Islamic Art at a rural Fair

Until the late 80s, these posters were quite commonly seen in Muslim homes.

The calendars depicting Islamic art like photograph of Sherwani-clad boy with a Turkish cap reading the Holy Quran were visible in households.

I even remember seeing posters showing 'Sufis' with halo around their heads. And some photographs which you weren't exactly comfortable with (like the ones showing miracles or wild imaginary faces of Sufis).

But they all started disappearing in the 90s. I think these posters vanished from houses and shops of Muslims just the same way as photos of freedom fighters across India.

In the past photos of Gandhi, Chandrashekar Azad, Subhas Chandra Bose were a common sight in homes, shops and offices. But all that started changing from mid-80s when the film stars replaced them.
Probably urban upwardly mobile Indians didn't find them chic enough to put up in the drawing rooms.

Recently in a rural fare I was surprised to see many such shops selling 'Islamic art'. Seems there is still a market for this kind of art though the variety is less. Some of these posters have a unique old charm.

Yousuf Saeed has created an excellent site where you can see some of these beautiful posters.
Click on the photos on the site to see them in full size.

As far as thumbnails above: The first of these four photos shows an interesting encounter between a Muslim Sufi, who visits a Hindu yogi on the latter's invitation. That's Indian secularism at its best!!!

The second photo shows a woman praying, the third is an imaginary photo of the meeting of five great Sufi Saints and the last is photo of the scene of Karbala. One must see the photos in full size at Saeed Sahab's website along with their description.

Check more photos at Tasweer Ghar. That's a tremendous site and has links to Hindu art also.