Things We Forgot We Could make
Most markets in Pakistan are filled with imported products,
or local imitations of international brands as we play catch up with global
marketing trends. Even the majority of
local crafts are made with little love and care. New buildings or extensions
spread their ugly disproportions across graceful old architecture, as clients
want the most sellable space within the least budget. It is as if we have
forgotten how to make things beautiful.
The crafts of Medieval South Asia were
mainly produced in an agricultural economy. The establishment of Muslim rule in
the subcontinent led to the rise of urbanism, creating a demand for luxury
goods and attracting artisans to urban centres.
State sponsored Karakhanas or
workshops, were established to cater to the needs of the royal households and
their armies. The first documented karkhanas were established by Firoz Shah
Tughlaq, The Mughals developed them into
meticulously organized institutions supporting
at least 36 crafts including weavers, metal workers, masons, calligraphers,
artists and musicians.
The crafts flourished from Kashmir to Dhaka. Lahore , Multan,
Sialkot, Peshawer and Thatta were important producers of crafts and skilled
artisans. Chronicler of Shah Jahan, Abdul Hamid Lahori, writes Lahore produced such
“soft and delicate carpets that, compared with them, the carpets made in the
factory of the kings of Persia look like coarse canvas.” Lahore carpets were
gifted to the Ottoman Sultan by Shah Jahan and made up the first shipment of
carpets from Surat to England in 1615.
Akbar established the carpet weaving tradition in India in the
16th Century, when he brought carpet weavers from Persia to his
palace in Agra and later, when he established his court in Lahore. He
introduced carpet weaving to prisoners of Lahore Central Jail who soon learnt
to produce the finest carpets with 300 knots per square centimeter.
Ustad Ahmed Lahori is credited with being one of the main
architects of the Taj Mahal in Agra. Another Lahori, Qazim Khan, cast the gold
finial that tops the dome. From Multan, Abu Torah, a master mason, and Mohammed
Hanif, a master marble tile layer, and from Baluchistan, Amir Ali, a master
stone cutter, worked on the Taj Mahal alongside craftsmen from Iran, Turkey,
Samarqand Baghdad, Syria and Qandahar.
Sialkot was a centre for papermaking. Its most famous paper,
called ‘Jahangiri’, was ordered by Emperor Jehangir . The art of enameling of
Multan spread all over India.
The Mughal buildings in Pakistan, from the Shah Jahan masjid
of Thatta to the Mahabat Khan masjid of Peshawer, the Wazir Khan masjid, the
Lahore Fort, Badshahi masjid , Shalimar and Wah gardens, and a number of fine tombs, would all have used local
artisans.
The Mughal karkhanas
gave the world exquisitely designed and executed art, architecture, gardens and
objects of infinite array. One could say these, and the wealth they produced,
was what attracted the Dutch, the Portuguese, the French, and finally the
British to India. Ironically this very interest also destroyed the craft
industry.
The British industrial revolution took away India’s textile
industry to England , making it illegal to produce textiles in India. The wages
of artisans were deliberately reduced , to
force whole communities to abandon their crafts. India was flooded with
British products and was reduced to a supplier of raw materials.
Despite this, till a few generations ago, exquisite jewelry,
fine silk saris, accessorised with designed sari keychains, silver filigree
pandans and silver baby rattles were the norm. We no longer see peepal leaf
paintings and writing on a grain of rice. Today, in Pakistan, crafts are once
again associated with rural centres. Artisans who migrated at partition,
received little encouragement. Banarsi silk weavers and a few designers such as
Banto Kazmi, keep the tradition of Mughal embroidery alive. National College of
Art, Lahore, gave miniature painting a contemporary place.
Many countries are awakening from the spell of western
consumer products and reviving traditional crafts. So too could Pakistan,
before the last of the artisans fade away.
Durriya Kazi
May 8, 2021
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