Scenes from the legend of
Gazi
Painted scroll
From
Bengal, perhaps the Murshidabad district,
India
Around AD 1800
Story-telling using painted scrolls or panels
is known of in India from at least the second century BC. Many
later paintings depict mythical narratives, whether on paper or
cloth. This type of long scroll-painting was used by itinerant
storytellers in rural Bengal, as a visual aid to a spoken narration
of the myths and exploits of the painted
scenes.
Islam has been a
major cultural force in eastern India since the twelfth and
thirteenth-century Muslim invasions of the area. The fifty-seven
registers of this remarkable scroll-painting may depict the many
epic activities of a local Bengali Muslim
pir, or saint, Gazi,
including fighting with demons, overpowering dangerous animals and
miraculously causing cattle to give milk. Gazi was renowned for his
power over tigers; in one painted panel a male Muslim figure is
seen receiving the homage of tigers and in another he is riding a
tiger. These probably depict Gazi himself, as he was renowned for
his ability to control the elements of the natural world, abilities
of great importance to the newly evangelized Muslim population of
southern Bengal as they penetrated and settled the dense jungles of
the Ganges
delta.
Stylistically, the
painting belongs to the period before the influence of European
painting conventions, and photography. It is characterized by
brilliant colours, flat backgrounds, the avoidance of techniques
suggesting depth or volume, and the obsession with pattern and
design. Similar features appear in other pre-modern Indian painting
styles.
T.R. Blurton, 'The 'Murshidabad' pats of Bengal' in Picture showmen: insights into (Bombay, Marg Publications)
I. Cooper and J. Gillow, Arts and crafts of India (London, Thames and Hudson, 1996)