THIS is perhaps my fifth introduction to the impatient soul known as Athar Tahir as I am trying to acquaint myself with his calligraphy. He has now made his appearance as a calligraphist taking at the same time on his shoulders the responsibility to introduce to the English knowing audience the art of calligraphy as it evolved and developed during the long centuries of Islamic culture.
Let me recall my first introduction to him when I had taken him as an emerging scholar of Punjabi poetry writing in English. It was during 1988 when his critical study on a nineteenth century Punjabi poet had appeared under the title, Qadir Yar: A Critical Introduction. This work was duly acknowledged, bringing for him a number of awards.
But just after two years I received form him a collection of short stories written in English titled, Other Seasons. I read the stories and concluded that he was, in fact, a short story writer. But after a year or so, I had to review once again my opinion about him. Fiction had soon ceased to engage his attention. He was now preoccupied with poetry. Two or three collections of his English poems appeared in quick succession. Meanwhile he also compiled a number of volumes of Pakistani English poetry. During those years he gave the impression of being devoted to poetry alone. But, no. He is an impatient soul. Soon, poetry receded into the background. Now paintings seemed to have engaged his whole attention. A volume comprising paintings about Lahore as compiled by him came out in 1997 under the title, Lahore Colours. It was soon followed by another volume, Pakistan Colours. His interest in paintings led to an involvement in calligraphy. And soon he discovered in himself a calligraphist. This is how a talent once known as a story writer-turned a poet-calligraphist.
Athar Tahir’s latest work is a compilation titled, Calligraphy and Calligraph-Art, which has been brought out by the Pakistan Calligraph Artists Guild assisted by Unesco. The volume comprises reproductions of old calligraphic specimens along with a selection from the works of the Pakistani calligraphic artists of our time. Here we find Athar Tahir also finding his place among them.
But the volume is not just a collection of specimens from old and new calligraphic work. Here we find a study of the art as it was born and developed over the centuries.
Word travelled from the pages of the Quran to the walls of the mosque. From the walls of the mosques it travelled to the walls of shrines and palaces. “Muslims began to incorporate the written word in other fields of human concern. Beautiful writing began to weave its magic on cloth, appear on clay and metal vessels, on military arms and artillery and a vast variety of domestic, public and ceremonial objects”.
Thus the written word gained a high place in Islamic culture, higher than it had in any other culture of the world. And the act of writing gradually developed into an art, so much so that it appeared to be the most representative art of Islamic culture. In Athar Tahir’s opinion, “Calligraphy and architecture are arguably the finest manifestations of Muslim civilization. The curve of a delicately executed NOON can equal the grandeur of the arch of many a great mosque. The sheer purity of a letter’s shape can rival the strength and tenacity of the finest stone, brick, or mud construction. Calligraphy is the most subtle of all Islamic arts and Islam’s most distinctive and innovative visual feature.”
While tracing the history of calligraphy, Athar Tahir has gone back to the times of Hazrat Ali. He is, according to him, the first calligraphist. With him “begins the grand march of Islamic calligraphy’s splendid styles.”
In those times, the Kufi script was in vogue. Credit for providing dots, zeyr, zabar, and paish goes to Abul Aswad, who was a disciple of Hazrat Ali. This script remained in use for about five centuries. After that it gave way to Naskh, which flourished in the times of the Abbasids. In fact, Ibn-i-Muqla, who being a great innovator of scripts carved out six styles from the Kufi, of these six styles, Naskh gained immense popularity.
The seventh style known as Nastaleeq was evolved during the thirteenth century. Along with Shikasta, it may be deemed as the contribution of the Persians.
The golden period of calligraphy in South Asia began, according to Athar Tahir, with the Mughals. It gained popularity and prestige to the extent that different kings, princes, and princesses were engaged in it. “During this period, Delhi and Lahore became flourishing centres of the many styles, particularly Nastaleeq.”
The Mughal period of calligraphy ended with Bahadur Shah Zafar, who himself was a fine calligrapher. But the great master in those years was Mir Panja Kash. He was a great khattat of his time and was also an expert panja-kash, a wrestler specializing in the art of twisting the hand of the adversary.
While dealing with the modern times, Athar Tahir has made a fine distinction between the traditional khattats and modern painters, who with their artistic approach, elevated khattati to the level of a modern art-form. Athar Tahir regrets that “Reviewers and critics, let alone the general public, have failed to register the changes, and the quality of the changes, that have taken, and are taking place.” He has taken pains to show that during the last several decades great changes have taken place in the field of calligraphy, resulting in the emergence of quite a distinct genre, which he has chosen to call ‘Calligraph-art’.
THIS is perhaps my fifth introduction to the impatient soul known as Athar Tahir as I am trying to acquaint myself with his calligraphy. He has now made his appearance as a calligraphist taking at the same time on his shoulders the responsibility to introduce to the English knowing audience the art of calligraphy as it evolved and developed during the long centuries of Islamic culture.
