Mughalnama
The Peepul Press
Lahore, 2026
Display at The Peepul Press for Mughalnama, curated by Saher Sohail
Drawings across 900 km - Navsari to Uch
Dimensions: 5.8” x 8 “ and 11” in width when open
Materials: Graphite, watercolour and colour pencils on mulberry paper
Kusti-making implements on loan to the artist
Materials: Wood and woollen thread. Assembly of wooden tools can be up to 26” in width
River Indus to the east of Uch through satellirie imagery
Boomla (Bombay duck) drying at the coast of Nargol
Priestly robesH.J. Rustomjee’s Freemason’s apronHorse hoof
Horse carrying scrolls and manuscripts
Mughalnama was curated by Saher Sohail as part of the Lahore Bienniale Foundation
“The Thing Is: Expanding Curatorial Proficiency
“
supported by The British Council
Photography by Anum Peerzada
The notebook for Mughalnama is titled “
Drawings across 900 km - Navsari to Uch
“ which chronicles snippets of imaginary and historical travel and exchange across waterways
“Taking loose references from sacred chords as lines, this work-in-process attempts to find cohesiveness
between objects and forgotten pathways. From the lines drawn in manuscripts for diagrams and text, to
the lines on maps used as cartographic tools signaling demarcations in expanses of water and land, the
need to draw lines can be seen as a documentation of human record building.
In matters of faith or religion the lines we bind around ourselves tighten the universe’s grasp on us. One
such line is the kusti (sometimes pronounced kushti or kasti) which is a rope woven from seventy-two
strands of wool, and functions in the Zoroastrian religion not only as an implement to connect the wearer
with forces out of the physical world, but also as a mnemonic device. It is a soft, yet tactile line, digging at
the waist, binding body and prayer into a tightened geography. The kusti is one of the many implements
Dastur Meherjirana, a high priest from Navsari had to explain in detail to the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Rarely do we understand the anatomy of objects without seeing the tools used to make them.
Here lie a
few kusti making tools used by a Parsi lady who hailed from Navsari. These wooden objects and their
drawings on Mulberry paper correspond directly from ritualistic texts such as the Vendidad which discuss
a compendium of do’s and don’ts.
But beyond these facts, the work also traces all the way back to a pre-Mughal account of the 10th
century, where one of the oldest Zoroastrian manuscripts of the Vendidad was exchanged across the
banks of the River Indus near Uch Sharif, a location shaped by riverine trade and spiritual crossings.
These motivations behind travel and exchange, to physically share ritualistic objects and manuscripts,
furry linearity and expected pathways. So far, these works suggest that sometimes we rush to simplify
history to make stories easily understood, erasing complexities whilst hastening towards making
chronologies..”