"Monks offer gifts in front on a sand mandala" Courtesy of Kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu

Gift or Curse? A Prodigy's Relationship to His Talent

By Nayla Huq

Kunal Basu's second novel, "The Miniaturist" produces an intricate painting of a wasted and wasteful genius' odyssey from mischievous childhood, to wayward young adulthood, culminating with a twist to the typical prodigal son type of plot.

During arguably, the Mughal Empire's golden age of art, an artistic genius is banished from the empire. Our protagonist, Bihzad, has his title of chief artist stolen from under him by his competitor and enemy, Adili. Bihzad's opponent will do anything to become the next "Khawaja", the chief artist. He will even stoop as low as shamelessly unveiling Bihzad's paintings demonstrating the latter's secret, forbidden love for Emperor Jalaluddin Akbar (1556-1605), to the mighty ruler himself.

Cover for "The Miniaturist", Kunal Basu's 2nd novel, featuring a Mughal miniature of the artist and the aging emperor. Courtesy of amazon.co.uk

The title of "Khwaja" is within Bihzad's reach as an extremely gifted artist, and as the son of the current Khwaja. Bihzad, enraptured with Akbar, is clueless of the cutthroat competition amongst artists for his father's coveted position. In contrast, his father, referred to as the Khwaja, is deeply invested in seeing his pride and joy maintain the purity of Persian blood in the line of Mughal artists. For example, in order to preserve Bihzad's genius, the Khwaja kept him from socializing with other children, even kept him illiterate, "so . . . words and numbers [do not] spoil his love for glowing images." With no structure in his childhood, Bihzad had taken to mischief, until the time came for "the kiteplayer [to] "become a proper artist," like his father. One can imagine how disheartened and shamed the Khwaja feels by his son's sin.

(The Khwaja, Bihzad and most other high-level artists of this period migrated from lands surrounding Hindustan. The most reknown artists in the kingdom were natives of Persia and proud of their heritage.)

Original Mughal miniature of Akbar as a competent ruler of a vast empire Courtesy of chandnichowk.com

Banished to a barren wasteland outside Akbar's empire, Bihzad goes through periods of recoiling from and reconnecting with his talent, of which is both his gift and his curse. Being an artist is part of Bihzad's essence, but his self-expressive paintings cause him trouble. On the other hand, his paintings intended for an audience causes the audience disappointment. He has to sacrifice his true talent to satisfy them, like a slave. Bihzad's audiences want their "true" selves drawn, without shadows. As a child, Bihzad painted a picture of dead man, with a shadow darkening part of his face. The body was indoors and the sun was setting. The angered Khwaja protested: "A shadow belongs to your eyes, Bihzad. It doesn't belong to a painting."

The examples of Mughal miniatures exemplify Mughal arts' disinterest in realism.

Original Mughal miniature of the aging Akbar in the upper left corner and a mysterious character in the bottom right. The painting is probably depicting the emperor beginning and ending his reign. Courtesy of harappa.com

Even the art he composes of his own free will fails to bring about satisfaction. After months of uninspired languor in Hazari, Bihzad's soul is spurred to paint an enthralling portrait of the Madonna and child. But his emotional and artistic connection to this masterpiece is ephemeral, though people come from miles around to see it and turn it into a religious icon. Furthermore, at one point, art becomes so much of a curse to him that producing disconnected paintings like a drone felt like relief to him. Hazari's bizarrities challenge Bihzad's preconceived notions of love, art, and the expression of love in art, helping to shape what he becomes at the conclusion of the narrative.

Bihzad's free will as an artist needs to be questioned. Though he resists, Bihzad feels compelled to paint, and fate always finds a way to draw him back in. Self-expressing/self-satisfying works are not enough. Bihzad believes an artist is nothing without a master, but he cannot accept just any master. He also has a deep longing to express love, as he demonstrates with his obsessions with lovers who spurn him. Bihzad must serve and satisfy his real master, the almighty ruler of Hindustan, himself, in order to quell the artist and the lover in him..

"The Miniaturist" tells a beautiful and intriguing story, with pockets of glistening, poetic, detailed descriptions disbursed throughout the book. The characters are fleshed out, interesting, credible, and likeable, some are even fascinating.

At times the tone understates the drama of the plot, but not throughout the whole novel. The semi-monotony of the tone may be Basu's tonal imitation of the artistic style of the period. The story deals with Mughal art: full of detail, idealized, beautiful, but flat, emotionless renderings of landscapes and living beings. The parallels between the novel's tone and Mughal art may just be a coincidence, but either way, they make the plot drag a little. Furthermore, the resolution seems to have been hastily dealt with.

Despite the semi-monotony of the tone, this book is worth reading, especially because the story is fascinating, and is set in an unexplored period for literary settings.

October 24, 2003