Khattati: Pakistan’s Decorative Handwriting Art

Pakistan’s decorative handwriting art is called khattati, the art of calligraphy. The word comes from khushnavisi, beautiful writing, and it covers Urdu, Persian and Arabic script worked as art rather than as plain text.

If you are looking for the one-word answer: khattati. The rest of this explains what it is, which styles it uses, and why it keeps appearing inside other Pakistani crafts, including ours.

What khattati is

Khattati is writing treated as a visual art. The letters carry their meaning, and the shapes, proportions and spacing of those letters carry the artistry. A calligrapher is judged on how a line of script sits as a composition, not only on legibility.

It has been practised in the subcontinent since the arrival of Muslim rule, largely through the copying of Quranic verse, and it has decorated mosque walls, religious manuscripts and monuments ever since. That religious weight is why khattati sits at the top of the traditional art hierarchy in Pakistan in the formal sense, above crafts that are purely decorative.

The main styles

Islamic calligraphy is organised by script, and the names refer to the letterforms rather than to a region:

• Kufi , the oldest, angular and architectural, the style you see worked into tile and stone.
• Naskh , rounded, legible, the standard for copying text at length.
• Thuluth , large, sweeping, used for titles, inscriptions and monumental panels.
• Muhaqqaq , formal and elongated, a classical manuscript hand.
• Riqa , compact and quick, the everyday hand.
• Diwani , dense and highly ornamental, developed for court documents.
• Nastaliq , the sloping, flowing style that became the hand of Urdu and Persian poetry, and the one most associated with Pakistan specifically.

Nastaliq is the distinction worth remembering. Arabic is usually written in Naskh, Urdu in Nastaliq, and that preference is why Pakistani calligraphy looks different from Gulf calligraphy at a glance even when the technique is shared.

Where khattati appears in other crafts

Khattati rarely stays on paper, and this is the part most answers leave out.

In architecture and tile. Calligraphic panels are a standard element of Kashi tile work, the glazed tile tradition of Multan. Script runs in bands around domes, arches and mihrabs, and the tile maker and the calligrapher work to the same grid. The craft is set out in our article on the intricate tile work from Multan.

On trucks. Truck art inscriptions are calligraphy. The poetry, prayers and couplets painted across a Pakistani freight truck are lettered by hand by a specialist, and the lettering is the part the driver chooses most carefully.

In contemporary galleries. Khattati has moved into modern Pakistani painting, home interiors and digital design, with younger calligraphers working in both Urdu and English letterforms. It is one of the few traditional arts whose commercial future looks stronger than its recent past.

Khattati and blue pottery

A fair question, since we make pottery rather than script: calligraphy belongs to the same Kashi tradition as our work, and it appears on architectural Kashi far more often than on vessels.

The reason is practical. A dome panel is flat and large, so a line of Thuluth can be laid out and read. A curved vessel wall hides half of any inscription at any viewing angle, so vessel painting leans on floral and geometric pattern instead. Script on pottery tends to be short: a name, a word, a dedication.

So when you see a Pakistani craft piece carrying long passages of script, it is usually tile, panel or paper work. When you see dense floral and geometric work, it is usually a vessel. Our own pattern vocabulary is in the guide to blue pottery designs and motifs.

How khattati fits among Pakistan’s traditional arts

Khattati is the most prestigious, truck art is the most recognised, and Ajrak and blue pottery are the most regionally rooted. They are different kinds of claim, which is why the question of which art represents Pakistan has more than one defensible answer. That comparison is made properly in our article on which traditional art is tied to Pakistan’s cultural identity, and the wider survey is in our guide to the handicrafts of Pakistan.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pakistan’s decorative handwriting art called?

Khattati, the art of calligraphy. The term derives from khushnavisi, meaning beautiful writing, and covers Urdu, Persian and Arabic script worked as art.

What is the difference between khattati and khushnavisi?

Khushnavisi means beautiful writing in general. Khattati is the practised art of calligraphy that comes from it, and is the word normally used for the art form in Pakistan.

Which calligraphy style is used for Urdu?

Nastaliq, the sloping flowing style long associated with Urdu and Persian poetry. Arabic is more commonly written in Naskh.

What are the main Islamic calligraphy styles?

Kufi, Naskh, Thuluth, Muhaqqaq, Riqa, Diwani and Nastaliq.

Is calligraphy used in Multani blue pottery?

Rarely on vessels and often on architectural Kashi tile. Calligraphic bands are standard on domes and arches, while curved vessels carry floral and geometric pattern because a curve hides part of any inscription.

Why is khattati considered the highest traditional art in Pakistan?

Because of its religious function. It developed through the copying of Quranic verse and the decoration of mosques, which gives it a standing the purely decorative crafts do not have.