Hashiya: A contemporary interpretations of an old artistic tradition

When margins form the centre. Avantika Bhuyan on contemporary interpretations of an old artistic tradition

There exists an exquisite painting, “Prince Khurram with His Son Dara Shikoh” (circa 1530), by an artist named Nanha. It is part of the Shah Jahan Album, also known as the Emperor’s Album, which contains 50 illustrated and calligraphic folios (41 of these belong to the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and nine are in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington DC). The artist depicted Shah Jahan enjoying a quiet moment with his son. While the mainframe required Nanha to stay true to the features of the royal personage, it is in the painting’s borders that he really let his creativity run wild. Literally: a menagerie of birds — peacocks, pea fowl, chukor patridges — as well as vibrant blooms inhabit the margins.

A Forgotten Place by Alexander Gorlizki

Over centuries, as illuminated calligraphy and miniature painting evolved, the hashiya, or the margin, became a field of play for the artists. They began to embellish it in myriad ways — with swirling arabesques of flora and fauna, mythical birds and dragons, and more. The imagery on the border would sometimes add to the visual at the centre — enhancing our understanding of the main — independent of it. In some ways, the artist tested the alertness of the viewer, whether she could catch the small tales unfolding on the sides — of dragons locked in combat, a bird pursuing a butterfly, et cetera. And now, it is to offer a contemporary take on this age-old tradition of illustrated margins in miniatures that Anant Art Gallery, Delhi, is presenting “Hashiya: The Margin”. Inaugurated on March 30 by poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar, with B N Goswamy and Salima Hashmi as guests of honour, the exhibition features the perspective of 10 artists, including Gulammohammed Sheikh, Manisha Gera Baswani, V Ramesh, Desmond Lazaro, Nilima Sheikh and Saira Wasim.

Laud Three Metamorphoses II by Nusra Qureshi

The artists, in their unique ways, have responded to the idea of the hashiya, which originates from the muraqqas, or bound albums containing pages of illuminated calligraphy, hailing back to 15th-century Iran. Some, like Baswani, created margins adjacent to one another, depicting the many roles that women essay in their lives — of daughters, mothers, spouses — and which run parallel to one another. Others, like Gulammohammed Sheikh, have relegated figures that would conventionally be seen in the main frame to the margins. One of Sheikh’s most striking new works is “Majnun in the Margin”. It draws from the popular folk tale of Majnu being banished to the desert, where he was protected by animals. “In one of the works that I saw, the figure of Majnun is in the main frame and Laila, in front of a litter, is in the margins. But in my work, I have moved him to the margins, where he is looking for Laila,” he says.

Majnun in the Margin by Gulammohammed Sheikh

Another work that elicits a chuckle and makes you look closer is Alexander Gorlizki’s “It’s All Going On”. The margin and the main frame don’t seem like discrete entities here, as figures of a giraffe smoking a pipe, a crane and the sun god spill onto either side, thus blurring the lines. True to his practice, here too Gorlizki has brought together Eastern and Western iconographies, along with his longstanding engagement with miniature paintings, to create wonderfully detailed and whimsical scenes.

Manisha Baswani’s Desert Meets Water

The artists also connected the idea of the hashiya with the realities of life. “You look back and see that things which were in the margins of one’s life have flowed into the centre and become more fulfilling. And things which used to be fulfilling have moved to the margins,” says Baswani, who was first introduced to the world of murals, miniatures and philosophy by her guru, A Ramachandran.

The Ordinariness of Any Act — Portrait Of A Sage by V Ramesh

Inevitably, the exhibition also makes one think of the stories teeming at the fringes of society — and which are allowed to remain marginal. Artists like V Ramesh point to how the media responds to stories from marginalised sections of society — reportage of the recent farmers’ protests was squeezed, for instance, to allow greater space for actor Sridevi’s death. “Margins are just as important, if you make an attempt to understand them,” says Ramesh. ‘Hashiya: The Margin’ will be on display at Bikaner House, New Delhi, till April 24, 2018