Maithun/Amorous couple from Kashmir

20th Feb, 2016

Most old archaeological texts mentioned it. But, it took me two trips to find and identify it in the rubble.

“Maithun/Amorous couple” from Kashmir, Avantipur, mid 9th century. One of the most common motif in Hindu temples. These are the only two surviving in Kashmir.

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The courtship in the courtyard nearby.

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19th Feb, Manasbal

A boy and two girls standing next to a green mazaar of a pir next to the lake.

Girl A: Dopmay na me chu ne karun. (Told you, I don’t want it with you)

She opens up her phone. Takes out the sim card and gives it to the boy.

Boy: Wayn kya! (please!)

The mediator friend, Girl B: Boozi wayn! (Listen, please!).

The girl is now furious and visibly upset. She will not listen.

“Dopmay na me chu ne karun.”

She throws the phone to the ground, probably a gift, smashes it to smithereens and walks away.

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Biloreen saaq, seemeen tan, samman seena, sareen nasreen,
Jabbeen chuy aayeena aayeen ajab taaza jilaa, Jaa’noo

~ Rasul Mir, 19th century Kashmiri love poet.

Crystal Legs
Body Mercury
Jasmine Bosom
Daffodil Butt
Forehead,
a wondrous
polished
mirror,
my love

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yas zali bad’nas ash’qun naar
su zaani kyah gov hijr-e-yaar,
Maqbool kornas dil nigaar

The body set on fire by love
it knows meaning of separation from love
Maqbool, accepts an idol in place of heart.

~ from ‘Gulraiz’ by Maqbool Shah Qraalwari, (d. 1877) Kashmir. Based on work of Zia Nakhshabi, a 14th century Persian poet.

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Artist Brij Mohan Anand in Kashmir


We know how the rightwing loonies in India react to nude art. We know what happens to the art and the artist. We know how the leaders of the right react. We know how the left intelligentsia argues back. But, what happens in Kashmir.

It’s 1947 and Sheikh Abdullah sets up a cultural front in Kashmir to promote art. Left allied artists are at the forefront of the front. An exhibition is planned. Prominent from all over India are invited for exhibiting their work. Among these artists in Brij Mohan Anand who is invited by Kashmir Sahayak Sabha of Punjab. He spends time in Kashmir, travelling, sketching and painting. In September 1948, the exhibition is inaugurated by the Sheikh at Hadow Memorial College Premises, Shiekh Bagh, Srinagar.

At the exhibition, some visitors are offended by the work of Brij Mohan. He had included some nudes among his work. Sheikh sides with the Kashmiri moral brigade. Sheikh and Brij Mohan have a heated argument that soon turns physical. Later, the artist is told arrest warrants have been issued in his name. The artist silently packs as many of his paintings as he could and heads for the national highway where he finally hitches ride in an army truck, leaving Kashmir hiding under sheets of tarpaulins like some sheep.

And that’s why you won’t see Kashmiri artists exhibiting nudes in Kashmir. The Kashmiri society remains on right.
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The story is told in the book “Narratives for Indian Modernity: The Aesthetic of Brij Mohan Anand” [Aditi Anand / Grant Pooke, 2016]

Some of the Kashmir specific works of Brij Mohan Anand

First art exhibition in Kashmir. Srinagar. 1948.
Pandit Woman, 1948

Cover designed by Brij Mohan Anand
for Jamna Das Akhtar’s novel “Kashmir ki Beti” (1978) based on Zooni Gujjar.

Chashmashahi. 1948

Kashmiri Muslim Woman, 1948

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