What these chiselled walls say about Kashmir

An exhibition, currently on view at Delhi's India International Centre, puts the spotlight on Kashmir’s little-known epigraphic heritage

- PANKIL JHAJHRIA

THE inscriptions — ‘Mulla Murad Kashmiri’ and ‘Hari Ram’ to honour both, a calligrapher and the other, a Hindu sculptor from Agra — carved at Srinagar’s Jami Masjid records the mosque’s reconstruction in 1621 CE. According to Umar Farooq, assistant professor at the department of architecture, Islamic University of Science & Technology in Kashmir, the name of a Hindu artisan inscribed so prominently on Kashmir’s most important Muslim monument is an excellent example of “syncretism”. “So it seems like, back in those times, there was a lot more syncretism in practice than we really think of,” Faroog tells TMS.

This inscription is one of the highlights of ‘Nagsh... The Imprint’, an exhibition on view at the India International Centre (IIC), Delhi. The show features photographs, and translations of architectural epigraphy from Kashmir, covering the period between the 14th and 19th centuries.