Rifat Mohidin/ Baseera Rafiqi
SRINAGAR: In a white shamiyana tent erected on the banks of Jhelum river in Srinagar on Wednesday, there were just a handful of people.
Nothing unusual for an official function, but when it is one of the ‘biggest’ exhibitions here portraying Kashmiri culture.
On display here are art, craft, dresses, musical instruments and miniatures from the eras of Mughals and Dogras. Also items from the time when Central Asian visitors thronged the region.
Many items like Pulhor, Kashmiri footwear made of dried straw, the few visitors knew, many others they didn’t.
“I have never seen any of these things, I have not even heard about their names. Nothing of them is at my home. It must have been a different Kashmir then,” said Zainish Tariq, a schoolgirl who came alongwith her father.
The exhibition, organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Cultural Academy, was inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah.
Cultural Officer, Assadullah Wani, said the sole aim of the exhibition was to “make the new generation aware about Kashmir’s history and traditions.”
“This is the biggest exhibition by Art and cultural Academy Kashmir so far,” he added.
It is sad though that there weren’t many interested to see the Budhist, Hindu and other art, portraying the communal harmony in the region.
Or the oldest Quranic Manuscripts dating back to 1237 AD, 83 years before Muslims assumed political power in Kashmir.
Neither did they see a unique Persian manuscript, calligraphed with a nailed thumb.
