تاثير نقوش ايراني بر هنر قلمكاري هند در دوره ي صفوي

The Influence of Persian Designs on Indian Qalamkari at Safavid Era

Kalamkari as an art craft belongs to both Persia and India, historically. The influence of Persia on Indian arts at the Safavid era is clear. Indian kalamkari is more affected by Iranian kalamkaris in designs and styles. Immigration, wars and political relationship are important reasons for art exchanging between Iran and India at different times. Safavid emperors had very good relationship with Gorkanid emperors. Under patron of Iranian Shah, the Homayon Shah i.e. Gorkanid king, could able to return to his reign again. Therefore, a deep relation was built between two countries. The superb living conditions in Indian kingdom were very good reason for Iranian and other craftsmen such as Turkish, to migrate to India. They were looking for better life conditions. Therefore, they took their weaving styles and abilities to India and were employed in royal workshops. Very soon, Indian artists followed Iranian artistʹs styles and many Iranian motifs were used in different fabrics. Also, in many towns of India such as Masulipatnam many craftsmen worked in workshops to produce fabrics for Iranian market with Persian styles. This led to usage of Persian motifs and designs in fabrics, especially in kalamkaris. A survey on Indian Kalamkaris reveals that two distinguish styles can be seen in Indian kalamkaris as follows: pen (kalam) is used for painting, mostly pictures from Hinduʹs religious and second is fabric block printing. The former had been affected by Safavid arts in style and designs. Yet a few research works had been done on Iranian kalamkariʹs designs. Comparison between Persian and Indian kalamkaris reveals that Indian craftsmen were under Iranian artists influence both in designs and manufacturing process. Hence, this led to a new artistic language between them. The similarities between designs can be evaluated from two points of view: details and motifs in fabrics including different types of geometrical, botanicals, animals, pictorial designs and also calligraphy. Geometrical designs are very simple and include horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines led to geometrical shapes. Different kinds of flowers, leafs and trees are common for fabric decoration. Also domestic and wild animal such as tiger and horse and also birds like peacock are used frequently. Persian artist used human pictures in their art works; these were reflection of the kingʹs life and royal families and romantic stories. Some times calligraphy was used for writing Koranic versus and poems on the fabric. Also, a survey on construction of designs reveals that some main categories can be defined in Indian kalamkaris such as: Mehrab, Lachack -Torangge, Tree of life, Hunting scene, Mohharamat, Mehrab and Pictorial designs. These are very popular in Persian arts as well for example; the Mehrab (arc) designs are very similar to the hand woven carpets designs and also colored tiles. The tree of life rooted in ancient believes of Iranian that was indicated by pine tree in kalamkaris. The hunting scene with animals and hunters were used by Indian craftsmen regularly to decorate fabrics and many similar designs can be found in Indian kalamkaris. Striped lines with flowers is another common design in kalamkaris.