21 * 23 MARCH 2001
IVRY-SUR-SEINE, FRANCE
Patronage in Indo-Persian Culture
The purpose of this workshop was to bring together research that has hitherto been conducted in isolation and engage the researchers in a more general and interactive discussion. While insisting on the historical specificity of the context under discussion, the workshop tried to extend the conventional, ahistorical approach which is, moreover, mainly confined to the plastic arts. The workshop dealt with topics ranging from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries - a crucial period in the history of Asia, when a cultural complex with an Indo-Persian identity developed in the South Asian Subcontinent, Central Asia and the Iran plateau.
* By FRANÇOISE 'NALINI' DELVOYE
The focus of the workshop 'Patronage in Indo-Persian Culture' was not specifically on patronage itself; it was rather intended as an entry point into the larger question of the making of Indo-Persian culture, which in fact incorporates a study of a shared heritage of a large part of the regions of Central Asia, Iran, and the South Asian Subcontinent. The workshop concentrated on the contribution of patronage to the production, maintenance, and, above all, integration of Persian cultural values into the value-systems of a vast number of people living inside and outside the Subcontinent. Patronage is an historical condition for the production of culture in various domains.
The political elites who were attracted to the Subcontinent and brought along literati and artists not only established political and cultural power in the areas they took under their control, but also introduced familiar customs from their homeland and endeavoured to integrate these into the social and cultural patterns of the areas in which they settled. With the introduction of material products into the areas of settlement, many ideas and institutions articulated through the Persian language and cultural matrix became part of local culture, as well.
The detailed study of the various sub-processes benefited greatly from the interaction between eight South Asian, nine European, and two North American scholars who specialize in history, literature, fine arts, architecture, music, and material culture of India, Iran, Turan, and Central Asia. While confirming the importance of patronage as a fundamental phenomenon in South Asian culture, this workshop created good conditions for dialogue between specialists working in different parts of the world. It also raised seminal questions concerning the dissemination and maintenance of cultural values in a large geographical and historical space, and inspired further work in this direction.
The first day of the workshop was dedicated to 'Historical and Religious Texts and Institutions'. The inaugural session was chaired by Maria Szuppe (CNRS, Monde Iranien). At the opening of the workshop, the directors of the main organizing institutions, Bernard Hourcade (Monde Iranien) and Marc Gaborieau (CEIAS) retraced the history of recent Indo-Persian studies in France starting fifteen years ago and surveyed the three previous Indo-Persian conferences held in Paris in 1992, 1993 and in New Delhi in 1994. Their proceedings have already been published. Regrettably, Muzaffar Alam, who was one of the initiators from India, was unexpectedly absent. The afternoon session of the first day was chaired by Baber Johansen (EHESS, Paris) and four papers were presented. The second day was dedicated to 'Persian and the Indian Context'. The morning session was chaired by Hosseyn Esmaïli, (Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, INALCO, Paris), in which three papers were presented, and the afternoon session was chaired by John Richards (Duke University), with four papers presented.
On the last day of the workshop, dedicated to 'Painting, Architecture and Material Culture', three papers, illustrated by slides, were presented in the morning session chaired by Marc Gaborieau, and in the afternoon session, chaired by Sanjay Subrahmanyam (EHESS), three papers were presented.
A general debate and conclusion summed up the fruitful discussions following each paper and stressed the fact that, in spite of the enormous range of fields and the variety of topics covered during the workshop, there was so much congruence and unity that this kind of international meeting should be organized again. The historical approach in many of the papers and in the debates was provocative and intriguing enough to inspire further work on Indo-Persian and Indo-Turanian culture. Some participants suggested that the larger Indo-Persian world should be taken into account as well. One observer and some participants noted the lack of papers on the patronage of scientific culture, which was not a deliberate omission.
As a testimony to the living tradition - though in exile - of Indo-Persian music, the renowned rabab player, Ustad Atai, and the young singer Parwiz Ahmad performed in an Afghan concert, accompanied by the Indian tabla player, Prabhu Edouard. The concert was held at the residence of a Parisian patron of arts and was followed by an Afghan dinner.
Follow-up
For a follow-up workshop, participants and observers suggested a consideration of Indo-Persian culture in a wider sense, including topics such as: the Indian influence on Persian culture; Indo-Persian patronage of regional cultures; the relationship between patronage and taste; and the development of taste in the discourse of patronage in interaction with existing aesthetic paradigms. If a website is considered an effective medium for information on current work dealing with Indo-Persian culture and scholarly contacts, volunteers are welcome to think of such a 'meeting place' to serve until the next workshop.
Publication of the proceedings is being undertaken by Yves Porter, main editor, with the assistance of Sunil Kumar, who will assemble the papers by Indian participants.
This workshop was organized by two research centres of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 'Monde Iranien', and the 'Centre d'Etudes de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud' (CEIAS), Paris. The Asia Committee of the European Science Foundation, the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University Paris III Sorbonne Nouvelle, and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme had sponsored the three-day event. The initiators in India were Muzaffar Alam (Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, JNU, New Delhi) and Sunil Kumar (Dept. of History, Delhi University), and in France, Françoise 'Nalini' Delvoye (EPHE IVe Section and CEIAS, Paris), Francis Richard (Bibliothèque nationale de France and Monde Iranien, Paris), and Yves Porter (Aix-Marseille University and Monde Iranien, Paris). *
Dr Françoise 'Nalini' Delvoye, one of the co-ordinators of the workshop, is Associate Professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (IVth Section) and attached to the Centre d'Etudes de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud, Paris.
E-mail: delvoye@ehess.fr