Bagh-e Hind is a multisensory exhibition conceptualised around the olfactory landscape of Mughal South Asia (S.A).

Launched in 2021 as a digital exhibition, it's a collaboration between art critic & perfumer Bharti Lalwani (Pune) and historian & literary scholar Nicolas Roth (USA). Nicolas, a specialist in Mughal-era horticultural writings, made selections of five paintings depicting 17 & 18 century garden scenes that Bharti translated into elements of synesthesia – fragrance, edible perfumeTM, tea & incense, among others.

The exhibition takes viewers into historic gardens of abundance & beauty by reuniting sensual, botanical, musical & intellectual culture of the time that enriches the experience of South Asian art & art history, like never before. Garden paintings which, while in the public domain as part of digitised collections of institutions outside S.A., are rarely displayed and have not been shown together, much less contextualised with scent, botany, literature, flavour and sound, all at once. They highlight how artists depicted flowers based on garden traditions, beliefs, seasons, scent & colour, in order to stage a scene.
At Tomorrow Isn’t Promised for LBF (03) 2024 the chapter on Smoke, as painted in the standard Shab-i Barat or Diwali scenes, will be shown. Much like for Diwali, lighting oil lamps, sparklers & fireworks are central to the way Shab-i Barat was celebrated, so the conventions associated with the representation of the two festivals in 17th &18th-century paintings can be interchangeable. As Nic explains, “Iranian traditions associated with Shab-i Barat – which may have still been followed by immigrants & Persianized elites in S.A. in the 18th century, especially in places like Avadh and Hyderabad – also involve burning of isfand or wild rue (Peganum harmala). ⏰ Conversation : 5.00 PM
Duration: 30 minutes +Q&A
🏡 Venue: Main Courtyard, 11 Temple Road, Mozang, Lahore
@11templeroad