In 2016, the Godrej Archives, set up to document and preserve the legacy of the Godrej Group, published With Great Truth & Regard: A History of the Typewriter in India. This book about the once-familiar object helped create a kind of discourse which has been rare in India — the “cultural biography” of an object. From the Frugal to the Ornate: Stories of the Seat in India by Sarita Sundar is the follow-up to that book, compiling essays on the very ancient history of the seat — including the chair in its European sense — in India, with a wealth of photographs (many drawn from the Godrej archives), paintings and posters illustrating this story. Over the centuries, the seat in India has taken many forms, shapes and styles. It begins with the stark simplicity of the patlo or palakka — a low seat, typically made of wood, used by people as they go about their daily chores — and the mooda (low stool) or charpai (woven cot), which continue to serve as fresh inspiration for designers in the 21st century. If the moulded plastic bucket chair of waiting rooms speaks of a certain universality and accessibility in India’s urban spaces, another strand of the story is told by the fabled, ornate Peacock Throne or Takht-i-Ta’us (jewelled throne) of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The book is as much about India’s ancient civilisation, with a rich tradition of crafts, as it is about a modernising nation. As the number of factories and commercial offices expanded and cities grew, the “office chair”, with its wheels and sophisticated support mechanisms, and the highly-versatile plastic chair came to represent an India that was rapidly changing and always on the move. The story of the seat — who sits where and at what height, who has one and who doesn’t — is also one of politics and power. To take one example, there’s a story about the shifting sands of power in the journey of the Peacock Throne, from the Diwan-i-Khas in Delhi’s Red Fort to Persia after Nadir Shah’s attack in 1739, where it was taken apart, each of its precious components, including the Kohinoor, finding its way into other hands. But more than all the elaborate thrones, including those of Mysore or Travancore, the low-slung planter’s chair, with its indelible association with the Raj, came to represent power — not just of the British colonialist over “native” underlings, but also of caste and gender as Indians adapted it for their use. Not all of these inequalities were erased after India began its modernising project, but the chairs that began dotting the landscape after 1947 speak of a nation that was slowly, but stubbornly democratising. Take, for example, the dining-table chair of the new nuclear family, accessible to everyone, regardless of age and gender. Or the Irani Cafe chair, representing the growing proliferation of communal eating spaces, and the plastic Monobloc chair, first created by Canadian designer D C Simpson in 1946, and now found all over India and available to seat anyone from security guards at museums to guests at weddings. Title | From the Frugal to the Ornate: Stories of the Seat in India Author: Sarita Sundar Publisher: Godrej & Boyce Pages: 361 Price: Rs 1,930 Explained Books appears every Saturday. It summarises the core content of an interesting work of non-fiction.
