Dr.

Subhash Parihar
St. # 2, Green Enclave
KOT KAPURA-151204
East Punjab INDIA
e-mail: [email protected]
Words: 3732

Book Review

Hussain Ahmad Khan. Artisans, Sufis, Shrines: Colonial Architecture in Nineteenth-Century

The political boundary of the region given the name of Punjab has been changing with time.
However, the geographical area precisely denoted by this Persian name is the triangular plain,
bordered on the north by Himalayan foothills, on the west by the river Indus, and its south-
eastern boundary marked roughly by an uneven line from a point near Karnal where the river
Yamuna takes a southeast turn, up to the place where the Indus meets the confluence of the
Punjab rivers.

Due to its geographical location on the only land entrance to the Indian sub-continent, this
exceedingly fertile piece of land has been trampled again and again by the invaders and migrants
from the northwest since pre-historic times. One consequence of the invasions was almost
complete obliteration of its ancient material remains. But for some archaeological mounds
(mostly unexcavated systematically so far and now vanishing), and Hindu Shahiya temples (8th-
9th century) of the Salt Range, virtually no monument in this region, dating earlier than the
thirteenth century, survives. A comprehensive history of the art and architecture of the region
from the thirteenth century onwards too, is still to be written. One impediment in the way of the
study of the arts of Punjab is its division into Indian Punjab (East Punjab) and Pakistani Punjab
(West Punjab) in 1947. Due to the uneasy political relations of the governments of India and
Pakistan, no unified study covering the arts of both parts, requiring actual field work, has
materialized to date. For the time being, the readers have to remain satisfied with unconnected
studies. The book under review is one of such recent works. It is a revised version of a PhD
dissertation on the Sufi-artisan relationship and colonial art institutions by the research scholar
Hussain Ahmad Khan, under the supervision of the cultural historian Maurizio Peleggi, an expert
on visual and material culture of Thailand, submitted at the National University of Singapore.

The new trend of giving fanciful titles to research studies is somewhat misleading, particularly in
this age of online shopping. Neither the main title of the book under review Artisans, Sufis,
Shrines, nor the subtitle Colonial Architecture in Nineteenth-Century Punjab neatly sums up
what the exact theme of the book is. Actually, the book deals with the architecture, both colonial
as well as traditional, of the Nineteenth Century West Punjab.

In Punjab, the nineteenth century commenced with an abrupt political change. Now the Sikhs
became the new rulers, marking an end to the six centuries of Muslim rule. It must have caused
the Punjabi Muslims a psychological jolt. But it must also have given a respite to the Punjabis
after decades of turmoil due to a power vacuum in the region. The next four decades, up to the
death of Ranjit Singh were comparatively peaceful. After that there was a decade-long
interregnum of disturbance till 1849 at the end of which the region was annexed by the British.
As far as possible the British did not interfere in the religious or social life of the people of
Punjab. The Punjabis too responded positively and they did not show any enthusiasm against the
new rulers during the Mutiny of 1857.

The study is spread over four chapters, preceded by an “Introduction”, and ending with a
“Conclusion”. Neither the “Introduction” nor the “Conclusion” bears chapter number.

In the very first paragraph of the “Introduction” the author describes his hypothesis as follows:

Both Sufis and colonial officials viewed local artisanal practices as a means to propagate
their respective ideologies. Due to their historically developed relationship with Punjabi
artisans, the Sufis were effectively able to engage the former in disseminating mystic ideas
and promote a sense of ‘Muslim identity’ through khanqah (hospices), shrine architecture
and mela (festivals). Colonial art institutions (such as art schools, exhibitions and
museums), in contrast, struggled to attract the local artisans, and this failure significantly
impaired the objectives of British administrators to localize new approaches to art and
architecture based on ideas largely borrowed from England (p. 1).

The present reviewer is unable to trace any common link between the activities of Sufis and
colonial officials. These groups worked independently, and with entirely different aims and
objectives in view. Placing the two as competitors is hardly justified.
In the “Introduction”, the author also sets down his basic assumptions about the most frequently
used basic terms like ‘Sufism’, ‘Punjab’, ‘artisans’ etc.

The terms “Sufism” and “Sufis” are used very loosely by commoners as well as scholars. The
present so-called Sufis have little to do with the classical “Sufism”. The term “Sufi” covers
towering personalities like Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73) as well as many swindlers, and
sometimes even the imaginary personages who never existed at all. And such abysmal scenario
is not just recent but as old as the Sufism itself. In the words of Dr. Riazul Islam, the author of
Sufism in South Asia (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002), the decay of “Sufism has been
wailed over since the tenth century, the period which marked its rise and growth (p. 458).”
Sayyid Ali Hujweri, the author of Kashf al-Mahjub, the eleventh century Persian treatise on
Sufism, deplores that the darveshes (Muslim mystics) had made poverty “a means of enriching
themselves” (trans. Reynold A. Nicholson, repr. Delhi: Taj Company, 1999, p. 53). About two
centuries later, Maulana Rumi, himself a renowned Sufi, observes: az hazaran and ki az in
sufiyan, bakiyan dar daulat-i au mi ziyand (Book II, verse 534). [(But) of these Sufis there are
(only) a few among thousands; the rest are living in (under the protection of) his (the perfect
Sufi’s spiritual) empire (The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi, Book II, trans. Reynold A.
Nicholson, p. 249)].

From among the various Sufi silsilas, Khan takes into account only the Chishtiyya silsila as if
the artisans showed some special preference for the Sufis of this silsila. In fact, the nineteenth
century artisans of Punjab may not have been able to differentiate between various silsilas, For
common devotees a Sufi was just a religious figure to whichever silsila he may belong. Mostly it
was a matter of geographical proximity. In the words of the Riazul Islam again, “The fervent
commoner could understand neither ma’rifat (theosophy), nor wujudiyat (doctrine of Unity of
Being), nor indeed the higher ideals of Sufism, but he saw in the sheikh someone whom he could
revere, love, remember, and think about, and indeed appeal to for help and security” (p. 424).
The reviewer wonders if even most of the Sufis themselves would have been able to tell how the
Chishti silsila differed from the Suhrawardiya or any other silsilas. Therefore the very
postulation of “shrine-based communities” assumed by the author is ambiguous.

The author declares the geographical area covering western Punjab along with the Delhi division
as his main focus He also takes into consideration the erstwhile princely state of Bahawalpur
“because it shared the tradition of Sufism with the adjourning [? adjoining] Multan and Derajat
areas of Punjab” (p. 4).

Regarding the term “artisans”, although the author claims to treat it “as a cultural category…
involving hundreds of very low-status village artisans such as cobblers, leather workers,
blacksmiths and also relatively privileged workers, such as goldsmiths, weavers and
calligraphers” (p. 7), in the study he mainly deals with the artisans engaged in building or its
decoration.

The main body of the study is divided into four parts, each the subject of a separate chapter.

The first chapter “Folktales and the Sufi-Artisan Relationship in Punjab (C. 1300-1800)” opens
with explaining the significance of folktales which “express the artisans’ mentalite in relation to
their historical experiences” (p. 13). Then he proceeds with briefly narrating the folktale of Raja
Risalu, son of Sahalban, which in its early part bears resemblance to the folktale of Puran
Bhagat. There is not much in the tale from which to deduce that specifically (marginal) artisans
were afraid of the raja and the others were not. Then, the author describes at length the condition
of artisans in Punjab and their relationship to the Sufis during the fourteenth to eighteenth
century.

Numerous statements made by the author in this chapter are erroneous. Here are some of these:
He writes that one of the important trade routes in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries
connected Delhi to Afghanistan through Multan and Lahore (p. 17). Actually during this period
Delhi was connected to Afghanistan through Ajudhan (Pakpattan) and Multan only as during the
thirteenth century Lahore had been devastated and its entire population slaughtered by the
Mongol invaders. The Moroccan Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta in 1333-34, and the Turco-Mangol
conqueror Timur in 1398, both took this route.

Then, the author states that ‘The Mughal emperor Akbar introduced the musabdari (sic.) system
in the second half of the seventeenth century” (p. 17). As is known Akbar had introduced the
system in 1574-75. During the second half of the seventeenth century, Shahjahan (upto 1658)
and Aurangzeb were the reigning emperors. The author adds that a munsabdar “had the power to
expel local peasants or elites who had lived in villages for centuries…..” (p. 17) which is not
correct. Ousting the peasants went against the interests of the state. The author ends the
paragraph with the comment that the munsabdari system “increased the exploitation of peasants
and artisans” (p. 18). In fact the exploitation of peasants and artisans increased when the there
was a crisis in the munsabdari/jagirdari system during the latter part of the reign of Aurangzeb.
Otherwise, normal exploitation of peasants and artisans has always been a part of the
monarchical system the world over in pre-modern times.

The author writes further that “In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Punjabi artisans
suffered because of constant wars between the Sikhs and the Mughals (p. 19).” I do not know of
any war between the Sikhs and the Mughals in the nineteenth century.

At another place, the author declares that the artisans and traders “copied Persian designs in their
crafts to revere the country [Persia] of their Sufi-master [Mir Sayyid Ali Hamdani (b. 1314)] (p.
22)]. Actually, Persian culture was the fountainhead of Muslim arts in South Asia and was
mostly the result of physical migration of Persian artists and artisans.

Writing about a calligrapher Sheikh Husain Ahmad Chishti (d. 1587/8), the author adds that he
“was trained in mysticism by a Punjabi Sufi, Sheikh Aman, from Panipat. Husain either
supervised or himself completed all the calligraphic work on the façade of the buland darwaza
(high door) of a semi-octagonal structure at Fatehpur Sikri” (p. 23). The author mentions S.A.A.
Rizvi and V.J.A. Flynn’s book Fathpur-Sikri [Bombay: Taraporevala, 1975, p. 86] as his source
for the information. But Rizvi and Flynn give the name as “Husain bin Ahmad Chishti” and
mention that he was an important disciple of Shaikh Salim [Chishti], and not that of Sheikh
Aman of Panipat. Also the expression “the façade of the buland darwaza (high door) of a semi-
octagonal structure at Fatehpur Sikri” is confusing. The Buland Darwaza is the southern gateway
of the Jami’ Mosque at Fatehpur Sikri.

In the same chapter, the author writes that the Sufis gave protection to escaped convicts and
“wanted persons” which usually annoyed the village elites. He states further that “Medieval
kings did not intervene to recapture their prisoners from the khanqah for fear of the curse of the
Sufis, which increased the reverence Sufis enjoyed among the local communities” (p. 26). If it
had been so, the khanqahs would have become the dens of “escaped convicts” and “wanted
persons”. Medieval kings practiced realpolitik and did not hesitate even to punish the Sufis
themselves, if found guilty. We have the example of the Sufi Siddi Maula of Delhi whom Sultan
Jalal al-Din Khalji (r. 1290-96) doubted of treason. He got the Maula crushed under the feet of
an elephant (Yahiya bin Ahmad bin Abdullah Sirhindi, Tarikh-i-Mubarakshahi, trans. H.
Beveridge, repr. Delhi: Durga Publications, 1986, p. 63). Similarly, Emperor Jahangir on
learning that Shaikh Nizam Thanesari had encouraged the rebel prince Sultan Khusrau, ordered
the Shaikh to get vanished from Hindustan and proceed on a pilgrimage to Mecca (The
Jahangirnama: Memoirs of Jahangir, Emperor of India, trans. Ed and annotated Wheeler M.
Thackston, Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1999, p. 53).

The author also states: ‘The Mughals patronized Sufis in a number of ways, which involved
milk or awqaf (land grants), inams or madad-i-mash (grant of revenue of particular villages) and
wazifah or stipend in the form of cash from the treasury. [Gregory C.] Kozlowaski suggests that
madad-i-maash enabled mediaeval kingdoms in India to encourage the settlement of Sufis from
Khorasan, Central Asia and Arabia, who came to India because of Mongol invasions” (p. 29).
The time difference between the last Mongol attack and the founding of the Mughal empire is
that of two full centuries. How could the Mughals have encouraged the Sufis “who came to India
because of Mongol invasions”?

The anecdote related to the artisans working on the Badshahi Mosque of Lahore who according
to the author, built four walls of a mosque in a single night and for the fear of the emperor
Aurangzeb, left the dome unfinished at daylight (p. 30), is imaginary. There are innumerable
incomplete or damaged historical buildings which people believe to have been built by ghosts in
a single night.

The second chapter of the book delves upon the theme “Muslim Identity and the Sufi Shrines in
Nineteenth Century Punjab”. In this chapter, the only building that the author takes up for
discussion is the shrine of Khwaja Suleman Taunsavi (died 1850) at Taunsa, about hundred
kilometres north-west of Multan, in Dera Ghazi Khan district of West Punjab. According to the
author, the construction of the shrine began in 1840s and was probably completed in the 1880s
(p. 37). He gives no architectural detail of the shrine complex but for a picture of its façade and a
few details of its decoration. The reader does not get any idea of like what the shrine is. Instead,
the author states vaguely: “Being a Chishti Sufi, Taunsavi was supposed to select the late-
Mughal style for his shrine by following the architecture of the shrines of prominent Chishti
masters such as Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri (Ajmer) and Nizamuddin Awliya (Delhi)…. Taunsavi
preferred a Multani style, however, which was borrowed from Central Asia, expressing his
association with the Persian tradition” (p. 39).

Why was it incumbent upon Taunsvi as a Chishti Sufi, to follow the late-Mughal style? Did all
other Chishti shrines stylistically follow the shrine of Moin al-Din Chishti (d. 1236) at Ajmer or
the shrine of Nizam al-Din Awliya (d. 1325) at Delhi. Moreover, these two shrines are not very
old structures but like most of the other living shrines, rebuilt or at least in a much renovated
condition. The Multani style preferred by the Taunsvi Sufi was a local development and not
borrowed from Central Asia. The reviewer has not come a single building in Central Asia which
bears even a remote resemblance to the Multan tombs. Even if the Multan style was borrowed
from Central Asia, as the author would like us to believe, how did it express the association with
the Persian tradition?

Nur Ahmad Chishti, the author of Tahqiqat-i Chishti, is introduced as belonging “to a prominent
family of ulema, who tutored the nobles of Lahore such as Ranjeet Singh… (p. 47).” Neither was
Ranjeet Singh a noble of Lahore nor was he ever tutored by anyone. He was illiterate.

The British did completely destroy the buildings within a radius of 448 yards outside the [Delhi]
fort not aiming at the sacrilege of religious buildings but just to clear the periphery of the fort so
that it would be easy to control the fort in case of any Mutiny-like urgency in future.

Writing about the caravansarai at Sultanpur Lodhi (East Punjab), the author quotes Alexander
Cunningham, as follows: “the Badshahi serai is a large enclosure […] a very unusual
arrangement in a Muhammadan building. I have a strong suspicion, therefore, that the walls of
the serai must have been built on the foundations of an old Buddhist monastery.” Here the author
has omitted the main basis of Cunningham’s suspicion which was that “the walls are 15 ½ 0 out
of the meridian” which “was a common practice with both Buddhists and Brahmanists in ancient
times to place their buildings about one nakshatra, or 13 ½ 0 out of the meridian” (Archaeological
Survey of India Reports, vol. XIV, repr. Varanasi: Indological Book House, 1972, p. 56).

The chapter ends with a description of festivals at Sufi shrines.

The author is on firmer grounds in the next two chapters in which he deals with the colonial
architecture and other arts. The third chapter “Artisans, Colonial Art Education and
Architecture” opens with the definitions of the term “Culture”. The quintessence of the chapter is
that the colonial officials tried to mold the local artisanal practices through art education but their
theoretical assumptions emulated the British model which due to entirely different conditions of
Punjab was doomed to fail.

The author proceeds systematically, first enumerating the individual attempts at reforming art
education in India and then the establishment of the Mayo School of Arts [MSA] at Lahore,
named after the Sixth Earl of Mayo, Richard Bourke, the governor-general of India, from 1869 to
1872. At home, in England, various architects favoured different styles, from neo-Gothic to
purely industrial architecture. Historical eclecticism too was tried. Against these attempts J.L.
Kipling, the Principal of the MSA planned to revive the decaying architectural tradition of
Punjab, mainly through Bhai Ram Singh, a carpenter by caste, the most renowned product of the
School. Ram Singh tried to evolve an architectural style borrowing elements from Hindu, Sikh
and Islamic architecture. The outcome was an eclectic style which in an attempt to represent all
local traditions and religious communities, in effect represented no historical tradition. Still the
buildings he designed are not without charm.

Any change in existing order, whether for good or bad, is generally opposed. The colonial state’s
new cultural policy in Punjab too did not go unchallenged. The fourth chapter “Discordant
Voices: Colonial Exhibitions and the Lahore Museum” records the dissenting voices against the
new cultural policy. But it is simplifying too much to think that the main aim of the new policy
was “to train the individuals to think and conduct themselves in a particular way and foster a
worldview that could ensure the collective obedience of the people in the colony, thus enabling
them to perform their expected roles in the Empire” (p. 91).

Although Henry Cole, the brain behind the Great Exhibition of 1851 in the Hyde Park of
London, in his report “laid emphasis on the involvement of local partners, especially societies for
the promotion of local arts and manufacturing” the British concern behind organizing the
exhibitions was purely commercial. The nineteenth century Europe showed great interest in the
Orient and its arts, leading to a greater demand for its articles. The British authorities realized
that “under British supervision artisans in Punjab could produce the best articles for exports” (p.
98). Even a cursory look at the two volume catalogue of the First Punjab Exhibition (1864) by
B.H. Baden-Powell is enough to show the wide range of the economic products, manufactures
and arts of the Punjab. Two decades later, in 1884, Journal of Indian Art (later renamed the
Journal of Indian Art and Industry) too was launched with the same end in view.

Of course, some jurors of the First Punjab Exhibition did criticize the exhibits but the criticism
was mainly due to their inability to “grasp a different world.” The jurors seldom agreed in their
judgment of exhibits because they were brought up in a completely different art world in the
visual arts of which the maximum fidelity to the reality had already been achieved. But in
contrast the Indian artists in their works aimed at altogether different goals. It was conceptual in
its approach. So it was not unnatural if the British jurors could not fully appreciate the Indian
arts.

The author considers the Sufi melas to be a local version of British exhibitions. His view that
“the Sufi mela attracted the artisans as they invoked baraka, which reinforced the Sufi nomos;
making, selling and purchasing specially-designed products were all motivated by a belief in
baraka, which protected the economic interests of the artisans, cured their ailments and brought
them closer to the Sufi communities” (p. 107) appears to be far-fetched. The artisans showed a
preference for melas, Sufi or secular, because there were not many alternate markets for their
wares. Also it is doubtful if the high-class and expensive products included in the exhibitions
would have found buyers in a mela. The author correctly observes that the Punjabi artisans did
not want to disclose their business secrets to European traders and manufacturers (p. 110). The
chapter closes with a history of the Lahore Museum.

The “Conclusion” summarizes the results of the research elaborated in its four chapters.

Seven tables in the “Appendix” enumerate percentage of artisans in Punjab, number of Muslims
Hindu, and Sikhs, among these groups, number of workers in different occupations, number of
exhibits of each type in the 1881-82 Punjab exhibition, and the year-wise number of visitors to
the Lahore Museum from the year 1869-70 up to the end of the century. The high percentage of
Muslims among the artisan groups in Punjab, as high as 76.36% in 1931, indicates why even to
this day the Hindus as well Sikhs in Punjab always credit high quality of craftsmanship in every
field to Muslim artisans.

The detailed “Bibliography” adds to the value of the book. The “Index”, however, could have
been more detailed.
Throughout the book, the author uses non-English words in singular even when he gives their
equivalent English words in plural, like Khanqah (hospices) (p. 1); mela (festivals) (p. 1); the
role of other Sufi silsila (p.2) etc. Darbar is not a palace (p. 47) but can be translated as “court”.

The study is illustrated with two maps and twenty monochrome figures. A greater number and
better quality illustrations would have made the study richer. The reproduction of maps is so
small that nothing can be deciphered in them.

Subhash Parihar