Page 6 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 3

the patronage of the effectively independent local Buddhist kings of the Deva dynasty.
These great religious and educational centers played an important role primarily in the
culture and flourishment of fine arts.
Taking cue from the decline of the political forces of the pre-Pala Gupta age the effort
to revive the local artistic styles in different areas of Bengal is to be noticed. It is
probable that quite a few centers of art appeared for the first time in South-East Bengal
in comparison to West or North Bengal. Specimens of this can be seen in Mainamati
of Comilla and Jhewari of Chittagong. Although these two centers followed the artistic
style of the last stages of the Gupta age, yet here the artists were able to achieve a
distinctiveness of their own through local inspiration.
The Pala kings gradually departed from power as the rulers of Bengal with the loud
presence in North-East India of the Muslim Turkish military leaders in the
background and the rule of Bengal went into the hands of the Hindu royal dynasties
from the Buddhist kings. Ultimately, towards the end of the eleventh century the Sena
dynasty, which came from South-India, assumed power in Bengal. Although
Vijayasena (1097 AD-1160 AD) was the founder of this dynasty, his son Vallalasena
(1160 AD-1179 AD) gave Brahmanism a firm foundation in this region.
Laksmanasena (1179 AD-1206 AD) played a considerable role in the dissemination
of Sanskrit education in Bengal. The famous book of poems Gitagovindam by the
poet Jayadeva is a composition of this period, and it had a strong influence on the
cultural life of the people of this region. After Laksmanasena’a capital Gauda was
occupied by the invading Turkish military leader Ikhtiyaruddin Muhammad bin
Bakhtiyar Khilji in 1203 AD Hindu rule ended in north western Bengal and Muslim
rule was established in Bengal.
With the establishment of Muslim rule in Bengal a different dimension was added to
its art and culture. Though local culture was affected at the early stages of Muslim
rule, later due to the tolerance of the rulers, a new consciousness was infused into it.
Although the Turkish Sultans of Bengal were considered to be under the central rule
of Delhi from 1200 AD to 1340 AD, actually they were politically and economically
quite self-sufficient. There is a dearth of specimens of art worth mentioning from this
early stage of Muslim rule in Bengal. But in the times of Ilyas Shah (1342 AD-1358
AD) the independent ruler of the whole of Bengal, there was born a separate stream
of ‘Indo-Muslim’ architectural style where the local artists and craftsmen who
participated in the construction work found the opportunity to demonstrate within the
Muslim architectural style the excellence of their own traditional craftsmanship. The
Adina Mosque built by Ilyas Shah’s son Sikandar Shah (1358 AD-1390 AD) is
considered to be the symbol of the expansion of Muslim religion and culture in
Bengal. Later during the reign of Sultan Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah (1415 AD-1433
AD) for the first time, glazed-tile ornamentation is noticed in the architecture of
Bengal. After Jalaluddin, Alauddin Husain Shah (1493-1519 AD) patronized Sanskrit
literature at the national level along with the diffusion of Muslim education. He