Traditional Art and Architecture in Baltistan MAX KLIMBURG
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Traditional Art and Architecture in Baltistan MAX KLIMBURG his article, based on several visits to the region and a recent trip to Kashmir, will summarise cur rent knowledge on the Islamic architectural heritage of Baltistan, recognising that much remains- Tto be done to fill remaining gaps in the scientific research after Ahmad Hasan Dani’s pioneering study of The Wooden Style of Northern Pakistan. One would expect that Baltistan, as a secluded region locked in by high mountain ranges, should have de veloped an art and architecture of its own, with only few characteristics shared with any of its neighbours.- This is not the case, unless one wants to claim the large local buildings of khanqah, a combination of mosque and Sufi retreat centre, to be a Balti creation. With regard to virtually all the religious buildings, including the typically Shia congregation centres, the matam sarai (also called imambarha), and possibly also with re gard to palace and fort architecture, Baltistan appears- heavily dependent on influences mainly from Kash- mir, its great and dominant neighbour. Some additional influences have probably come from Ladakh, cul- turally a part of western Tibet, with which it shares its Tibetan - language. Indeed, communication with Ladakh, mainly along the Indus, is easier than with any other adjoining cultural and political entity. There were also important influences from Iran with respect to certain crafts, as described further below. More over, the southern Tarim basin, that is, Khotan and Yarkand,- may well have contributed much to the emergence of the large type of khanqah cum veranda in Baltistan, and possibly also to the rich vocabulary- of- carved motifs. Thus we can conjecture that there was a strong south north cultural movement, com plemented by some influence from- the east, Ladakh, from Cen- tral Asia, and from the more distant Shia world in Persia. - It is no surprise that the Islamisation of Baltistan in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries came from Kashmir soon after that re gionally leading cultural Hindu centre had fallen to Islam. This- is when the strong south north movement of ideas and of ac tual cultural influences developed,- eventually wiping out Bud- dhism and possibly also some Bon and Hindu beliefs in- Baltistan. Yet, while Tibet thus lost its religious impact on its former province of Baltistan, it still left a visible imprint on Fig. The Shah Hamadan mosque (khanqah) Baltistan’s Islamic architecture. The question has to remain in Srinagar (from Kak , pl. VI). open, whether this is due to a locally surviving influence or to new inputs from the cultural melting pot Kashmir, which could have reinvigorated past traditions. A mystic Shia missionary from Hamadan, Sayyed Ali Shah Hamadani, a member of the Central Asian Sufi Kubrawiye order, is credited with the first important Islamic mission in Kashmir, which he visited three times between and . He died in , being buried in Kulab in southern Tajikistan. According to Kashmiri traditions, seven hundred Sayyed and other followers, among them highly skilled craftsmen (the Kubra order was particularly popular among craftsmen) had come with Shah Hamadani from Iran and Central Asia to set tle in Kashmir – including specialists in kar i qalam (papier- mâché work), khatamband (ornamental wooden- ceiling), panji ra (latticework called jali in Urdu) and calligraphy. It appears- that the saint passed through Baltistan at least once on his way between Central Asia, where his later life centred, and Kash mir. His great khanqah/mosque in Srinagar, the Masjid e- - Fig. The shrine of Mir Ishaq in Tagas. Hamadan or Shah Hamadan mosque (fig. ), became the symbol of early Islam in Kashmir and most probably served as the prime model for all the centrally designed wooden mosques in both Kashmir and Baltistan. A further important cultural influence from Kashmir to Baltistan is due to the missionary activity by fol lowers of the mystic Sayyed Mohammad Nurbaksh, who had founded the Kubra related Nurbakhshiye- Sufi order in Iran in the fifteenth century. Around that movement was introduced- by Shams ad Din Iraqi to Kashmir, where he resided for some thirty years and where he is buried. In the middle of- the six teenth century, at the time of his son Mir Danyal Shahid, a cruel persecution of the Shia and Sufi orders- suddenly developed. It was instigated by the Sunni hardliner Mirza Haydar Dughlat, one of Emperor Hu mayun’s generals and also one of his uncles, and was aimed at the extinction of Shi’ism and all Sufi orders- – and especially the Nurbakhshiye sect – throughout Kashmir. In , Mir Danyal was summoned from Skardu to Srinagar and then beheaded. He was buried in Zaribal near Srinagar and is venerated as a shahid (martyr). All this led to a mass exodus of Shia and Nurbakhshiye families, among them many craftsmen, to Baltistan where they were welcomed by the local rulers. There was a revival of the Nurbakhshiye order in Kashmir under the short lived rule of the Chak family, but with the conquest of Kashmir by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in - persecution started again. In the early seventeenth century, the Nurbakhshiye was virtually uprooted in Kashmir, while it was thriving in neighbouring Baltistan. During the whole of the seventeenth century, many Nurbakhshiye missionar ies preached and taught all over Baltistan. Leading among them were the thirty fourth pir (spiritual leader)- of the movement, Mir Abu Said Sada (died in , buried in Srinagar), his- brother Mir Aref (died in or , buried in Tagas), and two descendants of Shams ad Din Iraqi – Mir Yahya (died in , buried in Shigar) and Mir Mukhtar (died in , buried in Kiris).- Thus a mystic Shia movement gained ground in Baltistan, while the ruling class, supposedly of Central Asian Turkish origin and adhering to the mainstream beliefs of the Twelver Shia, created a number of large ly autonomous small kingdoms or princely states. They- were headed by men bearing different titles, who later became known as raja. The division into small kingdoms may well have proliferated after the occupation of Baltistan (and later Gilgit) by the army of Gulab Singh, the Dogra ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, in /. Fig. The khanqah and two tombs of saints in Tagas (pl. ). Leading principalities were those of Skardu and Khap lu. The state of Skardu, which was ruled by the Makpon- family, controlled the best lines of communication with Kashmir, leading across the up to metre high Deosai plateau and the metre high- Burzil- pass (fig. ). Members of the same -family- also governed the state of Kharmang, situated on the path leading along the Indus to Ladakh, as well as those in Rondu and As tor, controlling the access to and from Gilgit and Chi- las in the west. The other leading principality, that of- Khaplu, located on the Shyok tributary of the Indus and ruled by the once powerful Yabghu family, controlled the paths into northern Ladakh, which in turn is linked Fig. Plan of the khanqah and the two tombs of saints with Khotan (Tarim basin) across the approximately in Tagas (from Dani b, fig. ). metre high Karakoram pass. The settlement pat tern in- Khaplu,- located on a huge alluvial cone, is characterised- by separate villages originally housing craftsmen of the same trade – a division according to professional skills found all over India. There were, in addition, the princely states of Shigar and Kiris. Shigar, governed by the Amacha family, controlled the communications with Nagir and Hunza across the Baltoro glacier, and those with Yarkand and the Tarim basin across the forbidding, approximately metre high Muztagh pass. The state of Kiris, once ruled by the Yabghu family, had a central location insofar- as- it was surrounded by other Balti principalities on three sides. Therefore, probably not by coincidence, one finds in Kiris the most important saintly tomb and thus the leading pilgrim centre of Baltistan. THE BUILDING STYLE The architecture of Baltistan is based on the use of a sort of log house structure applied to practically all of the more prominent buildings, large or small, religious or secular.- The monumental building repertory con sists of the large structures of the khanqah dominating many of the settlements, the mosques (masjids), the- tombs of saints (astanas), the congregation halls for the commemoration of the death of Husein (matam sarais or imambarhas or huseiniyes), and the forts/palaces (khars) of the different rajas. The style, locally called- thatar, is strongly conditioned by the ‘cator and cribbage’ building technique (see fig. ). Stone walls are reinforced with occasional vertical layers of parallel beams (‘cators’), laid at some distance above each other. On the corners, the longitu dinal beams are interlocked at a right angle. For further structural- strengthening in the corners (and also inside the walls), one often finds vertical cages or boxes composed of pairs of short pieces of timber beams built up in alternating right angle directions (fig. ), looking like ladders from the outside (‘cribbage’). They are pinned to the lon gitudinal wall beams, connecting them and tying them together into- a semi rigid frame. The void between the beams (or within the cages) is filled- with stones or mud bricks and earth, which makes the walls become rather heavy and sturdy. This building technique was once widespread in the western Himalayas, but rampant deforestation now makes it prohibitively expensive. The same cribbage construction method was applied to the solid pil lar like frames constituting the corner columns of the tombs of saints- (astanas- ). In the wide openings between the composite columns, or namental timber panels or jali screens were inserted (pls. , ). - Fig. The spire and qubbah of the shrine of Mir Ishaq in Tagas.