Gaatha

It’s as if the fully matured leaves of the Chinar tree are in perfect synchrony with nature’s music of the fall; as they gracefully part from their mother twigs and ballet their way down to merge into the ocean of golden-red autumn-struck leaf kind. Through centuries spell bound poets have lost themselves to romance with the valley, but even a momentary gaze at the beauty of this red carpet laid by nature to welcome the sublimity starved outsider, is enough to have masses indulge in poetry.

And as if these carpets reveling nature’s opulence weren’t enough, there are the other kind welcoming the outsiders to quietly let themselves get lost in this paradise on earth. Namda is the craft of making carpets by felting. This craft is said to have traveled to Kashmir from Iran along with a Sufi Saint, ‘Amir kabi Shah- e-hamdan’ many centuries ago (600yrs to 700yrs). Accompanied by master craftsmen who excelled in woodcarving, weaving, namdakaari, woven carpets, Paper Mache et al, the saint came with a noble mission to generate work opportunity for the locals. This noble endeavor of the saint is a living heritage that continues to be one of the prime occupations and source of livelihood for the people of the valley even to this day.

The pedigree of 49-year-old Fahrooq Ahmed Khan has preserved the spark of this skill through generations now. With his grandfather, father and 33 years of his own life dedicated to the pursuit of keeping this flame alive, the art of felt making has almost become genetic. But Fahrooq ji refuses to train his successors, for he believes that this one craft seeks a whole lot of physical strength and remunerations are hardly comparable. His 13 member team is now reduced to a one man army. Such unanimous sentiment amongst the craftsmen community is the reason that the number of craftsmen involved in this craft has dwindled from 400-500 to a mere 100 over a span of 15 years.

The felted carpets are predominately made of pure sheep wool. Cotton may also be added in varying ratios (70: 30) to increase the thickness and whiteness of the end product. However, pure wool carpets are much warmer.

The sheep wool ‘kat yer’ required for this technique is locally bought from Badgam, Pahalgam (inhabited by shepherds) and Naushera (where the Govt. House for wool distribution is stationed). Namdas made from Kullu kangada wool are known to have more strength. ‘Marino’ is another quality of fine wool, imported from Australia in modern days. Carding is the process by which impurities settled within the wool are removed and a uniform & consistent thickness is achieved.

Earlier the process was carried out using hand operated wooden tool called as ‘dhooin’ in the local language. Primarily a bowstring and stub kind of arrangement that allowed the fibers to disperse into thin flakes, as the stub is struck against the string near the heap of sheared wool. The wooden system is suspended from ceiling on a curved bamboo section to allow carding. Today however most of the necessary carding is carried out in mills. Bimla woolen mill, a government initiative to facilitate the craftsmen with carded wool was established in Srinagar city 40 years ago. Besides these, two mills have been established in Gandarbal as well.

traditional geometric patterns if the base is colorful) is marked upon the jute base with a charcoal. Woolen flakes are evenly spread all over it. It’s a trick of a long curved stick in one hand and the carded wool in another and how the craftsman juggles with it to form a cloud of wool with even density. The skill is used to place and relocate the wool over the marked lines on the base mat.

Namda is usually a sandwich of many (minimum 3) such layers flattened over each other. The order of placing the individual layers is such that the design is laid upside down, which means the topmost layer is laid first. Hence, all the collected wool is divided into three piles. This division is usually based on 1. The color/patterns you want to show on top 2.There are always surplus remains of wool left from each Namda that has been recently made, all such wool is combined and put as the lowest most layer (not to be seen but pure wool makes it durable and warmer).

After a layer is spread, it is sprinkled homogeneously with water and pressed with a tool known as ‘pinjra’ (woven willow wicker). For a carpet that is 2kg in weight, 2 liters of water may be required. In winters warm water is used. Consequently the intermediate woolen layer is laid and pressed into uniformity. The ultimate layer is eventually placed, wetted and beaten till consistent.

The sandwich of wet wool is then rolled tightly from one end with the jute mat and the anchor metal rod. Muscular pressure has to be applied over a period to keep rolling it tighter and squeeze the water out. The process of rolling and pressing is carried out from 1 to 3 hours depending on the quality of wool used (local wool is coarser and felts faster) and also on the ratio of cotton used (more the cotton greater the time). The craftsmen use their feet to apply pressure on the carpet. The role is eventually opened and checked for inter-layer cohesion, lumps and evenness. A special soap with increased caustic content is then poured over the Namda. It is rolled once again with hands and without the mat. The carpet so obtained is known as a ‘kachcha namda’, the strength of which is further increased by binding the edges.

A dry wash is usually carried out by the women folk on the nearby ghats after 1 to 1.5 hours to remove all the soil content from the carpet. Hand embroidery ‘Aari Kaam’ using colorful dyed threads and the ‘aari’ needle is carried out if the Namda is a traditional one. There are also examples of some beautifully crafted carpets by stitching the pieces of old worn out Namdas together, with appliqué technique.

Since this work requires great muscular strength, it is usually carried out in winters. The craftsmen move to relatively cooler places like Kargil during summers. These Namdas are generally sold through stalls at ‘Craft Bazaars’. Although the craftsmen have no overseas exposure, local bodies set up to uplift the state of the craft sector in Kashmir, hold regular workshops to contemporize the nature of the designs and patterns so that it may become marketable to a larger section of consumers.

In a land that has seen chaos and ever failing systems over two decades now, beauty still finds a way to seep through. Through crafts like Namda, one must appreciate the endeavoring spirit of the Kashmir craftsman who has managed to preserve the precarious honor of the craft, while standing on the edge himself.

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A familiar chatter swells in the air as feet chase the trail of a carelessly flying odhani in the by-lanes of Bhuj, spilling colors all over. While the women are busy tying knots in fabric, their whispered secrets quietly sneak into these tied bundles. They remain unnoticed but intact till the connoisseur hands unfurl the knots and set the stories free to engulf the wearer. Bandhani is not merely a fabric; it’s a canvas of anonymous tales soaked in many colors and ensuring that the wearer is wrapped in the warmth of native emotions.

Bandhani is an expression used in Gujrat for textiles where different designs are produced by tying individual parts of the fabric before dyeing. The Gujrati word ‘Bandhavun’ is derived from the Sanskrit word for tying ‘Bandhan’. The people engaged in producing designs on fabric as a result of tie-dying technique are known as ‘Bandhej’.

The tie and dye art of treating textiles is fairly universal, with many ingenious versions scripting new genres in various parts of the world. The technique of resist dying by binding the individual parts of the cloth to shield them from the dye is usually known in India as ‘Bandhani’. There is ample evidence to suggest that the relatively complex process of mordant-dyeing was known to the inhabitants of the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro in about 2000 BC. So, it is possible that resist dyeing was also practiced. Archival facts further confirm that in 6th-7th century A.D Bandhani cloth was depicted on walls of the Ajanta caves. Here women are shown wearing bodices in a simple dotted tie and dye pattern, as well as skirts apparently made in Ikat fabric (another resist dyeing technique still wide spread in India). More recent to these paintings are the written references to Bandhani, which appears in the much quoted Harshacharitra by Bana (the court poet of king Harsha of Kannauj), where he celebrates the dyed patterns on the bride’s special odhani, an auspicious garment which is traditionally tie and dyed even today.

Adored by almost all women alike, Bandhani is highly popular amongst the Kumhar, Jat, Harijan, Meman and Rabari communities. The art of tie and dye assumes a different expression in every house. For instance, while the Rabaris prefer black stole with red dots dyed on wool, the Muslim population around here has great cultural sentiment attached to a large known as chandrokhani which is wrapped around for occasions like marriage. The Khatri, Parsi, Meman and Sonaar communities have a particular penchant for Bandhani on silk.

The main clusters practicing this craft have settled in Mundra, Mandvi and Bhuj areas of Kutchh. Bhuj is infact the main center for the traders of dyes and colors used in this craft. The fabric required for this art is sourced from Bangalore, Mumbai, Bhagalpur, Ahmadabad and Surat.

The fabric to be dyed is first carefully examined for quality by the cloth dealer. Then the layout pattern is marked after folding the fabric into four or more layers. Fields are delineated using a cord dipped in Geru (burnt sienna mixed in water). Consequently wooden blocks of desired motifs are dipped in the same Geru mixture and stamped within the marked fields.

The task of tying of motifs is predominantly carried out by the womenfolk who manage this along with the rest of the household chores at their homes in the village. The thread used for tying is usually plain cotton yarn which is mostly collected from industrial waste. It is led by the thumb and the forefinger of the right hand and is made to run through a fine millet stem bobbin, so that it runs smoothly and evenly. Knots are tied in two ways. One option requires raising the folds of the material with the pointed nails of the finger to create a little bunch around which thread may be tied. The second option requires use of filler materials, which are impregnated within the knots. A single stole can have 4000 to 5000 knots. More interestingly, women can tie up to 700 knots in a single day. It’s relatively easier tying knots in silk or cotton for the woolen knots have to be reaffirmed by biting them with the teeth.

While women are busy tying knots, the men are actively engaged in the dying process which happens in more specialized workshops. The fabric carrying the tied knots is first soaked in cold water and then wrapped in a cloth to ensure that the ties are not undone. It is eventually dyed in the lightest color (mostly yellow) by immersing the tied fabric in a hot solution of dyes. It is finally rinsed, squeezed and dried. There is limited use of natural dyes in this process.

The textile can even be touched upon by manual application of certain colors for selective dying. Fast dyes, which can be directly applied, have made this process simpler. This technique is known as lipai. Naphthol dyes are effective in cold solutions and can be used to dye the next darker color. The dyed textile is washed by local washer men and starched if necessary.

The ties of the folded Bandhani textile remain closed till they are sold or at the most opened at one corner to show the color scheme. For opening, the Bandhani material is pulled crosswise forcibly so that all the ties open up simultaneously as all the threads are rendered loose.

In his pursuit to learn more about the craft Jabbar bhai ventured into the world of tie and dye in 1992. He grew up watching his mother, sister and other ladies at home dedicatedly tying knots into the fabric. His curiosities lead him to learn further about dyeing and coloring from his relatives and friends. The first one in his family to set up a tie-dye unit, he has earned the status of a master with his persistence and good sense of design. Today, Jabbarn Bhai works with the leading designers of the fashion industry.

There are about a 100 such workshops in Bhuj today and a good 1000 people are still engaged in this craft here. Interestingly the designs have peculiar names such as shikaari, kabootarkhana etc.
Bandhani is as popular today as it has always been. These tie and dye motifs for one, will never go out of fashion for the simple reason that womenfolk all over the country identify themselves with it. From draping the newly wed bride to becoming a constant companion as a chunri or odhani, these myriad Bandhini patterns run skin deep till they get absorbed by the soul.

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Woven carpets – a rich woven textile that is designed to adorn the naked floor till it almost ends up embracing the entire household through an unmistakable appeal of luxury. It sometimes comes packed with super powers to transport you to a world of an Arabian reverie, accessible only to fictitious fantasy characters on flying sprees. When it’s not busy doing earthly chores, a Gwalior carpet can really become a neighbor’s envy and an owner’s pride.

Madhya Pradesh being the geographic heart of the country has always been the nucleus for the blending of varied cultural bloods. The invaders who caressed this glorious soil in a bid to conquer it dropped some of their indigenous seeds. These seeds then grew into trees with roots spread deep into the Indian soil and branches farfetched to wrap an entire race in its artistic fervor. Gwalior might have been ruled by the Moguls once in the history of time, but the Persian flavor they brought along with them exists in the aesthetic sensibilities of this region even today.

The influence of the Persian style emerges strongly in the vocabulary of motifs and the choice of colors used by the artisans. Even the British who later established the East India Company in this region couldn’t stop themselves from relishing this rich and exclusive flavor. They hence established the Oriental Carpet Manufacturing (OCM) Company in the early decades of 1900’s to utilize the business potential of this industry. Since then this craft has become the locus of creative influences from different cultures within the circumference of local heritage.

40 year old Chandra Prakash Prajapati is a master craftsman who is more than merely passionate about the dexterous craft of carpet weaving since 1997. He confesses that it would be impossible to pull off the herculean task single handedly and is hence assisted by his brother and son while at work. The whole weavers’ community however deserves profound credit for sensitively and responsibly translating traditional themes into contemporary designs without diluting their bonds with the vast reserve of the ancestral patterns.

The raw materials required for this craft are wool, which is sourced from Bikaner and Amritsar, the viscose comes from Panipat & Surat and the cotton is brought from Haryana. The unique patterns and styles of carpets made in Gwalior possess a distinct vocabulary of flowers, leaves and other design motifs inspired from nature. These floral designs are more popular as compared to rugs with geometric patterns.

As the carpet evolves through different stages, it assumes an admirable number of expressions. The master craftsmen themselves draft all the designs for the carpet. The craftsmen initiate the process of design by sketching the design on graph paper, ensuring that the underlying grid remains as the reference throughout, even as details of colors and shades are drafted on the same. The designs are mostly symmetrical and are deciphered on the loom where they materialize into pixilated patterns through knotting. Warp for at least two to three copies of carpets of a singular design is stretched on the loom.

The looms used in the weaving process are vertical. The threads are aligned on the warp first. Two to three people work simultaneously on the loom and tie the threads into meticulous knots. Once the knots are tied, the excess thread is chopped off. These knots are known as Persian knots after the their place of origin.

A spectacle peculiar to this workspace is that of two people sitting against each other, as the loom stands tall between them like a wall of ever changing transparencies. The two ensure that the conversations are woven between them in tandem. This becomes increasingly necessary as the designs are inherently symmetrical. The conversations start when one of the weavers looks into the graph paper and announces a term that the person on the other side of the loom repeats as he executes the same step. The terms include words such as Byayi (meaning the color that lies below needs to be repeated on the top) and Bachcha (indicates the knot that comes on the right side of the line below needs to be repeated), Chala (indicates that the thread in front needs to be worked on eg. chala lal, chala neela etc)

To ensure that the threads are firmly positioned in the matrix of weaving, the craftsmen deliberately press them using a comb like instrument called panja, which render the woven fabric strong while introducing new rows of knots. Patti is another tool that is used to beat the carpet so that all the knots and threads settle down. Other locally invented apparatus such as dhoori is used to cut off the excess thread after weaving. However, now there is a mechanical facility to do the same by cutting all the threads to a uniform size.

The woven carpets are then dipped for 8-10 hours in water, making all the knots settle down homogeneously. The fabric is washed and cleaned with chemicals. It is later sanded using tools like ‘faavada’ till the surface becomes even. Dyeing is an essential part of the process, as these carpets are ubiquitously known for the plethora of colors traditionally obtained from natural pigments. Today despite having the facility to dye the threads using natural and synthetic dyes, the craftsmen prefer ordering previously colored fiber as it saves them time and labor.

These carpets are most popularly used for décor and furnishings in interiors. The people in the colder countries prefer hanging these carpets over the walls of their timber houses so that they double up as insulating agents.

The craft of carpet weaving in Gwalior has engulfed an incredible population including few thousand men and women in its weaves. A lot of them prefer to work with families within their courtyards.The demographics of those involved in this traditional craft currently involves a substantial Muslim population.

Most of the designs are original creations of the master craftsmen. There are also a significant number of established designers and furnishing houses that get their designs executed through the skilled artisans here. These hand woven carpets are exported to US, Canada and many other places world over.

The craftsmen believe that for a task as pedantic and painstakingly meticulous as this, where a single error could mean repeating the entire complex co-ordination all over again, there is very little value for labor, which raises a big monetary concern. Another challenge that threatens the sustainability of carpet weaving in Gwalior is that children below the age of 14 are not authorized to start working at their family looms or at least until they have attained their basic education. So, when children do join after this age, they already have their interests set elsewhere and are hardly keen on continuing.

Maybe the Gwalior carpets (which statistics suggest are only second best to the Kashmiri ones) do not come with any potential magic manuals or post usage jet lag inventory but the divine beauty of human skill that goes into meticulously building an empire of synchronized weaves is enough to transfer one into the world of delightful dream like bliss.

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“My body is but wax and wick for flame. When the candle burns out, the light shines elsewhere.”
Normandi Ellis, Awakening Osiris: The Egyptian Book of the Dead

The Egyptians weren’t the only people to propose that death is but an extension of life. By ensuring that the soul of the king is supported by all material comfort, even after the body has succumbed to the scars of mortality, the men and women only sowed more seeds of faith in life after death. The belief was that the spirit of the late king would protect their civilization from the horrors of nature. Today, in some interior villages of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, a similar analogy can be seen, as the wax of life melts over a moment and instantly gets casted as a stone ‘Gaatha’.

65 year old Shiv Pithadanalal is not an ordinary man. He is transformed into a priest every single time he sits down to make a sculpture. Through his fingers flows a prayer that reveals a familiar image out of fragments of stone. This image of the departed soul might become the only remaining physical embodiment of the cherished one. By ritualistically establishing this link between the two worlds of death and life through his art, Shivji escalates from an ordinary artisan to a monk scripting biographies in stone.

Amongst the other tribes of Madhya Pradesh, the Bhils and the Gonds have been immortalizing their ancestors through stone/wooden Gaathas since centuries. These tribal folk do not worship any particular god or religious imagery, but their own ancestors. Gaatha is a form of sculpture carved in wood or stone after the sudden death of a member in the family. In the occasion of such a misfortune, all the members of the family and extended kith and kin from the neighboring villages arrive to pay homage through rituals amidst devotional prayer recitals.

These rituals require the Gaatha of the person to become the cynosure of reverence, as all present make charitable donations in the form of clothes and other things to the artisan and honor him as the priest of the ceremony being observed. This admiration for the artisan is strengthened by the belief that within the sculpture dwells the soul of the deceased who would solemnly protect the family in the same way as God.

The locals believe that the Gaatha made as a tribute to the departed, should be sculpted before any other auspicious occasion in the family. Previously made by the family members themselves, these embodiments of the protector spirit were placed within the premises of the area inhabited by the community. Unlike a tombstone, it is not laid in the presence of a dead body.

Gaatha Stone – Jhabua, Alirajpur District

The visual details that mark the uniqueness of this art can be quite a feature in terms of iconography. Though the idea is to make the sculpture a thorough look-alike of the mortified, some key attributes of the person are highlighted by exaggerated illustrations… such as popularity in the character of the deceased is depicted by the presence of sun or moon within the frame of his Gaatha, power or wealth is shown by a horse, irrespective of whether he ever rode one or not. Furthermore, to lay more emphasis on the face of the sculpted, it is relatively larger in proportion than the body. Interestingly, the women are featured fairly simple. Without any other iconic depictions surrounding them, they are usually shown as a single figure.

Staphana Stone – Chhindwara, Dindori District

In the bygone era, the priest would sculpt on a word of mouth description provided by family members. Today, the photograph of the person in context fulfils the purpose. Lastly, the name of the individual is also carved on it.

The process of making a Gaatha requires a surface such as sandstone or a wooden plank. The surface is ritualistically prayed every time before sculpting the figure on it. The portrait of the person is first sketched on the base and then carved out on the same lines. A third dimension is further added by giving it a depth of about an inch. Traditionally, ‘geru’ was used to stain the stone or wood in brick red. But as these tribes were exposed to the  modern means, the culture of painting these sculptures with commercial grade paints started about a hundred years ago. A singular Gaatha can be crafted within a fortnight.

The cost factor varies from rupees 5,000 to 30,000 depending on the size and the spending power of the relatives. While the Gonds customarily lay their Gaatha under shade, the Bhil prefer positioning them in open spaces. The Gonds infact address the same craft as ‘Sthapna’ (comes from the Sanskrit origin ‘sthapna’ meaning to situate) and use fairly large stones. While Gaathas of Jhabua area use iconic imagery to represent attributes related to the person, those in Chindwada region are much closer to the real. Apart from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, areas in Gujarat and Rajasthan are also known to practice the custom.

The word Gaatha otherwise means a story. But here, it is the personification of the numerous tales that sculpt in their different ways an individual’s life. It hence becomes difficult to argue whether the artisans make the spirit of a man immortal, or add that touch of a timeless legend to an ordinary inanimate stone. But like they all say, men may come and men may go, but their ‘Gaatha’ stays forever.

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Spring tickles my feet as love soaks this air,
Is it a new reason to live, or just this excuse of the fair.
I can wait to look my best, as I embrace the bridal flair.
The brilliance of this silver competes with the spark that dwells in my stare.

A tribal damsel dresses up for an occasion of surprise matrimony, barely being able to hold back the tide of thrill.

‘Bhagoria’ is a festival celebrated by the Bhils of Jhabua district in MP. Celebrated a week before Holi, it is an occasion were young unmarried men and women come exquisitely groomed in order to propose to their matrimonial preferences. And they have a very unique way of going about it, by applying ‘gulal’ (red holy powder) on the face of their beloved, in the presence of the entire village fraternity. If the latter is also mutually in love, the gesture is returned, followed by ceremonial act of eloping. Once the boy and girl are back from their romantic adventure, the elder folks gear up to get the young couple married.

This queer fair sees men flaunting their charm as they reveal flirtatious melodies off their flute. The women on the other hand leave no stone, rather metal unturned, to ensure they are enrobed in jewelry and dressed to kill. Once the marriage is fixed, the girl escorted by womenfolk singing folk songs is taken to the silversmiths’, where she picks and chooses ornaments from a plethora of options. The singing and swaying women walk around the weekly fair, while the bride carries the stacked up jewelry in a basket on her head.

The most popular accessories amongst the women folk are the Basta Kada (armlet) , Khilli wala kada (for the wrist) , Daal and kavali (bangles), Taagali (necklace), Paan wala haar (an ornament for the neck), Jhumki (earrings), finger rings in spiral forms and toe rings like Bichua, Angootha and kandora. It then does not come as a surprise that about four kilos of the Jhabua woman’s weight is what she calls her ritualistic grooming! It is interesting to note that the ‘Sigod wala haar’  (Image 2) is the ladie’s favourite, carrying two triangles joined by the beetle leaf motif at the center.

For a tribe as progressive as this, it is but essential that the men and women share equal privileges for everything, including the right to vanity. ‘Nhar mundya kada’ (or the tiger faced bracelet) is a preferred accessory amongst the local males.

The materials required for this craft such as silver wires of varying thicknesses and the ‘ghunghroo’ (musical accessories comprising of metallic bells) are all sourced from the neighboring city of Indore. The iron dies which eventually get impregnated with molten silver, are bought from Udaipur. Lastly, silver is bought in the form of bricks or plates available locally.

Most of the tribal jewelry can be made using the metal in two forms, as rods and as plates. For rods, the molten metal is poured into iron moulds with previously engraved motifs, while silver plates can be made by applying pressure on the solid section and are procured from the market. Consecutively, the rods are bent into closed curves to make armlets, bracelets and necklaces.

Chased faces of animals like elephant and tiger make the most popular endings for the rings. The plates are cut to get the desired outline of the pendant and impressions of the motifs are transferred onto them using hammers and dies. These pendants and ‘ghungroos’ are then attached to each other and to the main metal rod using linkages made of the wire. The process of finishing these ornaments brings out the real luster of the metal and is usually done with acid. The same ornaments are also made in white metal today.

Having dedicated nearly four decades of his 51 year old life to the art of making silver jewelry, artisan Shri Rameshchandra Soni divulges that that the craft makes hay in the sunshine of the marriage season (from February to mid July). A chai-enthusiast otherwise, Soniji is happy to acknowledge that he has inherited all the treasured skills from his father.

The fact that young lovebirds elope, as witnessing elders nod in consent to their romantic zeal, beats all standards of public display of affection and helps establishing Rumi’s belief that ‘ lovers don’t really meet at the fair, they were in each other all along’. Furthermore, a union of souls that concludes in a mutual desire to get married is the only little cultural idea that can beat our ever hyped nuptials today. There is indeed, much that these yet to civilize tribes can teach the new-age city dweller besides the art of jewelry making.

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Bundele har bolo ke muh humne suni kahani thi …..

Lights cascading from fountains of oil lamps suspended from the high ceilings of the palace, spill into the distinguished ambience and light up the regal conversations between aristocrats. Some Conversations are punctuated by sips off the ‘hookah’, some others by intermittent chewing of the ‘paan’. Royal dialogues like these are mummified within layers of opulence and luxury. …and some of these layers get exposed through curious articles of the bygone era as few royal whispers discreetly leak out. The lost wax technique is one such similar layer, reminiscent of the glorious lives of the Bundelas of central India that reveals the indulgences of a celebrated era.

Bundelkhand was ruled by the Chandela rulers until 16th century. Today the region remains divided between Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh with the larger portion in the latter state. Folklore has it, that Virbhadra, the ruler of Kasi [present day Varanasi] had two wives. The elder wife had 3 sons & the younger just one – Jagdas (also known as Hemkaran). When the king died, the sons of the elder queen refused the young prince his share of the kingdom & instead sent him into exile. As a wanderer, he traveled into the mountains of the Vindhyas to worship Vindhyavasini Devi (the Goddess who dwells in the Vindhyas). Extreme penance brought no response from the Devi, so in desperation, the prince drew out his sword to behead himself. When the steel drew the first drop of blood from his throat, the Devi appeared & said that she was so pleased with his courage & devotion that she blessed the sword he carried and turned the drop of blood into a boy who she said would be destined to become the founder of a warrior clan known as the ‘Bundelas’ – [the givers of the drop – of blood].

And as blood turned into fighter folk, the state of craft reached a level where wax almost turned into metal. The fine web of latticework on these artifacts, eloquently suggest the ‘jaali’ and ‘jharokkha’ patterns that are peculiar of the native palace architecture. Forms, which enshrine the memory of lost wax within the body of casted metal, are ingenious to the creative soil of this land and intuitively assume an aesthetic so divine and rustic, that it appears as if the gods have forgotten to carry these little brass beings with them when they were leaving the earth.

This 500 years old craft has historically been a forte’ of goldsmiths coming from the clusters of four prominent regions of Bundelkhand i.e Tikamgarh, Gwalior, Datia and Jakora. The technique of lost wax casting pursued in these regions was primarily of two categories. The silver/gold ornaments such as Gujari, payal, Pejnak, kada, toda (meant to be worn in the feet and arms), kakana, chani, kamarbandh and others, with popular motifs inspired by nature, architecture (now done in whitemetal popularly known as German silver).

These ornaments are associated with popular local myths .For instance ,the weight and form of these ornaments can apparently relieve the acupressure pints on the body.The second category on the other hand, includes idols of gods and goddesses, hukkas, paandaan, kalash, sandook  and various objects of daily utility.

And the utility based objects in gold and silver. These include idols of gods and goddesses, hukkas, paandaan, kalash, sandook and an entire range of collectables that have quenched the royal thirst for luxury since ancient times (now made with brass, locally known as bell-metal).

Native craftsman Lakshmi Narayan Soni observes that due to the very antiquated appeal of the final product, it is only the connoisseurs of art and artifact lovers who are particularly fascinated and end up buying them as objet d’art. But they are making conscious attempts to enhance the functional convenience of these by making minor manipulations in the original piece, without altering the aesthetic intent. An extremely heavy anklet for instance has been converted into an ash-tray by addition of a metal plate over the open side, so that it assumes more practical relevance in the same opulent avatar.

The raw materials required for the lost wax technique include bee’s wax, oil, clay gasses cow-dung cakes, earth, sand, dhariya (to melt the metal) and wood. The non-natural raw materials are sourced from Gwalior. The tools required to execute the technique are dhatiya (wooden bat), patla(flat wooden surface), athali (wooden sculpting and molding tools),small and big chisels, hammers and tongs.

The wax is prepared over a period of 2 days by melting and repeated heating. A mixture of cowdung and clay is used to create a mould. Intricate designs are made by making wicks of wax and arranging them along the detail of the pattern.

Over this, a clay-based paste is applied to an extent that it percolates into the voids of the pattern. Another thick coat of clay mixed with sand is then applied externally over the form. This last coat involves application of clay and sand (bajari). Here, the sand act as strengthening agents and prevent the mould from breaking open when heated. This is then kept in sun till it dries.

When the mould is heated, the wax begins to melt and is poured out through a hole left open while it was made. Molten Bell metal or brass is then poured into the cavity rendered empty by the lost wax. This non-ferrous metal casting takes over 15-20 minutes to complete. The external covering of clay is then wiped away, but the clay that is trapped within the metal body ends up staying that way till the end. Sun drying is essential else, the entire piece may become more prone to damage. Sanding and polishing result in final finishing.

A single piece requires up to ten days to come to its finished form. Even though the commercial corridors are flooded with tailor made moulds, one cannot find a parallel synonym of the intricacy that flows out of a traditional piece made by the bell-metal craftsmen of MP. The play of convoluted solids and voids that gracefully perform an impressive ballet over organic metallic contours is a memorable metaphor that can never be imitated.

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Some wandering rays of an aimless light,
Carelessly slipped into my loom the previous night…
Their whimsical sparks got woven away,
Within the mortal strands too busy at play…
My warp was so adulterated with this vagabond burst of light
That it regularly assumed a halo that blinded sight…
When the trance ended I woke up to see,
That the mystical dream had woven a soul for me,
A soul so synonymous with the Chandheri…..

The Saree has always been honored as a flattering robe that lends elegance and charm to the wearer while leisurely teasing the visual sentiments of the observers. But how often does a fabric transcend the boundaries of tactile experience to unite with that afterglow of beauty which resonates beneath the expanses of flesh? The Chanderi Sarees manage to do that every single time.

These Chanderi  sarees are a classic woven in the walled city of Chanderi or ‘Shishupal ki nagri’. The region is historically known for the Kati Ghati, which is a dramatic gorge that was shredded using swords in a span of 24 hours to create a victory gate in 1430 A.D by the soldiers of the Mogul ruler Jiman Khan. Even to this day one can clearly observe the curious cuts made by the swords that slaughtered this solid rock hill in the Chanderi’s Bundelkhand region shared with the Malwas.

In Chanderi, traditional craftsmen use silk as warp and fine cotton as weft, which leads to an astounding end product, an ideal summer wear. Usually in subtle hues, these sophisticated garments are best-of-breed. Deriving creative inspiration from the Varanasi style, the silk ‘Zari‘ sarees are most sought after. The sarees generally have a rich gold border and two gold bands on the ‘pallav’(the loose end of the saree hanging from the shoulder). The more expensive sarees have gold checks with lotus roundels all over which are known as ‘butis’.

The 5000 families and their 1200 to 1500 looms in Chanderi operate from the ‘weaver’s mohalla’ which is impregnated with narrow lanes and houses built around courtyards as the homes and the workshops dwell within one common structure. Through the coherent clacking of looms punctuated at random intervals by popular Bollywood numbers, one can see men and women working together, taming threads with their trained fingers and weaving an awe-inspiring intricacy of sorts.

These laborious tasks never get outsourced, there is a definite cluster based organization of work, with different People catering to specific tasks such as making bobins, cloring, rolling the warp threads on the wooden beam etc. while the raw material may come from far off lands for instance the zari comes from Surat, cotton from Coimbatore and the silk from Bangalore.

The craftsmen start by creating the design on a grid sheet where all the junctions of intersection of the warp and weft threads are clearly set in an organized pattern. The threads are dyed to suit the same and fed into the looms. A popular local term in this context -‘Beem bandhana’ suggests the spools of thread arranged on the weft. Based on the design, threads anchored at different heights are adjusted so that some get lifted up and others settle down till common intersections are executed. The number of threads depends on the width of the woven cloth and the length on the quantity of production.

In the summers when the silk threads keep breaking off, the craftsmen use water and tighten the strands. To ensure that the threads don’t keep slipping off, the craftsmen coat their hands with soot. The entire process seeks manual labor and a good deal of strength to change the loom’s settings. Once arranged to a particular setting with enough thread on the weft in place, the loom can deliver 6 to 8 sarees at a stretch. The women are more involved with making threads using leftovers, while the men deal with the operational mechanisms of the loom. The time required to make one saree varies from 2 to 3 days depending on the complexity of the design.

It is also intriguing to distinguish between the MP’S saree titans – the Maheshwari and the Chanderi, where the Maheshwaris’ only sport geometric patterns and are opaque, the Chanderis’ are globally famous for their floral motifs of ‘Bel-bootas’ and their translucency. In Chanderi sarees, the zari threads are not cut off from underneath the stitch and that’s how it differs from the Banarasi brocade sarees.

These sarees have acquired a cult status worldwide with their exclusive designs. The local folk believe that their lives are so interwoven with these delicate threads that they might very well end up taking these unassuming strands to their grave. But how many can otherwise acknowledge the spell-casting beauty of 5000 such unique “soul-strings” that go into making a simple Chanderi saree?! Nobody knows.

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There are some who need a tree to meditate. And some who need music. But then there are those, who fend for gold. Because the fine nuances of creating intricate patterns in gold require such keen patience and concentration, that the art indeed becomes a true meditative bliss to the senses. And the gratification of coming the closest, that any mortal’s tactile memory can ever get, to touch a piece of art as overwhelming and magnificent, as the idea of god himself.

When the hunting tigers and Stags from the wild imagination of Nathuji soni descended onto the canvas of gold, Theva was born about 500 years ago. It is believed that this magnificent art wrapped around a big box impressed Raja Savant Singh of Pratapgarh so much that he bestowed immense wealth upon the soni (goldssmith) and rewarded him with the title of ‘Rajsoni’- The chief jeweler of the court. Both the title and the craft are being passed on through generations. Mutual learning amongst family and friends has made it into a small cluster of craftsmen who perform this craft rather secretively.

Theva comes from two words of the local dialect, ‘Tharna’ – meaning to hammer (to get thin foils of gold from very small quantity of the metal) and ‘Vada’ – meaning silver wire (which in the loop form makes the resting foundation for the main piece), both being the most important aspects of the art. While the forefathers of this art only made chests and boxes, today the masters of this skill have extend their expertise to photo frames, mirrors, cufflinks, brooches, trays, plates and personal accessories like rings and necklaces which are adorned by men and women alike. The inspiration for this art comes from the Mogul miniature paintings involving traditional design subjects ranging from mythological genres to the more secular themes. Today the art has acquired a more unique stance than ever because the conventional style has been blended with a variety of techniques like Meenakari, diamond setting etc and a new palette of materials, which includes – beads, threads and others lending a contemporary idiom to the time honored practice.

Thirty two year old Rakesh soni is a descendent of Nathuji soni and continues to dwell in the competence of this art. Besides being conferred with State and National Awards, Rakeshji and his wife Usha Soni have been recognized by UNESCO as well. The Government of India has even issued a stamp featuring an awe-inspiring piece of theva on a plate in 2002. But no material honor can compete with what the Rajsoni has accomplished for himself by ritualistically engaging himself in this art of controlled precision – a calm and collected temperament that leaves him happy to confess - ”I’ve lost the ability to ever get angry”.

The craft requires a working plane made locally using ‘chapadi’ (purified lac) to create a hard bed. Pure 23-carat gold, silver strips, Belgian glass and strings of beads and stones are amongst the other raw materials involved.

Small pieces of gold are beaten into several slender sections, about one tenth of a millimeter thin and mounted like a canvas mat on the lac plate. When the plate is warmed, the metal gets slightly embedded into the lac. Tools such as ‘Hummaney’ (forsep), ‘Katya’ (cutter) and ‘Tankale’ (to cut out the jaali) are then required to sketch and precisely cut out the pattern on the gold foil. The patterns either carry local narratives of hunting expeditions within miniature foliage and streams, animals and birds or they indicate the nature of indigenous myth like pictures of Radha Krishna, Sri Ram or Hanumanji.

It becomes essential to constantly check on the lac bed for air bubbles else it may cause an avoidable denting of the fragile gold foil. Master craftsmen however do not sketch; instead they directly puncture the blueprint with fine chisels and sharp tools. But such is the single minded attention required, that any error or deviation in the process of splitting the pattern can result in the entire piece of foil being wasted. All such discarded pattern sheets and cut outs from the jail are melted again and prepared for the fresh work.

The entire jali is then laid out in a frame of silver wire called “vaada” to lessen the risk of damage. The silver wire frame used in this task is pre-assembled on brass dies and soldered to precision. The entire framed composition is then set out on a mica sheet using forceps with extremely controlled and steady hands. Once pinned together over the mica, the two metals can be easily soldered and the mica is then removed. The delicate entity so obtained is then placed on a piece of colored Belgian glass using a bonding technique that remains to be a unique secret within the family. A solid silver casing called ‘chandi ki dibiya’ is then used to enclose the entire composition including the Belgian glass.

To add further glint to the piece, an extra layer of shiny foil is placed on the bed of the ‘dibiya’. The beauty of this art lies in the fact that, even though the amount of gold used is minimal, the eventual product gives an impression of a gold-rich heavily ornamented piece. A 4” X 6” photo frame requires only 5-6 grams of gold, but it gives the illusion of a gold feast to the eyes. The entire procedure is meticulously carried out in daylight only.

The art has remained a guarded secret…. even the daughters of the family are kept ignorant about the master stroke technique, considering that they will eventually settle out of the clan. The boys of the house on the other hand are trained in sketching patterns from the age of ten, so that when they finally start to practice the art, the language and expression of these jaali scenes unconsciously and effortlessly flows out of their hands, directly into the foil.

The ever-increasing prices of gold have rendered this practice as a good deal for those who subscribe to more value for less money.

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Who will buy these delicate, bright
Rainbow-tinted circles of light?
Lustrous tokens of radiant lives,
For happy daughters and happy wives.

These lyrics penned by the nightingale of India, Sarojini Naidu echo the sentiments that secretly unite womankind all over. What appears to the uninformed as an accessory that changes with changing trends, is actually a witness to a girl’s journey till she embraces womanhood. As a toddler her little wrists were adorned with gold and silver bangles, which over her growing years turned into charms and junk….and suddenly became auspicious companions when she stepped across the threshold into blissful matrimony as a young bride. The word bangle is derived from Hindi word ‘bungri’ meaning glass. Seashell, copper, bronze, gold, agate, chalcedony have been used to make bangles through centuries. But the art of making lac bangles at the ‘Maniharon ka Raasta’ in Jaipur is a peculiar flair, where through the length of the lane one can let his or her senses indulge in a visual canvas of colors and the music of jingling bangles, which punctuates the endless chatter of women who flood the many shops.

Lac bangle making is an art, as old as the establishment of Jaipur city. The king of Amer summoned the most initial craftsmen from the Manoharpur district of Uttar Pradesh. Once the capital city was instituted, these Manihar craftsmen also shifted their vocational base from Amer to Jaipur. The lane is dotted with countless bangle selling shops mostly managed by the muslim Manihari women while their men are away at the kilns and furnaces melting and preparing the raw-material.

The antiquity of this natural resin goes as back as the vedas, where the Laksha taru (or Palas) in Sanskrit, or the Lac tree has been mentioned. In the Atharva Veda, there is a small chapter devoted to the description of Lac insect, its habits and usefulness. The story of the notorious Lac palace built by the Kauravas in a plot to eliminate the Pandavas, in an episode from the 3000-year-old Mahabharata epic sheds more light on the history of this material.

Crimson red, plant sucking, tiny insects such as Laccifer lacca, Carteria lacca and Tachardia lacca colonize the branches of selected species of host trees and secrete a natural scarlet resin known as Lac. Later the different layers of resin residue on the coated branches of the host trees are scraped off as long sticks known as sticklac, crushed, sieved and washed several times to remove impurities till it shows up in natural red color. This Lac, acquired from Balrampur in Uttar Pradesh is further heated to settle down the impurities and get the best of it floating on the surface. To this molten Lac, which is originally brick red in color, the bangle makers further add wax (beroza) to increase the cohesiveness, titanium (Ghea pathar) to increase the volume and coloring agents. Generally the quantity of talc varies from 5% to 95% and is highly instrumental in determining the quality of the Lac bangles.

The process of obtaining Lac is carried out in large mud kilns. Semisolid Lac is placed on the hot metal plate coated with a layer of oil, which prevents it from sticking to the plate. This semisolid dough is then rolled into poles, and once dry these poles are sent away to the women who run the shops within the city. The ladies generally manage with a singular stove with a metal plate on top and simple hand made wooden batons and tweezers from within the shop. Roller pins are used to flatten the length of the solid poles and draw sheets out of the chunk. Slender strips are then creased and cropped out of the flat sheet of lacquer and rolled into a bangle like shape.

The dimensions of these bangles are adjusted by mild heating on the stove and gentle molding over wooden batons of varying diameters. The beauty of these bangles emerges from the fact that the manihari women create custom made accessories for their clientele by adjusting the bangle to the desired size and ornamenting them with the preferred beads, stones, crystals and other embellishments fancied by the she patrons visiting the store. It is interesting to observe the Lac bangles once broken, can easily be rejoined by mild heating and tender fabrication over the wooden mould. Since repeated heating eliminates moisture and makes lacquer brittle, the process of breaking and rejoining has a limit of 8 to 10 times only.

The Rajasthani rituals are known to require specific traditional ornamentations and different festivals seek different ensembles. Hence the sale of these bangles surges during local celebrations such as teej, the marwari festival of gangaur, karva chauth, holi, weddings and special ceremonies for the mothers-to-be. Infarct, each celebration can be identified with a distinct style of bangle design. For instance, a wedding in the family calls for the “gulali choodha” or the red colored bangle or the “hare bandon ka choodha”, the green colored bangle. Pink colored bangles are worn exclusively during holi. Besides bangles, rings, toe rings (bichchua), anklets (payal), nose rings, neck pieces, Bala, Bajuband, Rakhi, Gajra, Gokhru, Timaniyan and ‘maathe ka tika’ make prized slections for the visiting female clientele.

Deforestation has immensely affected the Lac reserves of our country resulting in escalation of the raw material cost. But little do people realize this fact and continue to expect their lacquer ware at ancient prices. A mute witness to this change are the statistics which reveal that the number of furnaces for Lac processing have reduced to 200-250, from a staggering 1500 that existed twenty-five years ago. The odd circumstances have been an important reason for the craftsmen to shift to alternate vocations.

Otherwise a government schoolteacher, Takhyyoul Sultana, lets her warm and entertaining self out, as she welcomes the chattering overtones of myriad of women in her bangle mart. Here ladies from all walks of life spend endless hours choosing their preferred accessory from the plethora of options, discussing daily narratives over numerous cups of tea and eventually bonding over bangles. It is evident that from avenues like these, emerges a scent of social culture that quietly maneuvers along these busy lanes to get mixed with other local flavors only to get absorbed by our collective memory.

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