‘Nauras’ Unveils Cultural Zenith of 16th-19th CE Southern Sultanates

Shruthi Isaac

The size may not merit special attention, but the figures in it definitely do. For, the 89cm x 74cm Kalamkari work throws light on the region’s cosmopolitanism at the peak of its glory, Deccani art’s syncretism stringed well at National Museum show curated by Dr.Preeti Bahadur and Dr.Kavita Singh. Painted with painstaking care, it shows a fanciful palace where a ruler in Persian clothes accepts wine from a woman in a European hat. As if jostling for space in the collage, Armenians, Chinese, Turks and Iranians stage an appearance in the garden and a yogi inspects a pineapple. This 375-year-old artwork from Golconda typifies an amazing syncretism that once defined the Deccan’s socio-cultural fabric—now finding sharp expression at a milestone exhibition in the national capital. The show at National Museum (NM) unveils the richness of a cultural give-and-take southern India witnessed.