Fisher woman of my Mohenjo

Fisher woman of my Mohenjo-daro
Jamil Naqsh
Edited by Sobia Naqsh
Director | Jamil Naqsh Museum

Foreword
When I asked Jamil Naqsh why he named this collection of paintings ‘Fisher Woman of my Mohenjo-daro’, his answer
took him back to the mid 1960s to one of the visits to Pakistan by the renowned archaeologist, Sir Mortimer Wheeler.
Naqsh was a young man then, and their paths crossed at the Karachi Press Club. He asked Sir Mortimer Wheeler
why the famous bronze figurine excavated in Mohenjo-daro was called the ‘Dancing Girl’ of Mohnejo-daro? Did it
represent a dancing girl? Wheeler’s response was, ‘It is YOUR Mohenjo-daro, so what do YOU want to call her?’
Naqsh remained silent then, but it is obvious that the question stayed with him. From time to time symbols of
the Indus Valley civilization popped up inexplicably in his work—sometimes a figure with ancient features,
sometimes a fish, a bull or images of seals.
This collection titled ‘Fisher Woman of MY Mohenjo-daro’ answers it all. In his mind’s eye, the figure was
erroneously named ‘dancing girl’. She was a fisher woman!
So, Naqsh has responded to Wheeler half a century later. She is indeed a Fisher Woman of HIS Mohenjo-daro.
This collection of paintings is a tribute to her and an apology to the forgotten fisher women of that ancient urban civilization.
Sobia Naqsh
Director
Jamil Naqsh Museum

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The Indus Civilisation (ca. 2600 - 1900 BC)
Daniela De Simone | The British Museum
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“Not often has it been to archaeologists, as it was given to
Schliemann at Tiryns and Mycenae, or to Stein in the deserts
of Turkestan, to light upon the remains of a long-forgotten
civilisation. It looks, however, at this moment, as if we were
on the threshold of such a discovery in the plains of the
Indus.”
It is with these words that Sir John Marshall, Director
General of the Archaeological Survey of India, announced the
discovery of the Indus Civilisation at the sites of Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro (present day Pakistan) in the pages of the
Illustrated London News on 20th September 1924.
The Indus Civilisation developed on the fertile plains of the
Indus River in Pakistan and the adjacent areas of northwestern
India in ca. 2600-1900 BC (Fig. 1). The Indus
Civilisation was one of the earliest urban societies: Indus cities
were meticulously planned and had complex water supply
networks and advanced sanitation systems (Fig. 2). Massive
walls and imposing gateways made of bricks or stone were
built around cities. Clusters of houses or public buildings
were built close together to form larger blocks separated from
each other by wide streets. Houses were arranged around an
inner courtyard and opened on narrow lanes, and many of
them had bathing areas and latrines.
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
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Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6
Fig. 7 Fig. 8
The Indus people did not build monumental structures, and
there is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples.
However, a number of public buildings were discovered at
different sites across the Indus region, such as the Great Bath
of Mohenjo-daro (Fig. 3), a water tank (14.5x7 m large and
2.4 m deep), which might have been reserved for ritual
bathing. In terms of political organisation, the archaeological
record does not offer any indication. There are no
representations of any kind of ruler, and no evidence of royal
compounds. Indus seals are the most characteristic artefacts
produced by the Indus people. They are square in shape
(ca. 3 cm on each side), and are made of soapstone. The seals
have a single-line inscription on the top and are carved with an
animal in the central part. Although the Indus script has yet to
be deciphered, about 200 simple signs and 200 composite ones
have been identified. The fish sign , for example, is one of the
most common. Scholars have suggested that the sign
represents the word for ‘star’ as in all Dravidian (South
Indian) languages, the word ‘meen’ means both ‘fish’ and
‘star’. Stars might have been perceived as deities by the Indus
people, who probably pictured them as fish swimming in the
ocean of heaven. The animals depicted on the seals include
both domestic and wild animals, including the Indus ‘unicorn’
(Fig. 4) – a bull seen in profile –, which is the most common
animal represented on these objects. Other animals include
gaurs (Indian bison; Fig. 5), zebus (humped bulls; Fig. 6),
elephants (Fig. 7) and rhinoceroses (Fig. 8). The animals
carved on the seals might have represented ruling clans or
trading guilds. It is likely that Indus seals were used for trade
and administration purposes.

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Fig. 9
Excavations in the Indus region have yielded a very large
number of terracotta figurines. This abundance suggests they
may have been used in both domestic and public spheres, and
they may have been involved in rituals. Human female figurines
were handmade and decorated with appliquéd ornaments,
including earrings, necklaces, bangles, and multi-stringed belts.
They often have elaborate coiffures – the fan-shaped headdress
is the most characteristic (Fig. 9). Domestic and wild animal
figurines were also common, including bulls (Fig. 10), humped
bulls (Fig. 11), elephants and rhinoceroses. Although elephants
and rhinoceroses do not inhabit the Indus Valley any longer,
bones of the animals have been found at different sites,
representing evidence of drastic climate change.
In the 3rd millennium BC, Middle Asia – the region stretching
between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, and Central Asia
and Southern Arabia – was an area of intense exchange (Fig.12).
Indus merchants established a structured network of
long-distance exchange across Middle Asia, and developed
strong relations with Mesopotamia. An inscription of Sargon of
Akkad (ca. 2334–2279 BC) records that ships from Dilmun
(Bahrain), Magan (Oman and the Makran Coast), and Meluhha
(the Indus region) docked at the quay of his capital, Akkad.
Archaeological and textual records indicate that Mesopotamia
imported from the Indus region luxury goods – such as
semiprecious stone beads – to satisfy the desires of its elites. It
is still unclear, however, what the Indus merchants were
exchanging their goods for. It is likely that transactions were
conducted through a common barter system.
Round, stone stamp seals that have been in use in the Arabian
Peninsula between the end of the 3rd and the beginning of the
2nd millennium BC are known as ‘Gulf seals’. A number of them
are carved with a short Indus inscription and the depiction of the
distinctive gaur – or Indian bison – that is commonly found on
Indus seals (Fig. 13). The gaur might have

Fig. 10 Fig. 11
represented the community of Indus merchants operating in
the area. The decline of the Indus Civilisation started in
ca. 1900 BC, and by ca. 1700 BC the majority of cities had been
abandoned. Aridification of the Indus region, which was most
probably triggered by climate change, is currently considered
as the main cause of such a decline.
Fig. 1 Sites distribution of the Indus Civilisation (Singh 2008) Fig.
2 Satellite view of Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan) © Google Earth Fig.
3 The Great Bath, Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan) (Kenoyer 1998)
Fig. 4 ‘Unicorn’ seal from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00345740001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 5 Gaur (or Indian bison) seal from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00921727001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 6 Zebu (or humped bull) seal from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00266458001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 7 Elephant seal from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00345743001) © The Trustees of the British Museum Fig. 8
Rhinoceros seal from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00031575001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 9 Terracotta figurines of human females from Mohenjo-daro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00035448001) © The Trustees of the British
Museum Fig.10 Terracotta figurine of bull from Harappa (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 00301039001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 11 Terracotta figurine of zebu (or humped bull) from Mohenjodaro (Pakistan), The British Museum (ID 01613329277) © The Trustees
of the British Museum Fig. 12 ‘Gulf seal’ carved with gaur – or Indian bison – and short Indus inscription from Ur (Iraq),
The British Museum (ID 01416971001) © The Trustees of the British Museum
Fig. 13 Long-distance trade routes across Middle Asia (Singh 2008)

Fig. 12
Bibliography
Coningham, R.A.E. (2002). ‘Deciphering the Indus Script’, in S. Settar and
R. Korrisettar (eds.), Indian Archaeology in Retrospect, pp. 81-104. New Delhi:
Indian Council of Historical Research.
Kenoyer, J.M. (1998). Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization. Karachi:
Oxford University Press.
Laursen, S. and P. Steinkeller (2017). Babylonia, the Gulf Region and the Indus:
Archaeological and Textual Evidence for Contact in the Third and Early Second
Millennia BC. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns.
Marshall, J. (1924). ‘First Light on a Long-forgotten Civilisation: New Discoveries of
an Unknown Prehistoric Past in India’, in The Illustrated London News
(20/09/1924), pp. 428-432.
McIntosh, J.R. (2008). The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives.
Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Parpola, A. (1994). Deciphering the Indus Script. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Possehl, G.L. (2002). The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Fig. 13
Creek: AltaMira.
Ratnagar, S. (1991). Enquiries into the Political Organization of Harappan Society.
Pune: Ravish.
Singh, U. (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone
Age to the 12th Century. New Delhi: Pearson Longman.
Vidale, M. (2005). ‘The Short-Horned Bull on the Indus Seals: A Symbol of the
Families in the Western Trade?’, in U. Franke-Vogt and H.-J.
Weisshaar (eds.) South Asian Archaeology 2003, pp. 147-158. Aachen: Linden Soft.

Jamil Naqsh | Echoes
Edward Lucie-Smith | Art Historian, Author and Critic
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The way in which what is extremely ancient resonates within
the best and most characteristic art being created right now is
something that has always fascinated me. In fact, I got into art
criticism seventy years ago, because I was a teenage antiquity
collector, using my pocket money to buy bits and pieces from
antiquity sellers in London’s famed Portobello Market. Even
then, I was mirroring the pattern set for me by collectors very
much senior to myself. Ever since what we now call Modern
art came into existence, more than a hundred years ago, in the
earliest years of the 20th century, the very old and the very
new have gone hand in hand.
One step up from the Portobello, I used to run errands for and
buy inexpensive treasures from London’s best- known antiquity
dealer of the immediately post-war period. He had a little shop at
the other end of the street where I then lived. A client of his,
whom I met there, was the great sculptor Jacob Epstein. It also so
happened that this dealer was one of the first to sell work by
Francis Bacon, long before Bacon was represented by the
Marlborough Gallery. It is therefore no surprise that Jamil
Naqsh’s recent work seems to speak so directly and
personally to me.
Great changes have taken place in our knowledge about the
ancient world since I first encountered archaeological
research and scholarship. Equally great changes have taken
place in the world of contemporary art. In both cases, one of
the most important changes is that our range of knowledge
has vastly increased. Our knowledge of ancient cultures has
become plural. In our response to contemporary art,
pluralism also prevails. It is no longer possible to devise a
Modernist and Post-Modernist storyline that narrates a single
unified line of development. Although, it must be said, many
Western commentators on new developments in art still seem
to feel a nostalgia for this – with Western ideas and values
remaining fully in charge.

Jamil Naqsh is an important figure in this complex development.
Born in Uttar Pradesh, from a Muslim family, he was forced by the
post-war partition of the Indian subcontinent to take refuge in newly
created Pakistan.
There he studied both in an art school that followed an essentially
European curriculum, and also under a master who followed the
traditions of Mughal miniature painting. Like many young Indian and
Pakistani artists of his generation, he kept in touch with European
post-war developments through the art books and catalogues
illustrated in full colour which were at that time becoming
internationally available. He became one of the major contemporary
artists in post-Partition Pakistani.
There is a gallery in his name that flourishes in Karachi. Eventually,
however, he made the decision to move to London, away from the
conflicts of the sub-continent. He now lives there as a recluse, happy
to be able to devote himself fully to his art, without outside
distractions. Modern technology – television and the internet –
enable him to remain fully in touch with the contemporary world.
The major series of new paintings in this exhibition the complex.
interaction in his work of both choices. More perhaps than most artists,
simple his complex cultural background and equally personal history
which has from time to time put him at the m events over which
he could exercise no control to consider the impact of an often
remote pas remaining firmly committed to the idea of ma
intrinsically modern.
The paintings in this show are best described works, moving
towards abstraction. The degree able figuration seems to diminish as
the series pro images are deliberately fragmented, just like o relationship
to the distant past, which we can only imperfectly, in shattered fragments.
The main inspiration for the series is the famous Mohenjo-daro site,
located west of the Indus River in District, Sindh.

the largest cities of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization.
Forgotten for more than 3500 years, but extensively excavated
since the mid-1920s, the site offers proof that Pakistan was at a
very remote epoch in possession of a complex urban culture.
The paintings do not, however, insist on a single set of cultural
references. There is instead a whole network of other images,
which often seen to appear then disappear again as you look.
There are references to cultures even more remote from us
than that of Mohenjo-daro – for example to Palaeolithic
graffiti. There are references to European classical antiquity,
and to the neo-classicism of J.-L David and Ingres. Perhaps
also to the classical phases of Renoir and Picasso.
There are still-lifes featuring fish, and at least one
painting whose main image is a zebu, filling the whole of
the picture-space. Zebu cattle exist today, sometimes in
miniature form, but they are thought to be derived from
the much larger pre-historic Indian aurochs, which
became extinct during the time of the Indus Valley
civilization, and possibly because of its rise.
The more closely you examine these compositions,
the richer the range of cultural reference becomes.
In this sense Jamil Naqsh’s new paintings are extremely
modern, in a very comprehensive sense of that much-abused
and much misused adjective. They remind us that, wherever
we actually come from, we live in an echo chamber, and that
the resonances become increasingly complex and intense as
we moved towards whatever the future may have in store for
us. A citizen of the world, content to remain enclosed in his
studio, Jamil Naqsh may be more keenly aware of that than
we are ourselves. His paintings bring us face to face with this
realisation, but slyly, cunningly hold just a little bit back. We
have to do more than just look – we have to become part of
the work, through the act of looking.

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