Exhibition Showcases Kashmir’s Islamic Architecture

With an aim to highlight the marvelous and uniquely synthetic aspects of Kashmir’s Islamic Architecture to the world, INTACH-Kashmir Chapter under the Department of Tourism of Jammu and Kashmir and the India International Centre (IIC) jointly mounted an exhibition at the IIC, in New Delhi. A panel discussion was also held before the exhibition’s inauguration and it brought spotlight on the genesis and synthesis of Islamic Architecture in medieval Kashmir. Initiating the discussion, noted architecture expert and convener of the INTACH JandK chapter, SaleemBaig, noted that the Islamic architecture of Kashmir was a continuation of spiritual traditions of the past, represented through religious architecture. He also highlighted the central feature of Kashmir’s history that it has been the melting pot of cultural practices of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Echoing his observations, Dr. Sameer Hamadani shed light on the integrated architectural practices among Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists vis-à-vis the sacred architecture in Kashmir. DrHamadani is attached with INTACH’s Kashmir Chapter. Another panelist, Professor Narayani Gupta, who teaches history, maintained that art and architecture are the expression of human creativity and it cannot be classified into divisions like Hindu architecture/Rajput architecture/Muslim architecture and so on. She stressed that in creative human enterprise, such types of classifications did not exist.