat districts of Pakistan and Kabul of Afghanistan are a master piece
of architecture of Kushan’s era. They consist of courts with open roof
tops with assembly halls or chapels surrounding these courts; can be
marked as kitchens, baths or dining halls (Brancaccio & Behrendt,
2006).
Story Telling:
Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa Province of Pakistan, had
always been famous for its folktales. This small city is about twenty
miles from the Khyber Pass, the main pass linking Afghanistan with the
44
Indian subcontinent. In the olden days it was an important stoppingplace for traders, because here the caravan routes from China, India,
Persia and Turkestan joined. It is said that the travelers used to meet in
the renowned Qissa Khwani Bazaar (Story teller’s market), where they
would exchange stories learnt on their travels. The story tellers now sit
in Hujras and recite the stories. However, the trend is dying as now days
as the people listens to radio rather than the story tellers (Ahmad &
Boase, 2010).
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
The Buddhist teachings promoted peace as they advocated for religion
as a personal entity and spread the message of love and harmony among
the people of different communities. The story tellers used to narrate the
stories of kings and common people of different cultures which brought
them together without even visiting the other societies and bringing the
culture familiarity as is still seen between the people living at the
Afghanistan and Peshawar borders of Pakistan.
Buddha Stupas, Taxila and views of old buildings from QissaKhwani Bazar, Peshwar,
photographed by Raazia Hassan Naqvi.
Traditional India
Gupta Empire (320 – 500 CE)
The invaders brought with them their manners, religion and ethics and
imposed them on the masses. The relief came in the form of Gupta
Emperors in (A.D. 319 – 510) who were basically feudal (Prakash,
45
2005). The first king of the line Chandra Gupta married in the ruling
elites of Nepal and Bihar. The Guptas ruled over Gujrat, Kathiawar,
Deccan, Bengal, Assam and hilly districts of Garhwal and Kangra and
some of the tribal states of Punjab. During Gupta’s regime the society
adhered to nationalism and provided ideas for the great cultural revival
in the country. The literary figures of the time produced great literature
and art on the encouragement of their emperors (Prakash, 2005).
Sculpture:
The art of the time was considered as “classic” in Indian history as it
touches the limits of elegance and sophistication. Different gods of
Hindu were portrayed in sculpture with sensuous details. The animal
figures were also made but vegetative patterns found no place in the art
(Prakash, 2005).
Architecture:
The Gupta regime saw the evolution and rise of decisive period in the
form of temple as a Hindu sense of “House of god”. The Vishnu temple
in Jabbalpur district, Siva temple at Bhumara in Negod, Parvati temple
at Nachna in Ajaigah, temple of Siva at Deogarh in the Jahnsi district
and nine rock-cut asylums in Gupta tradition at Udayagiri in Bhopal are
the examples of fine architecture of the time (Prakash, 2005).
Dance and Music: In Gupta regime, dancing became necessary
elements in upper class culture and dancing at courts was a common
feature. The history revealed that some of the rulers of Gupta regime
were musicians themselves (Prakash, 2005)
Effects of culture on intercultural relations: Dancing became the
means of expressions of one’s feelings and the means of making the
gods or the ruling elite happy or pleased.
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Invasion of Huns (455 – 528 CE)
The Gupta Empire came to end with the invasion of Huns from Central
Asia who brought mass destruction by looting, ruining and burning the
entire national heritage (Prakash, 2005).
Rajput Era (North India) and Regional Empires (South India) (650
– 1335)
Vakatakas ruled over Deccan until about 500 A.D. and later the
Chalukyas from Badami take over the territory and the Pallavas were the
successors in the line of Deccan throne who came from Dravidian
region. The Chalukyas and Pallavas hold over the South India regime for
three hundred years. This period was of Hinduism success and became
the religion of people of both the north and south India. The worshipping
of Hindu gods and the religious verses in the local language were
provoked among the masses. Sanskrit established its influence and
Kanchibecame the seat of Sanskrit learning in the South and as sacred a
place as Kashi of the North. This gave birth to new common civilization
which was Indian with common language and script, common systems
of worship and common social outlook. The construction of gorgeous
temples, sculptures and paintings of the time revitalized the religious
thoughts too (Sen, 1988).
After the death of Harsha, the North India broke down into different
small empires and the political leadership was passed to the Rajputs who
were an upper class of former princes, feudal or army officials of the
foreign races like Sakas, the Pahlavas and the Huns. The Rajputs
claimed that they were the descent of old Hindu gods Surya, Chandra
and Agni etc. All this clan clashes and religious rivalry opened the path
for Muslim invaders to enter the region (Sen, 1988).
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Sculpture:
This was the time when different gods of the Indian got faces and were
portrayed with religious fervor and passion by acquiring new strength
and attributes e.g. the four faces of Brahma and Veshnu, and five faces
of Siva and three eyes of Mahadeva reflected their strength, power,
knowledge and sovereignty thus ensuring their divinity and holiness.
The human form and features were the main focus of the artists of the
period and they imitated the human form with full natural beauty
(Swarup, 1968).
Paintings in the Hindu and the Buddhist Era:
The origin of this form of art is described in the historic literature of
Hindus and Buddhists. The pictures were figurative of gods and goddess
and their supernatural powers. The early history of Buddhist’s literature
revealed that no festival was considered complete without decorating the
walls, doors, streets of the village or town with paintings of pictures
(Swarup, 1968).
Dance:
The practice of dancing at temples as part of the daily worship
developed in the early years of the history and the women, who
dedicated their lives to the Lords of the temples and dance as a ritual of
the temples, are called “Devadasis” (Swarup, 1968).
Music:
The Bhakti form of worship gave revival to Indian Music in which the
worship by prayers and by songs was stressed which were the sign of
real devotion to the gods (Swarup, 1968).
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
The emperors of these small dynasties were all the time fighting with
each other and gave no importance to the mutual national outlook and
this resulted into drastic changes in the social as well as religious sphere
of the region. The Buddhism merged into Hinduism and Jainism
withdrew into the background. The spirits of sectarianism rise among the
different clans and the rulers to get support of the religious leaders and
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to win the hearts of the masses, spent lavishly on temples and religious
rituals. The religious texts were written down and all people have to
adhere to it in their daily life. The artists and artisans were also under the
full control of the scholastic theoreticians who even prescribed the
smallest details of their work (Sen, 1988).
Arabs take Sindh (711)
First Arab Muslim to capture the lower Indus valley was Muhammad bin
Qasim who opened the way for Umayyad Caliphs to penetrate in the
region. But as their homeland was far off in Baghdad so it was not easy
to get assistance or any type of support from there and the empire could
not bring effective results (Annemarie, 2004).
After nearly three centuries, in the 10th century came Seljug Turks from
Central Asia, they got hold of the region as the Indians were illorganized and there was no political integrity (Annemarie, 2004).
Raid of Mahmud of Ghazni (997 - 1027) and Muslim India
Mahmud raided the region in 1000 A.D. from Ghazni and destroyed the
worship style and wealth of the area and as a result the Hindu domain
vanished from most of the Punjab. A century passed and another
Muslim warrior Sultan Muhammad came from Ghur a neighboring area
of Ghazni with his slave governor, Qutbuddin Aibak. The victory of
Muslims over the region had resulted in building their empire in the
Punjab, the Gangetic plains and the Bengal and subsequently down till
Mysore and Delhi. The Hindus thought that this race will also be merged
into their religion but the Muslims were proud of their religion and
culture and soon Islam and Muslims were accepted in the social and
religious life of the people (Annemarie, 2004).
Mughal Empire (1526 – 1858)
Iltutmish, Balban, Khiljis, Tughluqs and other Muslim Sultanates were
ruled over by the Turkish Mughals who came to India in 1526 under
Babur rule. The Muslims who advocated for one God and the equality of
all men, their simplicity and condemnation of caste system, polytheism,
idolatry and ritualism became popular in the masses and most of the
Hindus embraced Islam for the true faith, sincerity and purity of life
which symbolized from the life of the Muslims. But at the same time
there were Muslim writers and poets (Muslim Sufi order) who along
49
with their Islamic traditions brought assimilation with Hinduism and the
rulers offered Hindus the jobs in bureaucracy and in Army too, without
compromising in the supremacy of Islam. Hindu music, art and dance
were given space at the courts and Hindu motifs got blended with
Islamic art (Richard, 1995).
But this was only true for the North India, the South remains under the
rule of Hindus and the Cholas Empire remains from 985 to the middle of
the thirteen century and spread over the northern Ceylon, Bengal,
Burma, Malay and Sumatra. This part extended the temples with courts
and halls thus growing it into temple towns. The gods were kept in these
temple towns as kings in the courts. These towns include the enclosure
for musicians and dancers and dancing developed as a great part of the
art. This regime was also run over by a Muslim Sultan Alauddin Khilji
who came from the North in early 14th century (Richard, 1995).
Khilji’s state could run for only twenty five years and the South was
again taken over by Hindus, this is known as Vijayanagar Empire in the
history and lasted for almost two hundred years. It became the center of
Hindu Cultures and many gorgeously decorated temples are still a proof
of strong religious feelings of the Hindus of that area (Richard, 1995).
In Deccan state, a Muslim ruler Bahmani grew up against the
Vijayanagar Empire. This empire gave permission to immigrants of
Western Asia to port at Western India and take up jobs in the
administration. This period was of Persian influence in the art and
culture of the area (Richard, 1995).
The Mughals who came in 1526 in Delhi under Babur rule, were Turkish
nationals but were very Iranian in Culture. After Babur came his son
Humayun and then Sher Shah Suri, they all influenced the arts and
culture along with the Mughal court by bringing in it Persian as well as
Iranian touch (Richard, 1995). Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan and
Aurangzeb Alamgir (A.D. 1658-1707) were the successors of the
Mughal emperor Humayon (Richard, 1995).
Aurengzeb’s religious fervor roused resistance from the Marathas,
Sikhs, and Rajputs and soon the empire collapsed. Nadir Shah from
Persia took over Delhi and many viceroys from other provinces declared
their independence. The Delhi ruler had thus to accept protection from
the British in 1803, who were the holder of next rule over India. This
decline also reflected in the art, literature, architecture and paintings of
the time. The Nawabs of the provinces were only interested in the cheap
and romantic sentiments. The nobles started making the cloth and
handicraft goods and Kathak dance flourished in the courts. Only the
Hindu states of Rajhastan and western Himalayas still radiated with
50
influence from artistic Mughal style. This Hindu art had a native feeling
of nature, spirituality and romanticism (Richard, 1995).
Sculpture:
As in the views of Islamic elites of the time, the teachings of Islam and
Quran forbade making of sculptures so human and animal statues and
drawings are not found in this period (Sharma, 1999).
Architecture:
The Muslim architecture of the time instead of using sculpture was
dominated by carving and paintings of text from the Holy Book “Quran”
and Arabic and Persian floral and geometric motifs are found on the
sites of Muslim architectures. The Mosque and the Grave were the key
important buildings of the time. Qutbuddin Aibak made the first mosque
called Quwwatul Islam or Might of Islam at Delhi, India later to add the
Qutab Minar with the mosque. The Rohtas fort made by Sher Shah
Suri(1541-45) near Jehlum, Pakistan is also a masterpiece of Muslim
architecture. The tomb of Humayun (1564) in Delhi, Fortress Palace of
Agra, another mosque built by Akbar at Fatehpur Sikrialong with tomb
of SalimChisti a benefactor and sufi saint of Akbar, Palaces of Jodh Bai,
Mariam Sultana and Birbal, Dewan e Khas (Hall of private audiences 1575), Jahangir’s tomb near Lahore, Agra Fort and Moti Masjid near
Delhi, Taj Mahal at Agra by Shah jahan and Badshahi Mosque at Lahore
built by Aurengzaib (1674), are the fine examples of Muslim
architecture (Sharma, 1999).
Painting:
The emperors Khilji and Tughhluq gave jobs to indigenous painters in
their courts. The paintings of their time included the calligraphy
(transcribing the text from the Holy Quran) and also the garden scenes
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but no animated picture could be found in this time. The Mughal had
splendid taste in art. The style of painting in their regime is known as
“miniature” which was primarily done on the delicate palm tree leaves
till the introduction of paper in the country in 1400, which then became
the most popular material for paintings. The Mughals were the first who
challenge the religious ban on animated pictures and gave protection to
the art of painting. Akbar who himself was a painter since his childhood,
had always encouraged the painters and he laid the foundation of first
ever Mughal school of painting in India. During Akbar regime, the
painters started illustrating the serials of the stories and works of the past
renowned writers. The reign of Jehangir is also considered as the Golden
age of Mughal painting, the portraits of emperors, members of royal
families, holy men, saints, soldiers and dancing girls were depicted by
the artists in the paintings (Sharma, 1999).
Dance:
Muslim era saw the decline of dancing art particularly in the North, only
Kathak dance was the only survival in North with all its emotions and
with the passage of time and the influence of the ruling elites became
more and more secular (Sharma, 1999).
Music:
The Sultan Alauddin Khilji had in his court a famous Persian poet
named Hazrat Amir Khusrau who was a poet, a musician and a soldier.
In Akbar’s court, there were total thirty eight masters of music as stated
in Aini-Akbari and Dhrupad was the most favoured melody sung mostly
by Swami Hari Dass at Akbar’s court and his disciple Mian Tansen
known as jewel of Akbar’s court gave Dhrupad a new look by mixing in
it the music from other origins. The later emperors, Jahangir and
52
Shahjahan showed the same passion for music. Tansen used to play
Rabab a musical instrument of that time and Amir Khusrau invented
Sitar. Tabla and Shehnai were other popular instruments in later years of
Mughal rule (Sharma, 1999).
Sufism:
Sufismis a discipline that leads its believers to moral perfection by
civilizing their spiritual and internal aspects and directing them towards
accomplishing the Real by transforming them to an ideal and perfect
moral personality and behavior, guiding them thereby to the knowledge
of God.(Topbas, 2011). Sufism is a spiritual system that has had a
tremendous impact on world literature and has affected many cultures.
The impact of Sufism on Islamic culture can also be seen in the design
of many buildings and the architecture in general, the patterns of poetry
and music, and the visual effect of colors and calligraphy (Bayat &
Jamnia, 1994). The induction of Sufism in Islam brought about a change
in the spirit of Muslim Society. In comparison with the orthodox faith,
Sufism was more humane, more liberal in forgiving human weaknesses,
and more broad-minded on differences of beliefs. By its very nature,
Sufism had a deep empathy for poetry as well as for mystical music.
Sufism had great emphasis on ethics and most Sufis declared religion
only the morals or ethics (Islam, 2002). The most prominent sufi
(spiritual leader) of the Mughal’s era was Nizam Salim Chisti.
Effects of culture on intercultural relations:
As Akbar was pro Hindu and married a Hindu woman. He brought the
idea of fusion of Hindu and Muslim culture. The art of his time had
blend of both cultures, thus idealistic in nature. Jahangir and Shah Jahan
his successors maintained the same outlook of the society but Aurangzeb
Alamgir (A.D. 1658-1707) break that spells again into conventional
Muslim policy (Richard, 1995).
Art in the Muslim era flourished due to their good taste and generosity in
aesthetic sense. The artists, writers, poets, thinkers, scholars from all
over Asia came to their courts. It was a period of Indo-Islamic
culmination of expression and glory in arts (music, painting, crafts and
architecture) and culture (Richard, 1995).
All the Mughal emperors encouraged the artists and musicians and thus
the people of different religions come together and also the sufis saints
of the time paved a way in bringing people together.
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(Rohtas Fort - photographed by Raazia Hassan Naqvi).
European Traders in India (1700 - 1900)
The European came to India from the route of the sea. First to come
were the Portuguese traders, then subsequently came the British, the
French and the Dutch. The British were the most successful in extending
superiority in colonial contest and till 1803 became the real supreme
power of the whole of India. These European nations brought with them
the elements of western cultures into the art and ways of living of the
people of the country. The Portuguese introduced the regeneration of
glitzy art and the French introduced their tastes in the decorations of
palaces and houses. The British brought with them the Britain style of
architecture and also influenced their modes in paintings and sculptures
to such an extent that the Indian mind became alien to their own legacy
and heritage.
The British after suppressing the independence war of India in 1858,
took the complete administrative hold of the country. Some artists tried
to enrich their own historic art but became only the imitators of the past.
The new generation also tends to incline towards the western culture and
the outbreak came with the independence of the region from the British
in 1947 and the emergence of two independent states; India and
Pakistan.
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Conclusion:
The art of Indian subcontinent is idealistic in nature with strong traces of
different cultures and civilizations in it. It is evident from the history that
the cultural diplomats in the region were the invaders, warriors that
brought the cultural diffusion through hard power but along with them
there were a great number of soft power promoters as artists, suifs,
poets, musicians, and story tellers. The role of these cultural diplomats
was significant in contributing to the better socio-cultural understanding
and building relationship between people of different faiths, sects and
regions.
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(Most of the pictures are taken from Google Images and some are taken
by the writer herself).
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