|
 Metal craft is perhaps the single
most important craft in terms of the number of artisans engaged in its practice as in its
close links with the daily lives of the people of the State. The craft is practiced by the
people of the Kansari caste who can be broadly described as metalsmiths while a particular
variety, dhokra, is practiced mainly by sithulias. The largest concentration of the former
is Kantilo and Balakati in Puri district although fairly substantial numbers are found in
Cuttack, Ganjam and Sambalpur districts.
The products of this handicraft can be
broadly classified into three groups-items produced through process of beating, locally
known as pifa, those produced by casting and the third group would include the residual
items. These can also be broadly subdivided into two groups in terms of raw materials
used, this is, brass and bell metal, the former being an alloy of copper and zinc and the
latter of copper and tin.
The workshop is called sala or shed and
consists of a platform with a block of stone for the floor on which the beating is done, a
heating furnace or bhati, a raised verandah with a local lathe for polishing. Tools used
are hammers and anvils, pincers, hand drills, files and scrapers. The heating furnace with
a crucible is fanned by a blower with leather bellows although of late the craftsmen have
started using mechanical blowers.
The process consists of preparation of the
material by melting the required materials in the crucible and then placing the molten
metal into an earthenware container. After the molten metal sets, it is taken out and
after repeated hammering and beating is given the desired shape. Sometimes for making a
single item two or three pieces are separately made and joined mostly with rivets. The
major items manufactured in the beating process are plates or 'thali', deep round
containers called Kansa, small containers called 'gina' (tumbers), water containers called
gara and buckets or 'baltis', large cooking utensils and storage vessels called 'handi',
various types of pots and pans, ladles or chatu, perforated flat cooking spoons etc. While
the above mentioned are items used in cooking and eating there are also a number of items
used for puja or worship. Of these most important of course, is the ghanta or the gong
and thali for offering of the food to the deities. It may be mentioned here that in
a few places the surface of the items are also engraved with various designs including
floral and geometric patterns besides human and animal figures and occasionally they are
also painted with enamel paints. The items produced by the beating process are many and
the designs also vary from place to place.
 As for
casting one can make two broad groups that is brass castings and dhokra casting. Both
follow the lost wax or cireperdue process. Brass casting is done by the Kansaris and items
produced include icons-mainly Radha, Krishna, Laxmi, pot bellied Ganesha, Vishnu and
crawling Krishna called Gurundi Gopal, bells or ghanti, lampstand or rukha and lamps or
dipa. It is interesting to note that at present there is no bronze casting being done in
Orissa although the craft seems to have reached great perfection centuries ago as
evidenced for the discovery of a large number of bronze icons from Achutarajpur near
Banapur in Puri District. Again no casting is done in bellmetal although this is quite
common in South India. The socio-cultural links of its handicraft are very strong.
According to well entrenched traditions the bride is presented with a set of brass and
bell metal articles for starting off her new home, the quantity and quality varying
according to the economic status of the family. While in the villages these are
extensively used for eating and cooking, in the areas other materials like stainless
steel, aluminum and ceramics have dislodged them. Nevertheless the brides, even in urban
areas continue to get their set of brass and bell metal items in marriage. Of particular
interest is the round deep bowl called Kansa in which 'pakhala' a typical dish of Orissa,
that is rice soaked in water and curd or torani or fermented gruel, is eaten. In the
villages and in terms of the rural economy the articles also serve another useful purpose
as they can be easily pawned for borrowing money. Besides, the old, broken and used items
can always be exchanged at reduced rate for new items from itinerant metalware vendors. As
for metal icons, while in most orthodox families these are installed as deities of the
home, frequently placed on a brass platform called Khatuli, these area also used in some
temples as the presiding deities. However, in all major temples almost invariably the
moving image or the chalanti pratima of the presiding deities are brass icons. It is these
icons which are taken out in various ritual processions and perform other mobile functions
of the much larger and fixed principal. Of the major icons mention is to be made of the
large brass image of Radha in the Sakhigopal temple in Puri district and similar images in
temples in Ganjam district. Similarly the use of 'Ghanta' and 'ghanti' the bell and the
gong are both important and indispensable for all ritual worships, particularly during
arati and offering of food. During the Rath Yatra or Car Festival, hundreds of the gongs
are beaten rhythmically by the devotees and priests in frenzied ecstasy as the divine
chariots are pulled forward by the thronging millions. The manjira or gini, two circular
cupped convex discs tied to strings and used for beating the rhythm and the ghunguroo or
ankle bells tied in the feet of dancers are also products of this group of crafts and are
in indication of their whereabouts. The sound of the cattle returning to the village after
the day's garazing mixing their sweet bleatings with the jingle of the bells leaving a
trail of dust cloud is a familiar scene of rural Orissa.
Dhokra casting, a variety of
metal casting is essentially a folk craft and is limited to a few pockets of Orissa, that
is Kuliana in Mayurbhanj district, Kaimatin Keonjhar district, Sadeiberni in Dhenkanal
district and Haradagaria in Puri district being practiced by an aboriginal caste called
sithulias. While the lost wax process is followed the raw materials used is not pure brass
but contains miscellaneous scraps of other metals which give it is typically antique look.
Its motifs are mostly drawn from flok culture. While among the animals, the elephant is
most popular, the other motifs include human heads, kings, manas or miniature replica of
measures, containers with lids, with or without locking devices, images of deities like
Ganesh and Durga, and lamps and lampstands, the last being made in several intricate
designs in shape of trees and branches with as many as a hundred lamps in one stand. Of
late some utilitarian articles like candlestands, ash trays and penstands are also being
made keeping the essential folk design intact. Dhokra is not exclusive to Orissa and is
found in Bengal, Bihar and M.P. also but it is a very important handicrafts because of its
more or less exclusive folk character. The third group of items under this handicraft ,
that can be described as residual consists mainly of the unique flexible brass items like
the brass fish and snakes made by the craftsmen of Belguntha in Ganjam district.
|
