The Art of Kite-flying and a Bygone Era
“In Kabul, fighting kites was a little like going to war…By the time the snow melted and the rains of spring swept in, every boy in Kabul bore telltale horizontal gashes on his fingers from a whole winter of fighting kites. I remember how my classmates and I used to huddle, compare our battle scars on the first day of school…They were reminders of a beloved season that had once again passed too quickly.”
-The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
William Dalrymple, in his award-winning work The City of Djinns, described Delhi as a “labyrinth” with a “bottomless seam of stories” and a “cavernous chamber of myth and legend.” The city of Delhi exists as a palimpsest, with numerous cultures, traditions, languages and ideas stacked like a precarious tower and continuously jostling for space and patronage in an ever-widening milieu. A kaleidoscope of myriad sensations, it bears testimony to the multiculturalism and homogeneity of the refined and advanced milieu of the innumerable dynasties which left a deep imprint into its present form.
The origin of kite-flying
Image Source: Navneet Parikh
In the narrow, winding galis of the heart of Old Delhi, one can hear echoes of a beloved tradition and art form- kite-flying. Manan Kapoor traces the origin of kites in China in the 3rd century BCE, from where it is believed to have made its way into the subcontinent with the Buddhist missionaries through the Silk Route, travelling further also to Arabia and Europe. Although they appear in the works of poets such as Namadeva (13th century) and Ekanatha (16th century), it is under the Mughals that kite-flying acquires the taste of royal patronage and becomes a noble sport, as is evident from several paintings and miniatures from this period.
Nilosree Biswas points to the use of the term “patang” in an Indian Sufi text Madhumalati written by Mir Sayyid Manjhan, who associates the art of kite-flying with the emotion of love as many of them were used to deliver love letters between forbidden or separated lovers. Arjun Pandey notes yet another lore from 1812 which depicts how hundreds of Delhites took to the streets to welcome the exiled Prince Mirza Jahangir back to the city by flying colourful kites. This incident gave rise to the festival now known and celebrated as “Phool Waalon ki Sair.”
With the advent of colonial rule and the subsequent fall of the Mughal empire, the kite-tradition also suffered a collapse with many of its artists and businesses keenly affected by the loss of patronage. The fall of the practice can also be attributed to the rapid modernisation of the urban scene along with newer forms of entertainment in more contemporary times, along with a steady decline of open spaces for community activity, which has led to the kite tradition gradually declining into obscurity.
Yet, the cultural significance and honour of the craft remains; several businesses of kite-makers in Old Delhi bear testimony to generations of honing this age-old craft and perfecting every string to keep the tradition alive. In fact, during the colonial period itself, it is believed that the Simon Commission boycott witnessed hundreds of Indians protesting with the words ‘Simon Go Back’ written on flying kites. The shape and form of the kite itself has undergone several transformations with the most common image being the diamond shaped kite with its long tail trailing in the skies.
Image Source: The Quint
Popularity and business
The oldest and most reputed market for kites within the walled city of Shahjahanabad (now Old Delhi) is borne by the Lal Kuan bazaar, with some shops tracing their business lineage to about five generations. According to Mohammad Arif, “each labourer making the manjha is a brand, and it sells because of the craft of the man who makes them”; four generations of Arif’s family has been involved in the business of crafting and selling kites as well as manjha spools in Lal Kuan (Sharma, 2016).
Kite-flying also remains a beloved tradition associated with Independence Day on 15th August, acquiring a new symbolism of freedom and authenticity in the contemporary time. The image of a sky filled with numerous kites, vivid in colour, shape and design remains a synonymous motif of the national festival. In many schools, paper kites with long, colourful tails is an annual art ritual for children, especially on the eve of Independence Day.
Keeping the artform alive
Cheena Kapoor notes how patangbaazi competitions and the event of kite-running continue to prevail in the streets of Chandni Chowk and Jamia Masjid, thus remaining central to the culture of Old Delhi even today (Kapoor, 2018). Furthermore, kite-flying festivals have become a state project in Rajasthan and Gujarat, with several hotels and resorts popularising it amongst both Indians and foreign tourists alike. In addition, Gujarat is also home to the Patang or Kite Museum, featuring more than a hundred kites from the private collection donated by Mr. Bhanu Shah. Some of these are quite notable in their aesthetics which includes mirror work, block prints along with elaborate designs such as a garba dance.
Image Source: Kite Museum
Individual dedication and passion has also contributed significantly towards this cause, as Shruti Das documents; one of these is the story of Bhai Mian or Syed Mohiuddin, who started an informal Diamond Kite Club in his mohalla in 1970, and his son Jamaluddin who carried his father’s legacy forward by crafting and selling kites with detailed and aesthetic designs.
In 2022, a petition seeking a ban on kite-flying in the capital over the dangers of the manjha was quashed by the High Court on grounds of culture; while acknowledging a need for greater control over low-quality strings, the bench observed the deep emotional, religious and cultural value of the kite tradition which was almost akin to a festival in itself.
In Popular culture
Kite-flying has also found its way into popular culture, with many Bollywood films such as Nagin (1954), Bhabhi (1957) and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) featuring elaborate dance sequences revolving around metaphors and actual depictions of the art form. Nikita Desai highlights how these examples point to the deep-rooted position of kites in the Indian cultural imagination and emotion.
