Self-taught tribal craftsmen produce wonders in brass

When their forefathers fled from their native land in neighbouring undivided Madhya Pradesh (now Chhattisgarh) to save themselves from the torture of the then British administrators and landed in Odisha to begin life afresh, they would have never thought that their successors would come this far.

Those were the days of pre-Independent India. Now, residents of Nabajibanpur, a tiny village in coastal Dhenkanal district who belong to a tribal group called Situla have not only earned a name for themselves but also have made their tribe as well as the state proud for their work in Dokra, an ancient handicraft which has become immensely popular among visitors and tourists, both from inside India and outside. “We are proud of our work and craft which will live forever. We will ensure that,” said Dusashan Behera (67), a national award winning Dokra craftsman from the village.

Nabajibanpur with a population of around 3,000 people has 57 households. Almost 90 per cent of the them are engaged in Dokra item making besides popularising and promoting the ancient craft. The items they make include different shapes and sizes of lampshades, animal and human figurines and idols of different gods and goddesses. “We make almost everything,” said 55-year-old Kumuti Majhi, a craftswoman.

The small village has already produced eight award-winning craftsmen and women, including Behera who had received the National Shilpi Guru Award more than a decade back. They have also participated and won prizes in craftsmen competitions in different parts of the country besides displaying their talent in art and crafts exhibitions in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Bhubaneswar.

Some of them like Behera also had opportunities to showcase their talent in England, Japan and Italy. Their creations have found a place in different museums both in India and abroad.

Making Dokra items, however, is a painstaking task that requires a lot of patience. The craftsmen begin by kneading red clay with paddy husk to shape models of the objects they wish to make. The models are then treated with a paste made of earth, cow-dung, wax and bitumen that is passed through a narrow strainer. Then ground bits of brass are applied to it in required amount and the model is given a thick final quoting of fresh earth mixed with paddy husk with a small hole at the bottom.

Then the model is placed in an oven heated with coal. The heat melts the wax that trickles out through the hole at the bottom while ground brass covers the model from all sides. The final product that invariably looks slightly dark is then polished to give the objects a shining exterior.

Interestingly, the craftsmen and women of Nabajibanpur never had any formal training to make the wonderful and attractive Dokra items. They learnt the craft by just watching their elders who had an expertise in making brass utensils for household use. “Gradually we added our own ideas into the craft and created the Dokra items as per people’s choice,” said Golap Gadtia, another award-winning craftswoman from the village.

The village has now become a favourite destination of both Indian and foreign tourists. If the villagers and the Dhenkanal district administration officials are to be believed, nearly one lakh tourists visit the village every year. And a sizeable chunk of them are foreign nationals. “We play host to tourists throughout the year except the four monsoon months,”said Sansar Gadtia, another award-winning craftsman from the village.

Encouraged by the tourists’ inflow into the village, the state government is now planning to set up a craft village near Nabajibanpur. The land has already been identified for the project and Rs 10 crore sanctioned. “Once the village is ready, it will be a great help for the local Dokra craftspersons,” said Prasana Patnaik, an official from the Dhenkanal district administration.

However, everything is not rosy for these talented craftsmen and women. They do have several problems. And a major one among them is lack of facilities and support from the government to market their products. Profit margins keep shrinking with a few marketing outlets available to craftsmen who produce around 45 quintals of materials every month. While around a quintal is bought from them by visiting tourists, particularly foreigners who offer them best possible prices -- Rs 13,000 for a lampshade that costs them Rs 450 in terms of materials - the bulk of the stuff is purchased by NGOs and middlemen who offer them peanuts.

“Since a few other outlets are available to us we are forced to sell them in bulk,” said 39-year-old Trinath Behera, another resident of the village, adding that only other sales platforms available to the artisans are occasions like different festivals in districts within the state and crafts fairs both inside Odisha and other cities in the country which are few and far between.  
Dhenkanal district officials, however, said steps are being taken to improve the marketing facilities for the craftsmen and women. Moreover, steps have already been initiated to curb activities of  middlemen who are exploiting the tribal artisans.

“We are trying to create opportunities for them through official channels so that they can sell their products without any difficulty in markets both within the state and outside. Moreover, we have imposed a ban on movement of middlemen in the village,” said a district official.