Hindu artist excels in Koranic verses

Anil Kumar Chauhan has painted Koranic verses in over 100 mosques in Hyderabad and nearby districts

That art has no boundaries goes without saying and a living example is Anil Kumar Chauhan, a Hindu who paints Koranic verses. A man in demand during the month of Ramzan, Anil moves from one mosque to another conveying the quintessential message of Islam through Islamic calligraphy.

A self taught artist with no formal education, Anil learnt Urdu and Arabic and was into calligraphy whilst taking up assignments to paint signboards and banners in Urdu. In his late 40s, he is now a sought after artist not just in Old City but in mosques from nearby districts where authorities request him to paint verses. Anil has worked in more than 100 mosques in Telangana.

Born and bought up in Old City, Anil’s pronunciation and diction of Urdu is immaculate but his foray into calligraphy and learning to read and write Urdu is due to his own interest. Impressed by his work, the Jamia Nizamia University has given him a letter of appreciation which allows him to enter any mosque and write verses. He has written ‘yaseen’, one of the chapters of the Holy Quran and his work adorns the hall in the university.

Not just adept at writing Koranic verses, Anil also sings kalams in mehfils. Once every month, he visits the Bagdal dargah near Zaheerabad to sing nathiya kalam. The dargah management takes care of his travel expenses and pays him a token amount. “It is not just the money but I feel good and that is why I recite naat-e-shareef,” he says.

He has also brought out a CD of his recitations of famous poets of Hyderabad including the former Prime Minister of the Nizam Kishen Pershad. Though he knows the Kath-e-Kulfi which is used in Saudi Arabia, he says that in this part of the world it is the Naskh that is popular. How does the family take to his work?

“What I do only bring people and communities closer and they have no problem. It is just a few narrow minded people who still are skeptical. Hindus and Muslims have always lived amicably in Hyderabad and now the communal riots too are a thing of the past,” he says.

By:T P Venu