, Ananya B., Navi Mumbai (Product: Mehraab Musician Figurines)
I have a 12-year-old son who is, like most 12-year-olds, primarily interested in screens and generally skeptical of things his parents find interesting.
The Mehraab figurines arrived. He picked up the note card. Read it. Asked: “What’s a Mehraab?” We talked for twenty minutes about Islamic architecture in Rajasthan, about the cultural synthesis of Mughal and Rajput traditions, about what it meant that a city like Rajasthan has so many architectural elements from multiple religious traditions in the same street.
He’s now reading about Rajasthan’s history somewhat voluntarily. He has strong opinions about Mewar vs. Marwar (he’s on Team Mewar). The Mehraab is on his bookshelf.
I credit a brass figurine set with my son developing an interest in Indian history. I understand this is a strange sentence. It’s accurate.