Page 7 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

4 ART AND CRAFTS

employed many members of the Hindu community to important posts in the
government; but the most important religious event in his time was the advent of Sri
Chaitanya Dev (1486-1533 AD). Nusrat Shah (1519-1532 AD), the son of Husain
Shah was a devoted patron of Bengali literature. 4
The tradition that began in Bengal during Husain Shahi rule of integrating Muslim and
Hindu culture was in general infused with greater dynamic movement at a later period
after the establishment of the Mughal Empire in Delhi, especially during the reign of
the Emperor Akbar (1556-1605 AD). Religious tolerance was then adopted as the
political principle of the center. Along with bringing renowned artists from Persia, the
Mughal emperors employed local artists extensively in the creation of art works. After
Bengal became a part of the Mughal Empire in 1575 AD the opportunity for the style
of Mughal architecture and ornamentation to enter Bengal presented itself. Although
Bengal was an important part of the huge Mughal Empire, yet no extensive influence
of the central Mughal artistic style is perceivable here. Probably the remote and
inaccessible situation of Bengal from the center and the strong foundation of the local
culture somewhat hampered the expansion of Mughal art in Bengal.
Basically Bengali life and culture is firmly imbedded in the firm soil of its folk life.
Through the medium of Chaitanya Dev’s spiritual and mystic religious awakening in
the Sultani period, there developed an individual style of Hindu architecture decorated
with terracotta sculpture. Parallel to this and quite prevalent was another tradition of
painted wooden book-covers of illustrated manuscripts. This method of painting
played a role as the connecting bridge between the manuscript illustration of the
previous Pala age and the paintings by the patuas of the villages of Bengal. However,
due to the influence of the Europeans coming to India at the beginning of the
seventeenth century a new pictorial style emerged in the court art of Bengal. By the
nineteenth century this novel pictorial form had extensively influenced the subject-
matter and method of the painting of Bengal.
On the other hand, the capital of the province of Bengal was transferred to
Murshidabad in the eighteenth century. Although at that time the decline of Delhi’s
central rule had already begun, provincial rule was established here under the
leadership of Murshid Quli Khan (1717-1727 AD). Though there is no important
example of the patronization of art during Murshid Quli’s era, in the middle of the
18th century during the reign of Alivardi Khan (1740-1756 AD) a group of artists
coming from the royal court of Delhi was given shelter in Murshidabad. Through
these artists a regional Mughal artistic style found expression in Murshidabad. In the
meantime, the city of Kolkata rose as a competitor of Murshidabad through the
English traders. After Alivardi’s daughter’s son Sirajuddowla (1756-1757 AD) was
defeated in the Battle of Plassey against the English, colonial rule by the English was
established in Bengal or, in other words, in India. After this the center of the painting
of Bengal evolved around Kolkata, the metropolis and colonial capital of the English.
As a nation state the state boundaries of Bengal changed again in various ages. In 1947