ARTIST KASHMIRI KHOSA : IN SEARCH OF TRUTH BEHIND EXISTENCE'

                                                                         

                                                                                   

                                                                         

KASHMIRI KHOSA : IN SEARCH OF TRUTH BEHIND EXISTENCE

                                                                                     

“Art is an expression of what I have imbibed through what I’ve read, heard, or seen. The images are extracted from the very source of my being.”…Kashmiri Khosa

This reflection by Kashmiri Khosa offers a vital entry point into his artistic journey. His work does not emerge from surface observation or stylistic display but from deep inward absorption—an engagement with lived experience, memory, silence, and Indian philosophical thought. Over several decades, Khosa has created an oeuvre rooted in introspection, exploring the inner dimensions of existence and consciousness.

I have long been an admirer of both his art and his person. His colours and forms evoke a serene silence that gently aligns the viewer with their surroundings. Beyond emotional response, his paintings encourage introspection, allowing one to momentarily disengage from worldly pressures and enter a contemplative space. Kashmiri Khosa’s art ultimately functions as a visual meditation, an invitation to slow down, to look within, and to encounter the luminous stillness that lies beneath the surface of existence. A personal interaction with the artist affirmed this inward grace. When I requested him to record a message for my book on artist Bansi Parimu, he responded promptly and with warmth. Despite being a highly respected figure within the Indian art fraternity, his humility and simplicity leave a deep impression.

 The Khosa Family of Syed Ali Akbar Mohalla, Fateh Kadal in Srinagar City

The Khosa family traces its lineage to the historic Syed Ali Akbar Mohalla in downtown Fateh Kadal, Srinagar, a locality long revered as a crucible of culture, craftsmanship, and civilisational memory. For generations, its inhabitants have devoted themselves to the delicate and exacting handicrafts of Kashmir, preserving, refining, and transmitting the region’s artistic heritage in textiles, woodwork, and other time-honoured traditions with unwavering dedication.

Yet Fateh Kadal’s legacy extends far beyond its artisanal excellence. It has, over centuries, nurtured a profound intellectual and spiritual ethos. It was here that the revered saint-poet Zinda Kaul first drew breath, his words continuing to resonate across the literary and spiritual consciousness of Kashmir like a quiet, enduring echo. In the same neighbourhood lived D. N. Kaul, former Inspector General of Police, Jammu & Kashmir, whose life came to be synonymous with integrity, rectitude, and an unwavering moral compass; he resided as a neighbour of the Khosa family, adding yet another strand to the locality’s distinguished social fabric.

Across the gentle, unhurried sweep of the Jhelum River, there emerged an extraordinary constellation of cultural luminaries whose brilliance illuminated the intellectual firmament of Kashmir: Som Nath Sadhu, the eminent broadcaster and playwright honoured with the Padma Shri; G. R. Santosh, the visionary painter and modernist pioneer, recipient of the Padma Bhushan; the legendary theatre personality Makhan Lal Saraf; Pran Kishore Kaul, the trailblazer of radio drama, literature, and film, also a Padma Shri awardee; and the gifted composer Mohan Lal Aima. Together, they endowed the region with an enduring aura of creativity, intellect, and artistic distinction that continues to inspire.

This vibrant milieu also encompassed families deeply engaged in public and cultural life—the Vakil family, with its association with journalism, the Razdan family, and the Ganju family, all integral to the locality’s social texture. The renowned establishment of Shridhar Bohra, famed for its herbs and Unani medicine, stood as a testament to the enduring traditions of indigenous healing. In close proximity to the Khosa residence, Christian missionaries established one of the earliest modern educational institutions in Srinagar—the Mission School of Fateh Kadal, marking a significant chapter in the city’s educational evolution. The architectural and sacred landscape of the neighbourhood reflected this rich and layered cultural life. The majestic Sri Raghunath Ji Temple, constructed during the Dogra era, stood as a sublime testament to devotion, artistic craftsmanship, and architectural grace. The Rupadevi Sharda Vidyapeeth emerged as a distinguished centre for the study of Kashmir’s ancient history, philosophy, and scholarship. Nearby, the Shah-e-Hamdan Shrine and the Kali-shri Temple bore eloquent witness to a shared sacred geography where diverse traditions converged in harmony. The Sona Masjid still stands as a prominent  mosque, situated opposite the residence of the Khosa family in this locality

The locality is further sanctified by the presence of the Shaiva Trika Ashram of Swami Ram Ji, a Siddha Purusha and one of the foremost exponents of Shaiva-Agama philosophy, and the revered Guru of Swami Lakshman Joo, the last great master of Kashmir Shaivism. The ancient Mangleshwara Temple, lying in close vicinity, adds yet another layer to the sacred topography of Fateh Kadal.

For centuries, the people of this locality lived in a spirit of profound harmony, bound together by shared traditions, mutual respect, and a collective dedication to intellectual, artistic, and spiritual pursuits. Its evocative charm did not remain confined to Kashmir alone; the internationally acclaimed filmmaker David Lean, deeply captivated by the area’s character and atmosphere, chose it as a backdrop for sequences in his cinematic masterpiece ‘A Passage to India’.

If Fateh Kadal is understood within the broader cultural and geographic ambit of Habba Kadal, its significance expands almost immeasurably. Habba Kadal, with its bustling lanes, vibrant Bazaars, and centuries-old traditions of trade and scholarship, has long stood as a crossroads of ideas, creativity, and spiritual inquiry. It has nurtured generations of poets, scholars, artists, and thinkers whose contributions have profoundly shaped the historical and cultural consciousness of Srinagar.

Taken together, these neighbourhoods are far more than mere geographic entities; they constitute a living, breathing tapestry of Kashmir’s syncretic civilisation, where creativity and devotion, scholarship and spirituality, have flourished side by side in enduring and luminous harmony across the ages.

 Kashmiri Khosa: An Artist Shaped by Lineage and Spiritual Awakening

In the life of artist Kashmiri Khosa, art and spirituality are not separate pursuits but deeply intertwined forces shaped by an extraordinary personal history that spans Kashmir, Lahore, Hampi, and the Himalayan foothills. Khosa’s story begins even before his birth, with his grandfather, Swami Shambhu Nath. Known in his early life as Pandit Gopinath Khosa, he was a deeply spiritual man who renounced his family in Kashmir when his son, Pandit Som Nath Khosa—Kashmiri Khosa’s father—was just eight years old. For more than a decade, he remained absent, travelling across sacred geographies, including Rishikesh, before eventually settling in Hampi under the guidance of a South Indian guru. In Hampi, amidst rocky hills and ancient ruins, Swami Shambhu Nath established his spiritual presence in caves nestled between two mountains—now remembered as a place of reverence, marked by a life-size black marble sculpture in his honour.

Pandit Som Nath Khosa (1912–1983), a Kashmiri artist of quiet determination and remarkable vision, devoted his life to preserving the image and ideals of Mahatma Gandhi through art. Educated at Srinagar’s Sir Amar Singh College, where his teachers included F. H. Andrews and J. C. Mukerjee, he later moved to Lahore, where he rose to prominence as Art Director of the Civil and Military Gazette. It was there that he fell in love with a Punjabi woman, defying the rigid social conventions of the time, particularly those governing Kashmiri Brahmin society.

In a striking gesture of reconciliation, Khosa sought the blessings of his estranged father, who had by then become a revered spiritual ascetic in Hampi. Within the stillness of those ancient caves, the couple were finally married. Their son was conceived in that sacred setting and later born in Lahore, then a thriving cultural centre of undivided India.

The cataclysm of the Partition of India altered the course of his life. Returning to Kashmir, Khosa worked as an artist and freelance journalist, risking his life to document the violence of the first Indo–Pak conflict. For a time, he also joined a group of artists who mobilised public resistance against the Pakistan-backed tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir—efforts that earned the admiration of leaders such as Sheikh Abdullah and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad.

Profoundly affected by the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Khosa created a haunting image of the leader holding a lantern in darkness, a symbol of moral illumination in a time of national grief. Displayed outside Srinagar’s Palladium Cinema at Lal Chowk, the work marked the beginning of a lifelong artistic mission. In Kashmir, he was also associated with the National Cultural Front. About his association with the Front, Padma Shri Pran Kishore Kaul writes:

 “While the Independence of 1947 was being celebrated throughout the length and breadth of the country, Kashmir was attacked by hordes of tribesmen only a couple of months after the British left the shores of India. This became a challenge for the defenceless people of Kashmir to unite and fight back. This valour of unity turned into a cultural renaissance too. While people’s aspirations, their struggle, and their sacrifices became the themes of literary works, poetic compositions, and dramatic presentations, painters too became fully engaged in contributing to this Cultural Revolution. Artists, writers, and political workers from different parts of the country came in groups, and individually as well, to extend their support to the people of Kashmir. Painters were no exception. Theatre workers, musicians, writers, and painters united under the umbrella of the ‘National Cultural Front’, which was started by some active members of the student movement, including Qaiser Qalandher, Salahuddin Ahmed, Pran Kishore, Prof. Mahmood Hashmi, and Girdhari Dhar, in a room in the ‘Coronation Hotel’, adjacent to the Palladium Cinema. Their task was to create large posters informing the people that the Indian Army had arrived to save Kashmir, that Sher-i-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah had taken charge as Chief Administrator, and that the tribal raiders and the Pakistan Army were retreating. This group of cultural workers was later joined by Mohan Lal Aima, Prem Nath Pardesi, Som Nath Zutshi, Pir Abdul Ahad, and others. It received patronage from Khwaja Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq, along with a small government budget for daily expenses. A wing of the Exhibition Building was also allotted to it.

Meanwhile, another group, the ‘National Militia’, led by two elder brothers of Dr Naseer, Sham Ji and Zameer Ahmad, along with Som Nath Bira, Prof. Apoorab Som Nath, Pran Nath Jalali, Moti Lal Misri, and Pushkar Nath Zadoo, was organised and allotted another wing. The artists of the Cultural Front had three divisions: the music and drama wing, the writers’ wing, and the painters’ wing. The painters’ wing was headed by the renowned painter Som Nath Khosa, who had been settled in Lahore but was on a painting mission in Kashmir. His belongings had been looted and his house burnt in Lahore during Partition, which is why he stayed back and joined the movement. He was a master craftsman whose large hoardings of Sheikh Abdullah, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Mahatma Gandhi were remarkable, displayed prominently on the front of the Palladium Cinema, which had become the centre of political activity. It was this wing of painters that P. N. Kachru joined, along with another realist painter, G. M. Shad.”

In the immediate aftermath of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, Som Nath Khosa painted a monumental portrait of Gandhi in Srinagar. Working through the night, he held a lantern in his left hand and painted with his right, as the city lay in darkness due to the Pakistan-sponsored tribal raid. The following day, the portrait was exhibited outside the Palladium Cinema in Lal Chowk, Srinagar. From that moment onward, he carried within him a deep resolve to create a truly monumental work dedicated to this great soul.

From Srinagar, sometime around 1950, Som Nath Khosa moved to Delhi to serve as Art Director at The Times of India. Yet professional success held little allure. By the close of the decade, he had relinquished job security to devote himself entirely to portraying the life and legacy of Gandhi. Working in an era before widespread colour photography, Khosa painstakingly transformed archival material into vivid oil paintings, making Gandhi’s story accessible to a wider public. His dedication came at a high personal cost: he sold his possessions to sustain his work and died in poverty in New Delhi. Though little known internationally, Pandit Som Nath Khosa’s work was exhibited at major venues in India during the 1960s and 1970s, earning recognition from national leaders. Today, he stands as a poignant example of artistic devotion—an individual who sacrificed everything to immortalise a figure he believed belonged not only to India, but to the world.

 Kashmiri Khosa’s own journey would echo this convergence of art and spirituality. In what he describes as a matter of chance, he acquired a small piece of land in Tapovan, a quiet, forested area near Dharamshala. There, he built a modest studio that became both a creative and contemplative space. Adjacent to his studio stood the Ashram of Swami Chinmayananda, part of the Chinmaya Mission. What began as geographical proximity gradually turned into spiritual immersion. Khosa was welcomed into the ashram’s intellectual and philosophical environment, attending discourses and eventually participating in classes on the Vedas and Upanishads alongside resident students training for monastic life. This exposure marked a decisive transformation in his artistic expression. His work began to move beyond form and technique, evolving into a deeper exploration of inner states, consciousness, and metaphysical themes.

For over three decades, Khosa has lived between Delhi and Tapovan, sustaining a dual engagement with the contemporary art world and a deeply personal spiritual practice. A significant turning point in his inner journey came through his encounter with Swami Aatmanand, a Kriya Yoga master he met in the forests near his Dharamshala studio. Under his guidance, Khosa was initiated into Kriya Yoga, an experience that further deepened his artistic and spiritual sensibilities. A deeply spiritual, non-materialistic upbringing, shaped in part by the influence of the Chinmaya Mission, played a defining role in moulding the personality of the young Kashmiri Khosa, steering his artistic vision towards a path not often explored.

Kashmiri Khosa also studied ancient Indian texts such as the Upanishads and drew inspiration from Vedic and philosophical ideas about being, consciousness, and the nature of existence. His aim is to go beyond surface appearances and express truths about the self and the universal spirit. His work frequently symbolises the soul’s journey, exploring themes of ascension, flight, inner freedom, and transcendence. These motifs suggest liberation from material constraints and an exploration of inner realms.

Spiritual Resonance in the Art of Kashmiri Khosa

The growing resurgence of spirituality in contemporary art finds a powerful echo in Khosa’s practice. Renowned Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli observes:

“Wars, conflicts, and consumerism seem to have prompted a desire for transcendence, for refuge, for essence. Increasingly, artists are aiming for the essence of spirituality in their work.”

Born in 1940, Kashmiri Khosa has been a professional painter since 1962. Rooted in family tradition and inspired by Indian philosophy, he has evolved a modern visual language that earned him the President of India’s Silver Plaque (1974) and the National Award (1981). His works are held in major public institutions, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Kala Parishad, College of Art (Delhi), and the International Airport Authority of India, as well as in prominent private collections across India, Europe, North America, and Asia. Khosa’s interdisciplinary approach to art, literature, and theatre earned him the Department of Culture Senior Fellowship (1979–82) for “Integrating visual language and content.” His paintings have been widely recognised, featured in the International Design Journal (Seoul) and Temenos 13 (London). He has exhibited globally, including the Sixth Babylon International Festival of Art (Iraq, 1994), an Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts seminar (2004), Stitching White Cube Global Village (Europe, 2014), and Scope Miami Art (2015), and has participated in numerous national and international art camps.

Khosa’s paintings embody this search for essence: quiet, inward, and sustained. There is a gravity in his work—a seriousness that creates a magnetic pull, drawing viewers into sustained reflection. Spirituality in his art is not decorative or rhetorical; it is experiential. Regardless of personal belief systems, his paintings invite a pause, a turning inward, and an engagement with the deeper self. The concept of the “invisible force” in his art represents the underlying spiritual energy behind the visible world. Drawing from traditions like Vedanta, Khosa suggests that what we see is only a reflection of a deeper, unseen reality. His paintings do not merely depict; they gesture toward the eternal, the formless, and the universal essence. Colours, forms, and spatial compositions in his works function almost like visual mantras. They guide the mind inward, allowing the viewer to experience subtle shifts in perception, emotions, and awareness. Rather than telling a story, the paintings invite contemplation, transforming the act of looking into an act of self-exploration. Well-known English poet Kathleen Raine, a long-time admirer of Khosa, writes about his work:

“Khosa’s pictorial context is not limited to any school or period; Michelangelo and Picasso are clearly present, but these works are profoundly Indian in spirit. As if the titan-prisoners, now freed, had flowed into movement and colours which have the crystalline purity of a world newly created, we recognise—remember, as it were—that the cosmos lives with a powerful non-human life. These are sacred presences. Khosa’s majestic paintings reassure me—they restore to our sick human world great life-giving presences of the Imagination.”

Kashmiri Khosa’s paintings belong to an inward and contemplative current of modern Indian art, where the canvas becomes a site for spiritual reflection rather than visual narration. His practice moves fluidly between abstraction and figuration, allowing images to surface gradually, as if arising from silence or meditation. Colour functions as a carrier of mood and consciousness; layered earth tones, deep greens, blues, and glowing yellows are handled with restraint and sensitivity, creating a subtle inner luminosity that draws the viewer inward. These chromatic fields are not decorative but experiential, suggesting states of calm, introspection, and transcendence.

Composition plays a central role in Khosa’s work. The frequent use of symmetry, vertical alignment, and enclosed forms establishes a sense of balance and ritual, reinforcing the meditative quality of the paintings. Figures, when present, are often faceless, elongated, or fused with their surrounding space, dissolving individuality in favour of collective or universal presence. This abstraction of the human form shifts the focus from external identity to inner being, allowing the viewer to encounter the work as an emotional and spiritual experience rather than a representation.

Stylistically, Khosa demonstrates disciplined control over gesture, texture, and surface. His brushwork is deliberate, never excessive, and negative space is used thoughtfully as a pause or breath within the composition. There is a quiet tension between solidity and dissolution, weight and light, which lends his paintings a sense of timelessness. Rooted in a modernist sensibility yet guided by spiritual inquiry, Khosa’s work resists trends and spectacle, instead offering sustained depth and introspection. It is this commitment to inner clarity and painterly integrity that has allowed his work to resonate with discerning collectors and hold a meaningful place within the broader narrative of modern Indian painting. About Kashmiri Khosa's work, well-known art critic, Keshav Malik writes this:-

 "The figures that K. Khosa draws are as if sculpted rather than painted. There is no attempt to show off painterly skill, but merely the anxiety to explore the timeless dimension, for his art is not that of a perfectionist and performer but of one in favour of the regeneration of a deeper self. Part reality, part unreality, but in this very undefinable something is the essence of art: images searching for the truth of existence, they groping for the missing light, for the responsive human face. There is stillness in his compositions, the stillness at the heart of stones, in unpeopled spaces. It is the stillness of the moon. Thus too, the figures-angelic or serene - in Khosa’s work seem to float in ether – that sacred postulate of deep self communings."

Among his most significant bodies of work are the Mortal Storm series, which grapples with the turbulence of human emotions and passions, and Mountains of the Mind, a contemplative exploration of psychological and spiritual landscapes. These works are less concerned with representation than with revelation, drawing the viewer away from the external world and toward the deeper source of being.

In essence, Kashmiri Khosa turns art into a bridge between the external and the internal, showing that a painting can be both a visual and spiritual journey, an experience that resonates long after the eyes leave the canvas.

In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective (2024 Exhibition )

In the exhibition ‘In Search of Truth behind Existence’, Kashmiri Khosa’s works were presented as more than mere paintings: they were invitations to inner reflection. Each piece encourages the viewer to pause, to observe, and to enter a meditative state.

The art exhibition “In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective” featuring the works of Kashmiri Khosa was held in New Delhi from 6 October to 11 October 2024 at the LTC Gallery in Bikaner House, with its inauguration and book launch by Swami Dhruv Chaitanya Saraswati. Another show of a longer schedule for the same retrospective was held at Triveni Kala Sangam in New Delhi, running from 6 October to 11 November 2024. The exhibition was presented across venues or in extended form in the city. In both cases, the exhibition was designed not just as a visual experience but as a meditative and contemplative journey, showcasing decades of Khosa’s work and inviting viewers to explore deeper existential and spiritual questions through his art.

An important documentation of this long and sustained artistic inquiry is the book In Search of Truth Behind Existence: A Retrospective, published by Art Pilgrim in collaboration with Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. The book was released on the opening day of Khosa’s exhibition in November 2024 in New Delhi. Spanning 103 pages, the volume traces four decades of Khosa’s artistic journey, presenting a rich selection of his drawings and paintings.

More than a visual chronicle, the book includes a thoughtful conversation with the artist, offering rare insight into his creative process, philosophical concerns, and inward gaze. The publication is further enriched by forewords from Swami Dhruv Chaitanya, Geeta Singh of Art Pilgrim Gallery, and filmmaker Rajan Khosa, who contextualise Khosa’s work within broader spiritual, cultural, and contemporary art discourses. The book also carries notes from art critics like Santo Datta and Keshav Malik about Khosa’s work. True to its title, it functions not only as a retrospective but as a meditative inquiry into the search for meaning that underlies his art.

 Kashmiri Khosa’s artworks are held in several distinguished public and private collections, reflecting both national recognition and an expanding international presence. His paintings form part of the collections of major cultural institutions in India, including the National Gallery of Modern Art, Lalit Kala Akademi, Sahitya Kala Parishad, the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, the College of Art in New Delhi, and the Airports Authority of India. These associations underscore the institutional significance of his contribution to contemporary Indian art.

Beyond public collections, Khosa’s works are widely represented in private collections across India and internationally, with collectors based in the United States, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, and several countries in Europe. Khosa has presented his work through numerous solo exhibitions in leading Indian cultural centres such as New Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata. His practice has also extended to the global stage, with participation in international exhibitions and art platforms across Europe and the Middle East. In addition to physical exhibitions, his works are currently being showcased through digital platforms by international galleries, enabling his art to reach audiences in major cultural capitals, including London, New York, Paris, and Athens. Through these diverse platforms and collections, Kashmiri Khosa continues to engage a wide and varied audience, affirming his position within both the national and international art landscape.

Khosa’s life and work have also been documented by Doordarshan in a film shot across Hampi, Dharamshala, and Delhi. The film traces not just the trajectory of an artist, but a legacy that bridges renunciation, resistance, and realisation. Several of his interviews and films are also available on digital platforms, offering further insight into his artistic philosophy.   An extensive interview (along with the reproduction of paintings) of Kashmiri Khosa was published by Temenos 13, an International art journal edited by Kathleen Raine and published from London. His artworks were displayed at the sixth Babylon International Festival of Art in Iraq in 1994. In 2014, he was chosen to represent India and participate as an artist in the international show of “Stitching White Cube Global Village” in the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. He was also invited to participate in Scope Miami Art (Voice of an artist) in 2015. Today, Kashmiri Khosa stands as a rare figure whose art cannot be separated from the spiritual inheritance he carries—an inheritance that began in the caves of Hampi and continues to evolve in the silence of the Himalayas.

Art is not merely a pursuit in the family of artist Kashmiri Khosa—it is an enduring legacy that flows powerfully through generations. Anjali Khosa Kaul, his daughter, stands as a remarkable sculptor and painter of great distinction, her works proudly displayed in prestigious institutions like the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, and cherished in private collections across the globe. Her artistic excellence has been recognised through the AIFACS Award and a coveted fellowship from the Ministry of Culture. Her husband, Ashok Kaul, adds another dimension to this creative lineage with his mastery in industrial and fine art photography, capturing the world through a uniquely artistic lens. Carrying this rich heritage forward, their son Rajan Khosa has carved an international reputation as an acclaimed filmmaker and artist. His celebrated film Gattu garnered global recognition, winning Best Feature Film at the New York Indian Film Festival (2012) and receiving a Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival (2012). Together, this extraordinary family exemplifies a rare and powerful confluence of artistic brilliance—where creativity is not just nurtured, but inherited, refined, and expressed at the highest levels across multiple disciplines.

( AVtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.