Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

Jigsaws In A Painting

Image
Kishore Singh BUSINESS STANDARD
Last Updated : Jan 28 2013 | 1:46 AM IST

THE MINIATURIST

Kunal Basu

Penguin

Pages: 245

Price: Rs 250

More From This Section

The rich fount of history, tradition and myth in India, which should be the basis for so much literature, has rarely been exploited, beyond the angst of recent writings that go back to remembered memories circa the Raj or, increasingly, Partition.

There have been attempts at parochially defined areas of interest, chiefly about communities, or cultures, but rarely has the tapestry of tales been allowed to encounter more ancient lives.

Thankfully, Kunal Basu seems ready to tread that path, having moved his protagonist from opium babu in his first book, The Opium Clerk, to a painter of miniatures in the Mughal court of Akbar.

The choice is entirely enviable: a court painter would have access to the rich and powerful, be cognisant of social mores, expected to participate in the gossip that enlightened the smoky lanes outside the ramparts of the Mughal forts, and in the role of the illustrator-scribe, be both insider and outsider privy to intrigue, strategy and information

Also Read

First Published: Apr 07 2003 | 12:00 AM IST

Next Story