Bidri art has long been known to the students of Indian art. No collection, however, has yet been published in its entirety and writers have tended to concentrate only on one particular centre such as Bidar.
Dating back to Mughal, smoking of huqqa was a fashion. In search of tobacco, emperor Akbar had sent one of his nobles, Asad Beg, on a mission to Bijapur which returned in 1604. Asad Beg's memoirs state: 'In Bijapur I had found some tobacco. Never have been seen the like in India. I brought some with me, and prepared a hand pipe of jewel work' which he presented to the emperor. He also brought a hoard of pipes and tobacco to present to various nobles, and claims that the habit then spread rapidly. May be this was the reason that we find variety of huqqas in several museums all over the world in their collection.
This book presents an exhaustive study on Bidri art, in the possession of the collection of different museums in India and abroad. I hope this work may render some usefulness to scholars who desire to proceed in the relevant line.
Dr. Rehaman Patel is a well known painter with good flair for presenting luminescence and brightness along with artistic glory in each creation.
His artwork in abstract form is well reached in India and abroad.
Dr. Patel was born in a small village Gola (K) in Gulbarga district, Karnataka on June 1, 1975. Did Master of Fine Art in Painting in the year 2001 and awarded Ph.D. for research on Bidri Art of Karnataka in 2010 both from Gulbarga University. He is a founder president of the Indian Royal Academy of Art and Culture.
He is a recipient of Junior Fellowship in the field of Painting from Ministry of Culture, Dept. of Culture, New Delhi in 2002, Silver Medal at Inter Collegiate Youth Festival at Gulbarga University in 1996, Award in All India Art Contest and Exhibition organized by South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur in 1997, 2000 and 2007, 1st All India Art Exhibition org. by Art Association Guild, Hyderabad in 1998, 20th State Level Art Exhibition at Bijapur and National Art Contest and Exhibition org. by Gulbarga Academy of Art, Culture and Literature in 2011 and many others.
He has participated in many camps like All India Painters and sculptors Camp at Bhadra Haveli in Bangalore, Three All India Painting Camps org. by South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur, Rajahmundry and Tumkur, Artist Camp at Mount Abu and Bhilwara in Rajasthan, All India Painting Camp at Karnataka Urdu Academy and Karnataka Lalithakala Academy, Bangalore etc. International Painting Camp held at Bhutan in 2014.
He has participated in many Group shows held at Venkatappa Art Gallery, Bangalore, Rashtriya Kala Mela, Bangalore and New Delhi, Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Coomarswarny Hall and The Art Entrance Gallery all in Mumbai, Taj Palace Hotel and Lalit Kala Akademi New Delhi, Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat Bangalore, Satyapal Art Gallery Jalandhar and Punjab Kala Bhavan Chandigarh, Taj Deccan Hyderabad all from 1993 to 2013.
He has participated in Bhutan International Symposium Camp, group show and seminar held at Nehru Wangchuk Art Gallery Thimpu in Bhutan in 2014.
His paintings are acquired permanent place in the National Gallery of Modern Art New Delhi, South Central Zone Cultural Centre Nagpur, Karnataka Urdu Academy and Kamataka Lalithakala Academy in Bangalore etc.
He has nominated as Member, Research Committee and Board of Study at Karnataka Janapada University for a newly introduced course on Bidri Art in 2014.
Apart from this he has written several articles and gave research statements on Bidri Art, Islamic Art of North Karnataka and Art of Deccan Sultanate which were published in major journals, news papers, and magazines.
Presently he teaches for the post graduate students in the Department of Studies in Visual Art, Gulbarga University.
Bidar flourished as a provincial town during the reigns of the early Bahmani kings, and it is mentioned among the great cities of the Deccan wherein schools for orphans were established by second Muhammad Shah (A.D. 1378-97). Later the fortress of Bidar appears in history as the well-protected stronghold wherein the unfortunate Shamsuddin, the seventh Bahmani king, was interned to pass the rest of his life in captivity.
The royalists were defeated in the precincts of Bidar, either at Khanapur or at Nimatabad, the former being some ten miles west and the latter only three miles south-west of Bidar. This injudicious action cost Firoz Shah his throne, and Prince Ahmed Shah shortly after his accession made Bidar the capital of his kingdom. He was devoted to the renowned saint, Sayyid Muhammad, popularly known as Hazrat Khaja Banda Nawaz Gesudaraz of Gulbarga, but after the demise of this famous devotee he joined the order of Shah Nimatullah of Kirman and invited their founder to Bidar.
Bidar city enjoys a picturesque situation, having been built on the brink of a plateau, and thus commanding lovely views of the lowlands (talghat) towards the north and the east. The distance of the city from Hyderabad is eighty-two miles, but the fringe of the Bidar plateau begins from Kamkol village, and the breast is reached when the visitor has passed a few miles beyond Zahirabad.
The physical phenomena have provided Bidar with some charming sites. The notable among them are the springs of Papnas (destroyer of sins) and Sayyid-us-Sadat, and the flowered valley of Farah Bagh (garden of joy). The first two have lovely glens, while the last has a shady recess, at the head of which a streamlet gushes out from the cliff after flowing for a considerable distance in the womb of the rock.
The wells in the vicinity of the edges of the tableland are of extraordinary depth. The stream-fed valleys and the tracts of mixed soil in the lowlands bear prodigally fruits and grains, canes and vines, and every variety of vegetable produce. It is famous for its cattle and also for rich quality of the butter made from their milk. To the ordinary visitor, however, the most attractive feature in the fauna of Bidar is the abundance of monkeys which run about freely in large troops amid the shady retreats and ruined abodes of the place. The species has a jet-black face, grey hair all over the body, and long tail which helps it in swinging and leaping from branch to branch. It is called langur or hanuman, and is much larger in size than the more common brown monkeys or Bandar of Indian towns. These funny creatures, notwithstanding their predatory raids, enjoy considerable immunity from the people, the reason for this attitude apparently being the religious idea that they are the progeny of the sacred Hanuman who helped Rama in vanquishing the Ravana, and in liberating his beautiful wife, Sita, from the demon's possession. It was either this reverential regard of the people or the curiosity of the king himself in the antics and frolicsome gestures of these beasts that induced Nawab Nasir-ud-Daula Bahadur (1829-57) to issue a farman sanctioning a handsome grant for the maintenance of the monkeys of Bidar. The grant is still continued, and the monkeys are fed near the gateway of the fort every day.
Bidar is well connected with both rail and road journey from Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Gulbarga which is available daily.
In the 5,000 years of Indian civilization, handicrafts have always played a dominant and colorful role, presenting a kaleidoscopic vista where varieties reign supreme. In this article I choose to proceed by a short text on the mode of their historical background manufacture, critical study and, which I have been able to glean from different sources.
After the Muslim conquest of major portion of northern India and the Deccan, a direct impact of Islamic art on the autochthonous was affected, resulting in a marvelous amalgamation, of which among many conspicuously rank the damascene and Bidri arts. The variety of Bidri art taking shape in different regions offers an interesting study of ethos and history.
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