A Shared Tradition
Text & Photography: Ar. Jinisha Jain
Changing Paradigms of Time
The range craft traditions of the sub-continent were to mould into and which were to survive for 5000 years appear dated and firmly established in the cities of the Indus Valley. Craftsmen in these cities had skilled themselves to harness the natural resources, had discovered the use of wheel, learnt to cast and forge metals and evolved simple tools to measure and apply geometry. Panini, the first of the great grammarians, in the 5th C BC used the word shilpa as a generic word to include painters, dancers, musicians, weavers, potters and tailors. The word for the artisan was kari, a word which became synonymous with skill. The kalakar donned the mastery of vision and technique. Panini mentions raj shilpins as the artisans who created crafts for the king and his court, and the gram shilpins as village craftsmen. These shilpins had respectable positions in the social hierarchy and were indispensible to the economy. Of the many directions and genres that the arts/crafts (there was hardly a distinction) of this ancient cultural geography branched into, building crafts evolved into superior, highly diversified and increasingly complex forms based on the tradition of transmissible knowledge, that which could be passed on from the master to the disciple and from the father to the son. The sthapati or master craftsmen tended to the rules laid down in the shilpshastras and other building codes, subsequently executed by masons, artists and specialized task groups- srenis in available materials and in inherited techniques. Conversely, vernacular architecture shaped by the effortless knowledge of the collective remained innately organic, drawing upon simple observations, natural forms and local materials. In the area of pottery, wall-decoration and painting, the craftsmen both designed and executed.
External impacts, invasions and a resultant cultural adaptation and amalgamation led to a further enrichment and diversification of these traditions and building practices. The sthapatis and the muhandis placed their centuries old knowledge at each other’s disposal. New methods and skills were continually integrated with the existing local traditions while also adding to and maturing the metaphorical content. Various artisan’s guilds and regional schools flourished. As an instance, in Sultanate and Mughal times there existed expert guilds of memar (masons), sang-tarash (stone-cutters), gul-tarash (sculptors), pachchikar (inlayers), kashikar (mosaic expert) and others. These guilds if required moved from one place to the other with their families enforcing an exchange and expansion of their skills in regions hitherto new to their art. The medieval period thus saw a great cultural resurgence which gave some of the finest existing art and architectural expressions and a surfeit of building traditions, many of which manage to survive.
The British Raj era, also the period of industrial revolution in European nations brought a different kind of incursion, the one that changed the long-established patterns of traditions and also of thoughts, where the ‘imported’ and the ‘foreign’ began to be preferred over the Indigenous or the Desi. In the late 1940’s, partition and subsequent creation of the new ‘Nations’, fuelled them with the visions of progress, modernity and technological advancement, the former (progress) possibly confused with the latter (modernity). Mass-production coupled with the thrust on ease and pace in construction besides reduced time became the norm, as also the global rage. In the frenzy of concrete, steel and the superficially better technology; few traditional crafts and their skills were deemed as required, much less maintained.
The changing paradigms of time have altered the priorities, materials, tools, technology, education systems and consequently the status of the arts/crafts and their artisans/craftsmen in our contemporary societies. Traditional building crafts and related skills remain vulnerable. The call for a reiteration on some of these building craft traditions is thus timely and intended to give more meaning to this shared repository.
Building Craft Traditions
Stone Inlay or Parchinkari
The exquisite decorative tradition of setting semiprecious stones in marble known as ‘parchinkari’ is believed to have been suitably introduced in the sub-continent by the 17th C. This is a complex art requiring various groups of skilled artisans. Designs and motifs are prepared by the naqqash or ustad and transferred to the slab traditionally in henna or charcoal dust. The marble stone-dresser pathar- ghara engraves the required depths in the marble slab. The original drawing, complete with color scheme, is then given by the naqqash, to the colored stone-dresser, begaria for cutting patterns from multi-colored stones. Special stones in natural colors- with the necessary fibers and other textures as per the design are skillfully cut out by hand or with the help of special tools and shaped on the emery wheels. They are then made to set (inlaid) in the sockets previously made in the marble slabs by the pathar-ghara. This is followed by hand polishing, done with a traditional polishing powder and a soft, moist muslin cloth. The entire process is supervised by the ustad. Finest examples of this can be seen at Taj Mahal where 43 different kinds of gem stones are used and at Itmad-ud-Daulha’s tomb in Agra; in Lahore at the Naulakha Pavilion and Jahangir’s Mausoleum. For centuries this traditional art has been kept alive and handed down from one generation to another within the families of master craftsmen and is an integral part of the cultural heritage of Agra.
Mirror work or Ainahkari
In medieval times, ‘Shish Mahal’- the mirror-inlaid private chambers of the kings and their nobility were an expression of artistic delight and affluence. The tradition though was long established and can be traced to the village mud houses, bhungas of the desert region of Sind and Gujarat which use mirror work and colors on both the exterior and the interior wall surfaces, as a need to make their mud houses stand apart from the arid landscape. Similarly, an age-old tradition of kanchkala still exists in the Jain temples. The Mughals and their vassals, especially Rajput chieftains in palaces at Udaipur, Amber, Bundi etc, patronized this decorative art. Shish Mahals can be seen in the Mughal fort palaces at Delhi, Agra and Lahore. The typology received sufficient patronage from the Sikh Chiefs also, and was excelled in the Golden temple of Amritsar during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The walls and the ceilings of these ‘Palaces of Mirrors’ are decked with thousands of tiny convex mirrors, tukris laid in beautiful patterns mostly in gach- the technique of gilding. The gach is first applied as lime, and then fashioned out in floral designs, while still in semi-wet stage. After the design is dry, it is covered with varnish and then pasted over with gold leaves- Varaqs. Tukri work involves the setting in of the pieces of mirror-glass or coloured glass in the Gach. Original thin glass pots are polished on the inside with mercury. These are then broken and the pieces cut to sizes with the help of the sharp edge of a special stone. The technique is a representation of a highly evolved sense of colour and light. Most urban centers and craftsmen guilds specialized in this trade have ebbed out.
Mosaic tiles or Kashikari
Kashikari was a complicated and elaborate system of making colored tiles. The technique involved fusing plaster tiles made of siliceous sand and lime overlaid with metallic oxides in specially built kilns under controlled heat. It is believed to have been popular in Persia and Central Asia, from where it travelled to the South-Asian countries. Multan, Uchchh, Pakpattan and Daira Dinpanah have some of the early and brilliant instances of faience revetment. Shams Sabzwari’s tomb and the distinguished mausoleum of Rukn-i-Alam are a couple of the earliest structures embellished with faience in the sub-continent. In India, the use remained frugal where in Sultanate times the faience mosaic confined to certain sections of the walls, the drums of the domes, niches, friezes, spandrels of arches, mihrabs, etc, however, in Jahangir’s and Shah Jahan’s creations the mosaic tiles found a new lease of life, notable examples of which can be discovered in Punjab such as in the Serai of Noormahal and that of Amanat Khan. While Chini ka Rauza at Agra is a perfect exploitation of the technique, the early Mughal Nila gumbad and Sabz Burj in Delhi are other noteworthy illustrations of the same. Loads of superior examples of kasha inlay are found in Pakistan. Many at Lahore- Jahangir’s tomb, the 72,000 sq. ft. glazed tile picture-wall of Lahore fort (adjoining Hathi Pol) with a unique range of animate motifs, Dai Anga’s mosque, Gulabi bagh gateway and Wazir Khan’s masjid in the Akbari bazaar. These are works of exquisite artisanship, covered with tiles of myriad hues, kashikari frescos and faience mosaic inscriptions. The tomb of Shah Burhan in Chiniot and Shah Jahan’s mosque in Thatta are other illustrations. Though the method of making glaze has been wiped out from the larger part of the sub-continent, they survive in some parts of Pakistan.
Old Traditions, New Possibilities
Innovation must ideally imply openness- a resistance to any kind of blocking of mind, thought and expression. The new materials and modern technology have made their limitations obvious and has become a block. If new materials were used to replicate historic details, it is now time to explore the possibilities with older materials and techniques in the creation of innovative building art expressions and newer details; possibilities to regain lost knowledge and apply it in new ways.
At the same time, a recovery and a new-found contemporary relevance for these techniques shall also mean duly respecting their bearers who have been pushed to the bottom of the social hierarchies and have been replaced by more revered machines and products of globalization. Artisans/craftsmen are bearers of culture; these are persons who embody, who have in the very highest degree, the skills and techniques necessary for the production and the continued existence of selected aspects of people’s cultural life. However, they are forced to live at the margins. Many issues confront the sustenance of traditional building practices and crafts, today. It is important to realize that traditional and vernacular crafts survive only when their social function and economic potential is sustained. Their economy can be made to revive through improved channels of communication and accessibility. However, before self-sufficiency, it is their self-belief, their confidence which needs to be revived. In societies where needs are created before the demands, there is a need to create and augment a demand for them.
It would not be far-fetched to say that their dismissal manifests the psychosis of the present world where processes of deep engagement with nature and human spirit are no more externalized. A society based on minima is intolerably unimaginable and looking over several thousand years of the surviving heritage of our historic geography, we must appreciate that we are blessed to have inherited this invaluable cultural extravaganza. Also, the past six decades in retrospect will tell us that the growth-paths taken by our countries in many ways are identical as many of the problems their choices have led to and as evidences of our common history and heritage persist in their marginalized forms, there is much more to share and recover…
Biographical Note: Jinisha Jain is an architectural journalist, a researcher and a conservation architect based in New Delhi, India, with a key interest in the study of cross-cultural linkages and heritage of the sub-continent. The contents are an extension of her previous research.
A Treasure House of Building Craft Traditions
For untold centuries, the South-Asian sub-continent with its vast
variety of building crafts has been a veritable treasure house of
countless regional, vernacular and country traditions, determined and
sustained by the inexorable creative impulses of our craftsmen along
with elaborate allied techniques and stylized systems which emerged from
peculiar socio-cultural perspectives, temporal influences and an
intrinsic relationship with the physical environment. Nature and
its offerings thus inconspicuously but emphatically assisted the
fashioning of the most skilful and sophisticated architectural details
from the most ordinary materials- mud, stone, timber, lime and others.
With little reliance on artificial technologies for the living and
human comfort, resources were wisely extracted in a way that less was
consumed and more was saved (by eliminating residue). These were fused
with life by the desire of the devout artisan who intended to discover
beauty and joy through labor. Thus through a rich and large vocabulary
of decorative traditions- functional, ecologically sensitive yet highly
artistic expressions were created on the various three-dimensional
surfaces of the built forms, often defying a surface-deep relationship
to underpin structural attributes of both the physical and meta-physical
kinds.Changing Paradigms of Time
The range craft traditions of the sub-continent were to mould into and which were to survive for 5000 years appear dated and firmly established in the cities of the Indus Valley. Craftsmen in these cities had skilled themselves to harness the natural resources, had discovered the use of wheel, learnt to cast and forge metals and evolved simple tools to measure and apply geometry. Panini, the first of the great grammarians, in the 5th C BC used the word shilpa as a generic word to include painters, dancers, musicians, weavers, potters and tailors. The word for the artisan was kari, a word which became synonymous with skill. The kalakar donned the mastery of vision and technique. Panini mentions raj shilpins as the artisans who created crafts for the king and his court, and the gram shilpins as village craftsmen. These shilpins had respectable positions in the social hierarchy and were indispensible to the economy. Of the many directions and genres that the arts/crafts (there was hardly a distinction) of this ancient cultural geography branched into, building crafts evolved into superior, highly diversified and increasingly complex forms based on the tradition of transmissible knowledge, that which could be passed on from the master to the disciple and from the father to the son. The sthapati or master craftsmen tended to the rules laid down in the shilpshastras and other building codes, subsequently executed by masons, artists and specialized task groups- srenis in available materials and in inherited techniques. Conversely, vernacular architecture shaped by the effortless knowledge of the collective remained innately organic, drawing upon simple observations, natural forms and local materials. In the area of pottery, wall-decoration and painting, the craftsmen both designed and executed.
External impacts, invasions and a resultant cultural adaptation and amalgamation led to a further enrichment and diversification of these traditions and building practices. The sthapatis and the muhandis placed their centuries old knowledge at each other’s disposal. New methods and skills were continually integrated with the existing local traditions while also adding to and maturing the metaphorical content. Various artisan’s guilds and regional schools flourished. As an instance, in Sultanate and Mughal times there existed expert guilds of memar (masons), sang-tarash (stone-cutters), gul-tarash (sculptors), pachchikar (inlayers), kashikar (mosaic expert) and others. These guilds if required moved from one place to the other with their families enforcing an exchange and expansion of their skills in regions hitherto new to their art. The medieval period thus saw a great cultural resurgence which gave some of the finest existing art and architectural expressions and a surfeit of building traditions, many of which manage to survive.
The British Raj era, also the period of industrial revolution in European nations brought a different kind of incursion, the one that changed the long-established patterns of traditions and also of thoughts, where the ‘imported’ and the ‘foreign’ began to be preferred over the Indigenous or the Desi. In the late 1940’s, partition and subsequent creation of the new ‘Nations’, fuelled them with the visions of progress, modernity and technological advancement, the former (progress) possibly confused with the latter (modernity). Mass-production coupled with the thrust on ease and pace in construction besides reduced time became the norm, as also the global rage. In the frenzy of concrete, steel and the superficially better technology; few traditional crafts and their skills were deemed as required, much less maintained.
The changing paradigms of time have altered the priorities, materials, tools, technology, education systems and consequently the status of the arts/crafts and their artisans/craftsmen in our contemporary societies. Traditional building crafts and related skills remain vulnerable. The call for a reiteration on some of these building craft traditions is thus timely and intended to give more meaning to this shared repository.
Building Craft Traditions
Stone Inlay or Parchinkari
The exquisite decorative tradition of setting semiprecious stones in marble known as ‘parchinkari’ is believed to have been suitably introduced in the sub-continent by the 17th C. This is a complex art requiring various groups of skilled artisans. Designs and motifs are prepared by the naqqash or ustad and transferred to the slab traditionally in henna or charcoal dust. The marble stone-dresser pathar- ghara engraves the required depths in the marble slab. The original drawing, complete with color scheme, is then given by the naqqash, to the colored stone-dresser, begaria for cutting patterns from multi-colored stones. Special stones in natural colors- with the necessary fibers and other textures as per the design are skillfully cut out by hand or with the help of special tools and shaped on the emery wheels. They are then made to set (inlaid) in the sockets previously made in the marble slabs by the pathar-ghara. This is followed by hand polishing, done with a traditional polishing powder and a soft, moist muslin cloth. The entire process is supervised by the ustad. Finest examples of this can be seen at Taj Mahal where 43 different kinds of gem stones are used and at Itmad-ud-Daulha’s tomb in Agra; in Lahore at the Naulakha Pavilion and Jahangir’s Mausoleum. For centuries this traditional art has been kept alive and handed down from one generation to another within the families of master craftsmen and is an integral part of the cultural heritage of Agra.
Mirror work or Ainahkari
In medieval times, ‘Shish Mahal’- the mirror-inlaid private chambers of the kings and their nobility were an expression of artistic delight and affluence. The tradition though was long established and can be traced to the village mud houses, bhungas of the desert region of Sind and Gujarat which use mirror work and colors on both the exterior and the interior wall surfaces, as a need to make their mud houses stand apart from the arid landscape. Similarly, an age-old tradition of kanchkala still exists in the Jain temples. The Mughals and their vassals, especially Rajput chieftains in palaces at Udaipur, Amber, Bundi etc, patronized this decorative art. Shish Mahals can be seen in the Mughal fort palaces at Delhi, Agra and Lahore. The typology received sufficient patronage from the Sikh Chiefs also, and was excelled in the Golden temple of Amritsar during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
The walls and the ceilings of these ‘Palaces of Mirrors’ are decked with thousands of tiny convex mirrors, tukris laid in beautiful patterns mostly in gach- the technique of gilding. The gach is first applied as lime, and then fashioned out in floral designs, while still in semi-wet stage. After the design is dry, it is covered with varnish and then pasted over with gold leaves- Varaqs. Tukri work involves the setting in of the pieces of mirror-glass or coloured glass in the Gach. Original thin glass pots are polished on the inside with mercury. These are then broken and the pieces cut to sizes with the help of the sharp edge of a special stone. The technique is a representation of a highly evolved sense of colour and light. Most urban centers and craftsmen guilds specialized in this trade have ebbed out.
Mosaic tiles or Kashikari
Kashikari was a complicated and elaborate system of making colored tiles. The technique involved fusing plaster tiles made of siliceous sand and lime overlaid with metallic oxides in specially built kilns under controlled heat. It is believed to have been popular in Persia and Central Asia, from where it travelled to the South-Asian countries. Multan, Uchchh, Pakpattan and Daira Dinpanah have some of the early and brilliant instances of faience revetment. Shams Sabzwari’s tomb and the distinguished mausoleum of Rukn-i-Alam are a couple of the earliest structures embellished with faience in the sub-continent. In India, the use remained frugal where in Sultanate times the faience mosaic confined to certain sections of the walls, the drums of the domes, niches, friezes, spandrels of arches, mihrabs, etc, however, in Jahangir’s and Shah Jahan’s creations the mosaic tiles found a new lease of life, notable examples of which can be discovered in Punjab such as in the Serai of Noormahal and that of Amanat Khan. While Chini ka Rauza at Agra is a perfect exploitation of the technique, the early Mughal Nila gumbad and Sabz Burj in Delhi are other noteworthy illustrations of the same. Loads of superior examples of kasha inlay are found in Pakistan. Many at Lahore- Jahangir’s tomb, the 72,000 sq. ft. glazed tile picture-wall of Lahore fort (adjoining Hathi Pol) with a unique range of animate motifs, Dai Anga’s mosque, Gulabi bagh gateway and Wazir Khan’s masjid in the Akbari bazaar. These are works of exquisite artisanship, covered with tiles of myriad hues, kashikari frescos and faience mosaic inscriptions. The tomb of Shah Burhan in Chiniot and Shah Jahan’s mosque in Thatta are other illustrations. Though the method of making glaze has been wiped out from the larger part of the sub-continent, they survive in some parts of Pakistan.
Old Traditions, New Possibilities
Innovation must ideally imply openness- a resistance to any kind of blocking of mind, thought and expression. The new materials and modern technology have made their limitations obvious and has become a block. If new materials were used to replicate historic details, it is now time to explore the possibilities with older materials and techniques in the creation of innovative building art expressions and newer details; possibilities to regain lost knowledge and apply it in new ways.
At the same time, a recovery and a new-found contemporary relevance for these techniques shall also mean duly respecting their bearers who have been pushed to the bottom of the social hierarchies and have been replaced by more revered machines and products of globalization. Artisans/craftsmen are bearers of culture; these are persons who embody, who have in the very highest degree, the skills and techniques necessary for the production and the continued existence of selected aspects of people’s cultural life. However, they are forced to live at the margins. Many issues confront the sustenance of traditional building practices and crafts, today. It is important to realize that traditional and vernacular crafts survive only when their social function and economic potential is sustained. Their economy can be made to revive through improved channels of communication and accessibility. However, before self-sufficiency, it is their self-belief, their confidence which needs to be revived. In societies where needs are created before the demands, there is a need to create and augment a demand for them.
It would not be far-fetched to say that their dismissal manifests the psychosis of the present world where processes of deep engagement with nature and human spirit are no more externalized. A society based on minima is intolerably unimaginable and looking over several thousand years of the surviving heritage of our historic geography, we must appreciate that we are blessed to have inherited this invaluable cultural extravaganza. Also, the past six decades in retrospect will tell us that the growth-paths taken by our countries in many ways are identical as many of the problems their choices have led to and as evidences of our common history and heritage persist in their marginalized forms, there is much more to share and recover…
Biographical Note: Jinisha Jain is an architectural journalist, a researcher and a conservation architect based in New Delhi, India, with a key interest in the study of cross-cultural linkages and heritage of the sub-continent. The contents are an extension of her previous research.
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