We talk of today’s India as a global power and of its international trade and cosmopolitan nature. But all this was already happening in the Deccan Plateau in the 16th and 17th centuries where, drawn by the access to port cities, immigrants, merchants, mercenaries and missionaries from different parts of the world landed there, lured by the country’s riches.
In the kingdoms of the Deccan Sultans, there was a rich interaction with the Middle East, Africa and Europe, a buzzing trade in diamonds and textiles, and the flowering of a vibrant art and architecture scene.
“Asia and Europe met in the Deccan; it was where everyone was headed,” says Navina Najat Haider, curator, Department of Islamic Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), New York. “It was where everything was happening so the Deccan is the absolute key to our world.”
Now, this fabulous Deccani world has arrived at New York’s Met through a major exhibition, ‘Sultans of Deccan India: (1500-1700) Opulence and Fantasy' (on till July 26). It features over 200 of the finest artefacts, paintings, marbled drawings and textiles, not to mention superb diamonds that evoke a world, which has long since disappeared.
As Thomas P. Campbell, director, the Met, says, “Receptive to outside influences yet securely rooted in its ancient traditions, the Deccan became home to foreign immigrants, Sufi mystics, Shi'a Muslims and global traders.”
The exhibition, curated by Navina Najat Haidar and Marika Sardar, associate curator, San Diego Museum of Art, showcases the courtly arts of the kingdoms of Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, and Golconda, which drew artists, musicians and writers, and produced uniquely distinctive art from its varied influences.
“Although the scale of the exhibition seems intimate, the journey was very long - almost 10 years,” recalls Haidar. “We travelled across the world, researching the subject, gathering the objects and understanding how to judge the material so as to bring the best together as well as find new things.”
At that time, Haidar and her team were also working on the Islamic Galleries of the Met that house the permanent collection in the newly installed Islamic wing with art from the 7th to the early 20th century. She says, “Working on the Islamic Galleries was important to fully understand the dimensions of the art and history of the Deccan, it was useful to have the full background of the Islamic world. While Deccani art is an aspect of Indian art, it’s also an aspect of Islamic tradition.”
This show, with artefacts from over 60 -70 international lenders, has items that were separated for hundreds of years and are now in the same room once again, such as two water fountains, possibly from the same Deccani garden - one is now in Copenhagen, and the other in the collection of the Met.
Many artefacts are from India, and some have never left the country, such as the crocodile from Bijapur which has been there since 1647. A fish shaped water spout is from the Asar Mahal and has been loaned by the Bijapur Archaeological Museum. Getting a painting from Prague, which has never before left the country, was regarded as a coup of sorts.
Of course, the diamonds are a big draw as some of the largest ones came from the mines of Golconda. The diamonds at the exhibition include the intense pink ‘Agra Diamond,’ the brilliant blue ‘Idol’s Eye,’ which in later centuries was turned into a Harry Winston necklace, and the fabulous ‘Shah Jahan Diamond,’ shaped like an amulet or taviz.
The golden age of Bijapur under the rule of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II was a celebration of arts and crafts, especially Bidri metalwork from the kingdom of Bidar. In every sphere of art, there was the freedom of imagination, and this shows even in the intricate daggers of copper and gold which have carved interlocked animals in combat, and show many influences ranging from Chinese to Persian and European.
There are sumptuous royal objects made of inlaid and gilded metal, precious jewels and stone architectural elements, many of which draw inspiration from the art of Safavid Persia and Ottoman Turkey. The kingdoms were also famous for the large painted and printed textiles - kalamkari - encompassing motifs from Indian, Islamic and European life. To look at these is to see the stories of those times unfold, with foreign emissaries surrounded by the colour of India.
The Deccan Sultanates were specially celebrated for their paintings that evoke a poetic lyricism and were inspired by Hindu iconography, Persian and European paintings. These are small works but each of them holds a universe of meaning, style and ideas, according to Haidar.
Haidar’s personal favourite is ‘Wedding Procession of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah’, dated 1650, an opaque watercolour and gold on paper, which shows a Hindu-Muslim wedding back in the 17th century, when a Golconda Sultan took a Hindu bride. The bride’s palanquin is empty because the groom has put her in front of him on the horse.
As Haidar points out, the story of the Deccan Sultans was not a Hindu and Muslim conquest story, even though in 1565, the five sultanates got together against the Hindu Kingdom of Vijayanagar. Previously, rival Muslim kingdoms fought each other or allied with Vijayanagar. At the end of it all, the Deccan Sultans fell to the conquest of other Muslims, the Mughals, and this obsession for supremacy had a heavy cost for both, with the British waiting in the wings.“The readings of history, and interpretations of history are always something to keep in mind, the record is open to discussion,” says Haidar. “It is also about shared culture that goes across bridges, across divides.”
The exhibition is featured on the Museum’s website as well as on Facebook.
(Lavina Melwani is a New York based journalist who writes for several international publications. She blogs at Lassi with Lavina. Follow@lavinamelwani)
