This book on museums (specially Kolkata’s famous Jadughar), The Taj Mahal and Ajanta packed with valuable information avoids too many technical details to make it accessible to cross sections of readers. The authors in his train has pooled in Pompeii and Herculaneum and Kolkata’s Victorial Memorial Hall for a brief discourse. At the end there is a synoptic appraisal of India’s painting traditions from the ancient period down to the Neo-Bengal school’s advent. There are a dozen coloured and eight black and white photographs which include two miniatures that possibly represent the Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and his consort Lutf-un Nissa Begum. There are a contemporary portrait of Sultan Sher Shah Suri and a Possible Portrait of the nana Sahib of Bithur. One can experience here the tragic features of the Mughal Prince Suleiman Shikoh and a discussion on Sh. Samiuzzaman style painter of note along with his work. Here one finds the portrait of a bearded prisoner being brought before a Mughal king. The author is of the opinion that the king represents Humayun brother Kamran. Jauher was an eye-witness of Kamran’s blinding. His painful account is reproduced in the preface. The miniatures referred to Above and the caravanserai scene are for the first time brought to light in this book, Lala Dean Dayal’s photograph of the Taj Mahal in 1887 lends an extra dimensions here. The views of some high profile foreigners like M Jean Law, the Chief of the French factory at Saidabad in Murshidabad (18th century), William Howard Russell, The Times correspondent covering the Sepoy Mutiny f 1857 and those of the celebrated English litterateur Aldous Huxley find a pride of place in this small book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sujit Narayan Sen
Sujit Narayan Sen was born near Kolkata in 1944. He is an Arts graduate from the city’s St. Xavier’s College and did two Masters in history and Ancient Indian History with Fine Arts from the Jadavpur U. and Calcutta U. respectively. He was awarded a Ph.D by the former university on ancient Indian mural painting in 1992. He completed two certificate courses in Urdu and Persian languages at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Kolkata. He joined the Art Section of the Indian Museum in 1968 and was superannuated in 2004. He did a stint as Keeper of the Victoria memorial Hall on lien in 1985. He was a guest lecturer at the Dept. of Museology, Calcutta U. for three years from 2001-2003. Sen has authored a number of articles on Indian metal crafts and paintings and delivered many lectures on Indian History and paintings from divense august podia like the Calcutta U., the Jadavpur U., the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of culture, Kolkata, the Singapore national Museum and the national U. of Singapore. His thesis entitled Aesthetics and Preparation of early Indian Murals was published by the present Publishers in 1995 that won him acclaim here and abroad. He has been associated with Educational Media research centre, Kolkata as a subject expert on Medieval art History of India and the programme Mughal Art During Akbar received the first prize in the Humanities and Communication in the 14th UGC-CEC Educational Video Competition, 2001. he reviewed four books in The Statesman on history, anthropology, Gandhi-ji and political affairs. Sen is an avid writer of English short stories. His two books Buddha’s Alms Bowl and the Naxalbari Night published by the Writers Workshops, Kolkata in 1996 and 1998 were praised in The Hindu (Sep.2, 1997) and The Statesman (April 12, 1999) and highly acclaimed in the States. He is a member of Kolkata’s Asiatic Society for nearly three decades and devotes his leisure hours in studying and writing.
There are no reviews yet.