Qajar Art - Calligraphy in The Qajar Era

Calligraphy in The Qajar Era

Calligraphy is and has been the definitive Persian art form. There exists a prohibition in Islam against the depiction of human beings, similar to the Jewish rule against graven images, and as such, calligraphy and its associated art forms became a very important part of Islamic expression. Upon the introduction of the Arabic script to Persia, the people therein set themselves to making it their own. This is best evidenced in the creation of the Nasta'liq style of calligraphy, which is now used for most of the non-Arabic South Asian languages, such as Urdu and Kashmiri, as well as Punjabi.