A Political Shadow Lengthens on London's South Asian Summer

The city's multiculturalism is in welcome evidence amid intimations of anti-immigrant populism

- Rahul Jacob

Earlier this summer, an unusual depiction of a zebra gifted to Mughal Emperor Jahangir drew attention to the Iranian artist Mansour, who had painted it. A white nephrite jade cup that was part of Shah Jahan's collection and subtly embossed with his titles was also much remarked upon. A good bit of the exhibition was on loan from the Al Sabah royal family of Kuwait. If asked to guess in which city this art appreciation crash course on Mughal India was being conducted, most of us would have picked London. Indeed, The Great Mughals exhibition, which ended on 5 May, offered a foretaste of a particularly South Asian flavour to London this summer.

The British Museum currently has a show that pays tribute to the art and sculpture of Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism between 200 BCE and 600 CE in a show titled 'Ancient India: Living Traditions.' And ramblers through West London's mystically beautiful Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park would encounter both a retrospective to artist Arpita Singh and a temporary summer pavilion, a prestigious commission done annually that was designed this year by Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum.