Did Mughals have dwarf trees grown in containers?

I was looking at the photos of the Rare Book Society of India Facebook page and came across this one. It is a detail of a gouache painting on paper, Bundi style, Rajasthan school, early 18th century (Copyright Trustees of the British Museum). The plant growing in a container with feet is surprisingly similar to bonsai. Did such plants really exist in Mughal India or this plant was simply imagined by the artist?

More of bonsai in Chennai

Last year, during my trip to India I was lucky to get a glimpse of the Chennai bonsai scene. I attended a monthly meeting of Bodhi Bonsai Association and saw bonsai collections of two club members.

I am back to India this moth and just attended another meeting of Bodhi Bonsai. It was good to be with this group again. It is the only bonsai club in a city of 20 million and their membership is growing steadily. This time another club member invited me to see his bonsai collection (images above and below). I was overwhelmed by a variety of tropical plants. Just like last time I was impressed by fig trees, but this collection also featured impressive Adeniums and Jades among many others (images blow).

Plant choice for bonsai: Sentiment vs suitability

India is an ancient civilization and in the course of its long history many plants acquired deep cultural significance. Some of them are loved as food, some for their medicinal properties and some for their religious significance. In an individual this significance manifests as sentiments towards certain plants. To an Indian bonsai grower plant’s sentimental value often has a stronger appeal than its suitability for bonsai. A good outcome is possible only when sentiment and suitability coincide. Peepal Tree (Ficus religiosa) is a good example of that (top left picture). This tree is worshiped in temples, its seedlings grow on top of almost every builing in Chennai and it is a great tree for bonsai. In fact, bonsai trees which impressed me the most in Chennai were figs. Some of them are shown in photos above and below.

Bonsai soil for Chennai climate

The soil used for bonsai in Chennai is very different from what we use in Australia. It is a mixture of red clay, sand and cow manure. Some growers add broken low-fired red brick for better drainage. The sand used in the mix is rather small grain, like the one used for mixing concrete. While we in Australia make our soil mix for drainage, they in India make their soil for water retention. The climate in Chennai can be very hot and dry. Never the less, bonsai growers in Chennai complain that their trees grow too fast! Needless to say, clay and manure provide their plants with ample nutrients. High temperatures all year round don’t allow the soil to be saturated with water for too long, especially in a shallow container. I also think that native plants of Tamil Nadu are adapted to waterlogged soil during monsoon and very dry soil in summer. The soil is too sticky when wet and for repotting they use dry soil mix (see image below).

Bonsai containers in Chennai, India

It seems that in India there is only one ceramic artist who makes bonsai pots. His name is B.R. Pandit and his studio is at Bhayandar, Maharashtra. In the bonsai community his pots are referred to as ‘Pandit pots’. These pots demonstrate sound craftsmanship and mostly inspired by more ornate Chinese examples. Chinese aesthetics probably appeal to the artist and bonsai growers due to cultural proximity to China. Some examples of Pandit pots are shown in the image below.

Another type of containers I saw used for bonsai is Jaipur Blue Pottery (see pictures below). They are low-fired pots made of white clay and decorated predominantly with cobalt and copper oxides. If someone made them in stoneware and added feet, they would make a beautiful native style of bonsai pots.

Most commonly bonsai and bonsai material are grown in terracotta pots. They are hand-made, unglazed, low-fired flower pots, which sometimes come as shallow planters without feet. They are very unpretentious and sometimes slightly crooked. Old terracotta pots develop a patina of dirt and algae and can look quite wabi sabi (see image below).

Of course, I should mention that a lot of bonsai in Chennai are grown in containers imported from China. Chennai, however, doesn’t have a shop where you can buy them. Bonsai pots are ordered from Bombay or Kerala and buyers have to bear the cost of brakeage during transportation. Apparently, they are transported on the roofs of passenger buses and the brakeage is quite high. As a result of all this, bonsai growers in Chennai have a limited choice of containers.

Bonsai garden at Semmozhi Poonga park

Semmozhi Poonga is a paid entrance park in Chennai. It is run by the Tamil Nadu Directorate of Horticulture and Plantation Crops and it features a bonsai garden. Most of the trees are Ficus microcarpa imported from China. Among them there are trees in containers that are about five years old (see picture above) and trees planted in the ground which are about 40 years old (see picture below). The majority of the potted plants were in local unglazed terracotta containers without feet. I felt that this garden is that it’s bedraggled.

Bharani jars from Kerala

Dakshinachitra is an open air museum of traditional South Indian architecture. Traditional houses displayed there also feature traditional household items. In a traditional Hindu house from the South Indian state of Kerala I saw interesting earthenware jars. Unlike the unglazed Indian terracotta ware used for cooking, these jars were glazed earthenware (see the picture). Later, I learned that in Kerala these jars are called Cheena Bharani because they were originally made in China for transporting preserved foods. Bharani jars would regularly end up in Kerala through maritime trade, where they were used for preparation and storage of Indian style pickles. To me, these jars emanate what Japanese call wabi. It was interesting to see three different traditional glazes and a very unintentional partial glazing used on the leftmost jar.

Cholamandal Artists' Village

Yesterday, I visited Cholamandal Artists' Village. Fifteen years ago, I met some of the village’s artists and visited their studios through my work. This time, I am just a tourist visiting their art gallery. Some of the art displayed there was of outstanding quality. One artist’s work caught my eye because it had a striking resemblance to suiseki or bonkei. They were ink drawings by K. R. Harie produced in 2009 (see pictures above and below).

Mahabalipuram

Yesterday, visited the town of Mahabalipuram about 60 km from Chennai. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of the monolithic monuments built in the 7-9th centuries. Stone carving has been a traditional craft in this area for two thousand years. This time, I spent some time observing the work of the stone carvers. Everything except the finishing touches with a pointed chisel (picture “A” above) is done by power tools. First they shape a block of granite for a particular sculpture, by making parallel cuts (picture “B” above) with a diamond blade on an angled grinder. After that all major carving is done by the angled grinders (marked 3 in the picture below) and each artist goes through one or two blades per day. All finer carving is done with diamond bids marked 1 and 2 in the picture below. The bid marked 2 lasts only for 2-3 days, while the bid marked 3 may last for up to two weeks.

 

Despite of the use of power tools each sculpture takes an amazingly long time to make. For example, picture “A” below shows a sculpture which has been worked on for one and a half months. And those people work long hours. Picture “B” below shows a stature that’s been worked on for at least three months and there is still a lot of finishing work to be done.