[Reader-list] Popular religious art of the Muslims: posting 3

[Britta Ohm]

Dear Yousuf, your project is very interesting to me and I have looked at
your website with pleasure. Keep on posting. I am looking at typecasts,
plots and representations of Hindus and Muslims in tv serials as part of my
current work and would be happy to hear whatever you have observed in course
of your study. In case you don't know it already, a must-read for your
undertaking would be Orhan Pamuk's novel "My name is Red" which deals with
the various debates on Islamic iconoclasm in 16th century Turkey's
engagement with the West, particularly the Venecians and the Franconians.
Best regards -- Britta


--
Britta Ohm
Solmsstr.36
10961 Berlin
Germany
+49-(0)30-61621414 (off.)
+49-(0)30-69818368 (res./fax)

----------
>Von: Yousuf Saeed <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
>An: reader-list at sarai.net
>Betreff: [Reader-list] Popular religious art of the Muslims: posting 3
>Datum: Fre, 23. Apr 2004 11:15 Uhr
>

> Sarai Fellowship 2004, posting No.3: Syncretism in
> Muslim Religious Posters in India: Iconic Devotion in
> an Iconoclastic Religion
>
> Community and Gender Stereotyping in Religious Posters
>
> Like many other forms of popular art found in urban
> Indiaís public spaces - advertisements, print
> magazines, television, cinema hoardings, popular
> cinema itself ñ the religious posters too participate
> actively in what can be called the stereotyping of the
> image of certain communities and of the genders. To
> explore these typecasts, we need to first examine some
> broad differences between the content of various types
> of posters.
>
> The posters with clearly Hindu and Muslim themes
> differ, mainly, in the variety of subject matters they
> depict, and the purpose they fulfill in a devoteeís
> life. Most Hindu posters portray deities, gods, and
> goddesses, their attributes and myths ñ utilizing
> narratives that have been followed since the ancient
> times, even though the painting/art styles may have
> changed. In practice, a two-dimensional image of a
> Hindu god or deity serves the same purpose for an
> average devotee which an idol or statue does, that is,
> the worship or dhyana (though the classicists may
> somewhat disagree). There are specific day-to-day
> purposes ñ goddess Lakshmi bringing the wealth, and
> Saraswati, the knowledge, and so on. In a Hindu
> devotional image, there is absolutely no hesitation
> about the use of figurative icons as well as the
> plurality of gods. In fact, iconography and polytheism
> are the most important sources of a Hindu devoteeís
> religiosity. Hence, an artistís liberty to interpret
> and use the representative icons results in Hindu
> devotional images that candidly reflect her/his own
> faith, as well as a collective/folk memory about the
> myth.
>
> South Asiaís Muslim iconography, on the other hand,
> carries some distinct differences from the Hindu
> images - even though some of it does seem like
> entering the realm of polytheism and icon-worship.
> While some artists/producers of the Muslim posters are
> extremely sensitive about Islamís iconoclasm, and
> consider it a taboo to portray any figurative image
> (humans, living organisms), some others have less
> inhibition and draw freely the portraits of saints and
> holy men. But on the whole, one does notice a sense of
> reluctance in the iconography in most Muslim
> devotional images ñ not to mean that the diversity of
> visuals and ideas are limited in them. [Islamic
> iconoclasm and (despite that) the tradition of
> Iranian/Turkish miniature artists depicting Prophet
> Muhammad, other prophets, angels, and mythical beasts,
> is something that deserves a larger discussion for
> this project, and would be taken up in my subsequent
> postings].
>
> An absolute (or partial) iconoclasm forces an artist
> to find more creative ways to illustrate a concept or
> folklore, without representing the taboo figures. It
> also provides (a Muslim iconographer) an almost
> unlimited scope for choosing the subject matter and
> innovative symbols. One cautious poster, for instance,
> simply shows a large dense knot of a rope, with a
> Quríanic text at the bottom saying, ìHold on tight to
> the rope of the Godís messageÖand do not disperseÖî It
> also has other icons, such as a rosary, a rose plant,
> a setting sun and some flying birds in the backdrop,
> probably to enhance the mundane sight of a knotted
> rope. Another poster shows six namazis (praying men)
> standing in a row (presumably inside a mosque) saying
> a collective namaz, wearing a wide variety of dresses
> ñ some in fine expensive robes while others in soiled
> rags ñ stressing on human equality in Islam. Such
> broad range, from iconoclasm to iconography, also
> exists, probably, due to the marketís demand.
>
> When a Muslim iconographer (not necessarily a Muslim
> by faith), explores new subject matters to draw a
> poster, or to make innovative variations of Mecca,
> Medina or the Qurían, the first thing he/she recalls
> are the clichÈd images of the community itself ñ cute
> little girls with scarves reading the Qurían, innocent
> boys in skullcaps hugging each other after the Eid
> prayers, beautiful and pious young women with raised
> hands from which a translucent dupatta (scarf)
> cascades down, all this with the essential backdrop of
> Kaaba and the green dome of Medina. One poster that
> epitomizes the typecast image of the community in the
> popular parlance has a little boy sitting
> cross-legged, about to turn the page of a Qurían,
> wearing a white sleeveless vest (Sandow banian), a
> green check lungi or mundu (printed loin-cloth), a
> little metallic talisman case in a necklace, and the
> embroidered skullcap. Not to miss the rosary, the
> incense-sticks, the prayer mat, and the
> crescent-n-star encircling Mecca and Medina in the
> backdrop. The child may just walk out, one imagines,
> into a noisy Muslim mohalla (locality) and chew a paan
> or enter a butcherís shop.
>
> While examining these stereotypes in popular art, one
> cannot ignore the non-religious posters and calendars
> of the early print era, especially the ones depicting
> Indiaís freedom fighters, nationalism, patriotism,
> agrarian reforms, and other secular themes, which
> evolved along with the devotional images. While the
> ënational integrationí calendars show the
> representatives of all faiths in their characteristic
> costumes under the shadow of mother India, certain
> other posters distinguish various professions by
> assigning them different genders. So, if men and women
> have different roles in the family and society, they
> would also practice their religious faith differently.
> While most men follow the rituals rigidly by the book
> ñ sticking to the code of conduct or prayer as given
> in the Shariíat or the Shastras, women stress more on
> a private and emotional relationship with the divine,
> and believe in many superstitions.
>
> Such role models often come across, albeit
> subconsciously, in the devotional posters. Men
> offering their namaz in a military like row, while
> women cloistered in their scarves, intimate with the
> Qur'an and the Ka'ba. A typical devotee to a saintís
> tomb is usually a woman, with her jholi (scarf) held
> out in a posture of ëaskingí. Thus a line from a
> qawwali ìBhar do jholi meri ya Muhammad/Laut kar mein
> na jaaonga khaaliî (Do fill my sack Oh Muhammad/Will
> not return empty handed) perfectly characterizes this
> scenario. In one poster, the mausoleum of Shaikh Abdul
> Qadir Jeelani in Iraq is visited by a beautiful female
> devotee wearing a distinct Punjabi dress and facial
> features. While the women are an embodiment of
> extraordinary beauty, stuffed with gold jewelry and
> expensive clothes, the portrayal of men (except the
> saints) is realistic and stiff. Men of importance are
> shown dressed in long embroidered robes and turbans,
> whereas the ordinary men folk wear white kurta pajamas
> and Gandhi caps as seen in other nationalistic
> calendar art.
>
> The ëpious womení depicted in some posters seem to
> come straight from the community stereotypes that were
> sowed in the public memory by the 20th century Hindi
> cinema - Mughal-e-Azam, Chaudhvin-ka-chand, Mere
> Mehboob, and so on. The big chunk of moviegoers, the
> crowd that likes to see a blockbuster several times,
> and revels in its images and music, also happens to
> buy the devotional posters ñ no wonder a cinema genre
> called the ëMuslim Socialí pervaded the Bombay film
> industry for almost three decades in the 20th century,
> and contributed largely to the stereotyping of the
> Muslim community. It would not be surprising if the
> artists who drew the roadside hoardings for such films
> were also the original iconographers of some of the
> Muslim religious art. Some of the printing presses
> churning out the movie posters, no doubt, also
> produced the cheap religious images. Some (amongst
> Muslims) who may have hesitated putting up the poster
> of a film actress on their wall due to family or
> social pressure found legitimacy in a picture that
> combined the Ka'ba or the Qurían with an attractive
> lady who looks like Madhubala or Surayya. This twin
> purpose of providing the religious devotion with the
> sensuous pleasure seems to be a selling point of most
> successful popular devotional art.
>
> Indian cinema and television continue to strengthen
> the community stereotypes in the popular culture. Many
> film producers wait for the Eid or Diwali to release
> their blockbusters, not so much for the auspicious
> day, but for the holiday and the savings the working
> class would spend on cinema. On last Eid in a Muslim
> locality, I found a surprise at a poster shop ñ a
> colour photograph of the actor Salman Khan in typical
> Muslim attire, doing a courteous aadab (Muslim
> salutation) with his naughty smile, and Eid mubarak
> printed at the bottom - it was obviously a movie
> poster, but selling briskly among the religious ones.
> Need one explain how many genres of popular culture
> and stereotyping did it represent?
>
>
> [Examples of the posters referred to in this write-up
> can be seen at the following site:
> http://www.alif-india.com/popart/gallery.html
>
> Yousuf Saeed
> New Delhi, India
> ysaeed7 at yahoo.com
>
> For those who missed the first and second posting:
> this project seeks to collect the contemporary
> religious posters and calendar art, depicting Muslim
> themes, mostly in north India, and analyze their
> content, focusing on the symbols of multi-faith or
> composite culture, besides studying briefly the
> industry and the artists who manufacture and sell
> them, the devotees who buy them, the milieu where they
> are adorned, and the reverence they evoke.
>
> This posting is only a section of the research and may
> not represent the holistic picture or the
> chronological sequence of the findings. More details,
> updates and a colourful poster gallery of the project
> can be seen at: www.alif-india.com/popart
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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