Handmade in India

TERRACOTTA AND POTTERY
Production Clusters
Kanker district:
Kanker
Dhaneshware
Dantewara district:
Kukanar
Bastar district:
Narayanpur
Kumharpara
Kondagaon
Nagarnar
Kakar
Mitipara
Deori
Products
Toys
Masks
Votive offerings
Figurines
Bastar district:
Bhanjana - toddy
utensil
Madki, Handis - to
store and boil water
Ghagri - water pot
Toksi, Kalanji -
cooking vessels
Gundi, Kundri -
bowls
The potters of Kumharpara, off the banks of River Narangi, practice the art
of beaten pot making, forming thick wheel thrown pots into various forms of
container suh as storage jars, cooking vessles and for making mahuwa,
fermented drink. It starts with a big thump fo clay centred on the wheel with
pots of 8 inches to 10 inches in size being thrown in succession. These are
then dried , beaten and formed, according to the purposes they are to serve.
The belly of the pot forms when the clay is beaten further and it thins and
opens outwards, the mouth is formed by shaping the clay inwards. Slippery
balck and red clay, brought from paddy fields and river banks, is boiled into
thick paanjan and applied on the surface of the unfired articles.
This gives an even and glossy finish on firing.
Hollow votive terracotta are made of many
cylinders and pots of various sizes and shapes that
are first thrown on the potter`s wheel to form the
limbs, body, neck and head. These are joined
together to get the final form. Miniature
agricultural implements made in clay are given as
votive offerings to the village deity on the festival.
1. Devgudi, terracotta votive offerings made to
god are placed inder a tree in Kumharpara,
Bastar.
2. A potter throws clay on the wheel. Each
handful of clay is formed into stout, thick
pots, which will be sun dried for a little
while and then beaten to form.
3. A heavily ornamented elephant figure made
as a votive offering by the potters of
Kumharpara.
4. An artisan making a small elephant figure in
clay. These figures are offered to devgudi , a
sacred place under a tree, as a prayer for
fulfillment of a wish.
5. A terracotta toy, a miniature of the pot made
for brewing mahuwa, local liquor, in
Chhattisgarh.
6. Figure of a tiger, made as a votive offering,
Nagarnar, Bastar district.
Tools
Petna - beater
Potters wheel
Londhi - support for
the beater