Sindh takes its name from the mighty Sindhu or Indus river that flows
through it. Today it forms the southernmost province of Pakistan and is
bounded by Balochistan and the Punjab to the west and north and to the
east by the modern day Indian provinces of Rajasthan and Gujerat. To
the south is the Arabian Sea providing Pakistan with its essential sea
routes to the rest of the world. The British engagement with Sindh
came surprisingly late in comparison with other parts of the Indian
Subcontinent - it was not until the end of the 18th Century, prompted by
concerns of a possible invasion of India from the northwest, that the
East India Company turned its attention to what was then a rather
inhospitable and politically unstable area. Suddenly it became of vital
strategic importance to the British culminating in the annexation of the
province in 1843.
With the new interest in Sindh at the end of the 18th Century came the
necessity to obtain vital information about the country. Given the
inhospitable terrain of the area it is hardly surprising that none of the
great landscape painters like William Hodges and Daniells had
ventured into Sindh to record the scenery, despite its ancient and
intriguing history. But many British government officials - particularly
army officers - were trained in the recently developed art of
watercolour painting - and they were ideally suited to record on paper a
visual image of the places they were sent to in Sindh from the early 19th
Century onwards.
Rosemary Raza's most impressive book looks, in accurate detail, at the
encounter of the British with Sindh and the way that its people, the
scenery and the splendid historic monuments were recorded. London is
the primary place for archival material of British India and particularly
for drawings and watercolours held in various collections - chiefly that
of the British Library but also other smaller collections residing in key
institutions in the city. She has exhaustively researched all the
surviving material held in these institutions and supplemented them
with further material presently in private hands. The book is lavishly
illustrated both in colour and black and white and the publication by
Marg is as impressive as we have come to expect from this publication
house - it is well laid out, the type script is clear and the illustrations
accurate.
So often today images reproduced in art books bear no relationship to
the colouring of the originals - here fortunately they are excellent. The
author has arranged the book chronologically - early nineteenth century
views by artists like Robert Grindlay - the founder of Grindlays Bank -
are scarce. The really impressive works are discussed and illustrated in
the second and third chapters. During the 1830s Sindh was seen as vital
in the defence of British India resulting in the invasion of Afghanistan
in 1838 and the disastrous British retreat from Kabul in 1842. Several
of the officers who served in the campaign made delightful drawings of
the scenes they visited and several of these were used to illustrate
accounts of the campaign. James Atkinson's Sketches in Afghaunistan,
the illustrations lithographed by Louis and Charles Haghe and
published in 1842, is magnificent. The subsequent battles in Sindh and
the annexation of the country a year later was similarly recorded.
In the following years professional artists like the brilliant Austro-
Hungarian Rudolf Swaboda painted an officer in the Scinde Irregular
Horse for Ackermarm's Indian Military Portraits. In 1843 General Sir
Charles Napier was made Governor of Sindh and his primary aim was
the pacification of the province and particularly the rebellious northern
areas. But Sindh had to wait until the 1850s for any real development.
Napier's successor - Bartle Frere initiated the development of roads,
canals, the building of Karachi harbour and the railway link between
Karachi and Kothi allowing easy access for British civilians into the
province for the first time. A number of amateur civilian artists - some
better than others - made their way to Sindh in this period. Some thirty
years ago a splendid large album of sepia wash drawings of scenes of
the great historic cities situated along the Indus passed through my
hands. When I acquired the album the artist of these accomplished
drawings was unidentified but I was able to ascertain that he was John
Le Mesurier - a highly talented amateur. My album is now in the India
Office collection at the British Library for all to study. The book finally
considers early photography in Sindh starting with those of
architectural importance by pioneering photographers like Captain
Houghton from the late 1850s and also fascinating scenes of life in
Karachi in the 1870s by Michie and Co. Some of the late illustrated
books relating to the province are discussed in some detail. Sindh was
always famous for its textiles, the glazed turquoise and white pottery
of Multan, the elegant tiles of Tatta and jewellery. These were
extensively recorded in numerous books written around the turn of the
19th/20th Century - perhaps the most important of which for modern
studies is The Journal of Indian Art and Industry published by the
Cambridge University Library in 1909.
Whatever ones' views are on the British involvement in the Indian
Subcontinent, no one can deny the importance of the visual records left
by the British and that is as true for Sindh as it is for any other part of
India and Pakistan. Were it not for the British obsession with creating
records we would have no images of this fascinating part of the world
and the author deserves nothing but the highest praise for bringing
these images to light for us all to enjoy. I cannot recommend more
highly this thoroughly interesting and readable book.
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