Jesus! Christ, with a twist of Islam in Iran

Have you ever thought of the Virgin Mary wearing a maang tikka? This 12-painting series 'Issanama' or 'Life of Christ' by miniature artist Manish Soni attempts to do just that — present Jesus in the Iranian and Indian context.

Being displayed in Goa, the Issanama series opens with the 'Birth of Christ' painting in Iran and not Bethlehem. However, instead of plebeian Israelite robes, Joseph wears a turban and an opaque jama revealing his pair of bright, orange pyjamas underneath, while Mary adorns a maang tikka, an opaque veil, necklaces and bangles, and the cherubic baby Jesus is swaddled in a red blanket. In place of a hay-zone manger and sleepy cattle, they're in a craggy cave. Clustered on the left are three kings or the 'maji' in single-feather turbans, veil headgear, long robes in floral motifs secured by a pataka (waist band). Looming in the distance is a city in Iranian architecture – citadels, palace, domes, patterned walls, arches, roofs, tiles, and jaalis, all compositionally challenged.

The folios are largely inspired by the 1,577 Persian-style, 46-volume 48,000-page Hamzanama or 'Epic of Amir Humza', Prophet Mohammad's uncle. Mughal, Rajput, Pahari and Safavid miniatures schools of painting form peripheral influences. The Issanama series currently stand among other Indianised works of Christian iconographies by Goa's sons of soil – Angelo da Foncesa, Vishwanath Nageshkar and Charles Correa at the 17-century Church of Santa Monica, part of the larger exhibition 'Sacred Everyday' by culture-theorist Ranjit Hoskote and a major highlight of the Serendipity Arts Festival 2018, Panjim, Goa. The exhibition is on till January 15, 2019, and is about “…the interrelationship between the domain of the divine, iconic, cosmic and sublime on the one hand, and the realm of the human, intimate, domestic and quotidian on the other…” reads Hoskote’s wall-text.

No priests and pious laity have opposed this 'Islamicising of Christian narratives, but have appreciated it immensely', says Soni's patron, Paul Abraham, COO of Indusland Bank, who also runs a self-funded museum and archival space, Sarmaya.

Soni, from Bhilwara, Rajasthan, and grandchild of the illustrious Badri Lal Chitrakar, used a squirrel hair brush and a nine-colour natural palette derived from soot, granite, indigo, etc., highlighted with gold burnished from a plate using a never-eroding agate chip. Soni had never painted Christian themes, till Abraham approached him two years ago. This forged a flurry of exchange about the Jesus's life story, readings of passages from the Bible, discussions about the class, dress and lifestyle milieu then, how the paintings must not glorify Christ as just the 'Son of God' but of a man who walked among the beggars and lepers. "It began with the thought why can't there be an eastern visual narrative of Christian iconography? While Raja Ravi Verma's large scale stylistic portraiture lend a grand depiction, I wanted something far more intimate. I came across the Hamzanama, whose stories are a syncretic mix from Iran, Turkey and India, but all visualised in India," says Abraham, who points that humble appearances are typical of Pahadi miniature style, which Soni has followed as opposed to showcasing rich finery and opulent lifestyle, indicative of royal patrons like Jehangir and Akbar doing the talking. "Now Soni wants to do a second rendering of 'The Birth of Christ' after he completes the remaining 12 milestones of Christ's life, for a complete 24-part series. He now understands the gravitas and joy of the moment, instead of three people [the maji] visiting baby Jesus, and wants to redo the ambience that he finds quite stark," says Abraham.