He has been portrayed, away from the hub-bub of his palace life, in full leisure but essentially inclining to a pensive mood. A large bolster, side cushion, seat-cushion and a huqqa laid on a simple grassy patch of land tugged with a few flowering ferns here and there alone are his companions. The absence of a sword, the essential sign of his regal status, attendants, means of merriment, wine, goblets, casks, trays of eatables, musicians and dancers aptly define his melancholic mood. He seems to be seeking in such solitude, away from the entire world and from his own being, answer to some unanswerable questions. Huqqa alone is the companion corresponding to his mood.
The huqqa in Indian medieval tradition, more than a mere smoking device, has been contemplated almost as a living entity with a multifarious role and a living personality. It defined its owners' status and his economic condition. The huqqa was a trusted companion of all, from a village chaupal, ruler's court, lovers loneliness, poet's reveries to a thinker's thoughtful mood. It was a cementing force, which united varied sections of society and at same time served as a potent weapon of social boycott of wrong doers and was thus an instrument of various checks, discipline and discharge of justice. Here the artist has portrayed the huqqa in its more loved role of the companion of solitude.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.
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