Ghurni: Bengal’s village where life-like clay dolls have bridged the rich-poor divide 30stades
Over half-a-century back, when Kanchan Bag was still a child, his father would hand-pull the rickshaw to feed his 10-member family. Bag’s family, comprising his parents, grandparents and five siblings lived in Ghurni, in the Krishnanagar tehsil of West Bengal’s Nadia district.
“We were so poor that
on some days we did not have anything to eat. Yet, my father never let us pull
the rickshaw as he wanted us to be in a more respectable profession, which
would also guarantee a steady income,” Bag, now 57, recollects.
Democratisation of
doll-making
With no formal schooling due to poverty, the other option for Bag’s father was to let his sons learn the local Ghurni doll-making from a putul shilpi (literally doll artist) of the Pal or Paul community, who have been the custodians of the clay craft for nearly four centuries in Krishnanagar. The dolls are also called Krsihnanagar clay dolls.
So Bag’s father got one of his sons to work as a potter’s apprentice for free.
“The Pals of this area have passed down their craft, teaching the younger generations the skills and techniques. So other locals of Krishnanagar too entered doll-making as a respectable and lucrative career alternative,” Bag says.
He later learnt doll-making from his elder brother and eventually, both of them became expert craftsmen. Their incomes increased and the family came out of the web of poverty. “Even when I just started to make the clay models and the products were not very well finished, it fetched us money,” Bag says with a smile.
And that is the power of Ghurni’s life-like, intricately-carved clay dolls – they find buyers throughout the year, encouraging people from non-potter communities, like Bag, to join the craft.
An artist working on clay dolls at his workshop in Ghurni, Krishnanagar. Pic: Flickr
“The uniqueness of the Ghurni or Krishnanagar clay dolls lies in the masterful replication of the human figure, draped in real clothes, and the quality of finish, capturing the minutest details,” says Bag, who has been creating clay art since the age of four. Not surprisingly, the dolls are exported and loved the world over.
Ghurni dolls – history
& geography
Ghurni, about 150km from Kolkata, is nestled along the banks of the Jalangi River, which flows through Krishnanagar. The town, also called Krishnagar, came into existence in the mid-1600s when the royal dynastic rulers of Bengal were extending their fiefdoms and zamindaris.
The local king, Krishna Chandra, who was fond of art and culture, is said to have brought some Ghurni clay doll craftsmen to Krishnanagar from Natore (now in Bangladesh), the royal house of which had links with the royal house of Krishnanagar.
“In the early days,
the doll makers were encouraged by the royals to create clay idols of gods and
goddesses,” says Rintu Das, Kolkata’s renowned clay idol creator, who has
conceptualised award-winning idolsof gods and goddesses during the
festivities, especially Durga Puja.
Over time, miniature versions, which were affordable for the common people, began to be created and the clay dolls took different forms including those of holy men and women, national icons, and people cooking, farming, fishing, selling vegetables etc.
Fruits and flowers,
vegetables and other eatables like eggs (boiled eggs sliced in half is a common
and popular theme) and other everyday items too took on miniature clay
versions.
Holy men and women, singing bhajans, is a popular theme in Ghurni clay dolls. Pic: Flickr
According to historians, after the advent of British rule in 1757, the administrators were so impressed with the clay idols that they encouraged the artisans to create clay statues representing their Christian faith. Thus were born clay dolls of Jesus Christ, Mother Mary, tiny figurines of the Mother and Child among others.
It was around this
time that the clay dolls were also exported to Britain and other European
countries and it began to gain world prominence.
Innovation in clay
craft
While the craft has
evolved over centuries, what has remained constant is the focus on the
intricate craftsmanship including the fine finishing, detailing and the
emphasis on vibrant colours, not to mention the range of themes that the
artisans work with.
Bag says while large
orders come from clubs and communities during festivities like Durga Puja,
smaller clay dolls are sought after at times of other celebrations like the
Jagannath Rath Yatra of Puri or Jhulan festival when people in Bengal decorate
corners of their homes and even public spaces with tiny toys depicting human
activities.
“These handicraft items make great gifts too and so there is never any dearth of sales."
Over the past five decades, he has advanced from being a creator of small clay figurines and dolls to large statues and idols, murals and other terracotta decors.
Ghurni clay doll artist Kanchan Bag working on a terracotta mural. Pic: courtesy Kanchan Bag
“When I started, I used to make everything from gods and goddesses (especially Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Saraswati, because they are worshipped in many common households and had huge demand) to figures of young boys playing football and people doing various chores.”
Now Bag designs interiors with this terracotta art and gets work from around the country.
He also visited the Rashtrapati Bhawan for working on a museum when the late Pranab Mukherjee held the post.
Apart from the
willingness of Pal community members to share their knowledge with others, the low
investments involved in the craft also made it popular. “The clay or mud was
everywhere so we did not have to buy it but when the demand went up, we had to
procure the raw material,” says Bag.
Ghurni clay dolls celebrate life, depicting the everyday chores and livelihood activities of the common people.
Earlier two basketfuls
of dry clay or mud cost only Rs10 and the products made out of them fetched
them around Rs700 to Rs 800. “The dolls between 3 to 6 inches would be priced
anywhere between the lowest of 50 paise and the highest Rs20, which was a lot
in those days,” says Bag.
Over five decades the price of clay and mud has increased but only marginally and a 10-kg sack costs about Rs60. The biggest boost, however, is that today people pay willingly for handicrafts.
These dolls are sold online though marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart as well as websites like Gaatha. Many artisans have their own Facebook page to sell their products across the globe.
“The value of the art forms has gone up,” says Bag, now leading a comfortable life with his wife and son.
He does have a few
grievances, however, and says that clay doll artists who cannot negotiate well
are exploited by middlemen who reap the benefit of the newfound surge in the
valuation of handicrafts around the world. He also says that he has been duped
by several people who did not give him the promised money and asks if we could
mention that in our report.
“The Coronavirus and
the lockdown too played havoc with the economy at Ghurni as there was very
little trade during the pandemic,” says Bag, hoping for better times to return
soon.
“Now things are much
better,” says Tarit Paul, who is from an original potter family. He proudly
proclaims that “clay doll making is in our blood because our ancestors have
been engaged in this art for nearly three-and-a-half centuries.”
The 56-year-old has won several awards, including at international festivals. His entire family, which includes his parents, wife, two brothers, and sons are involved in the making of clay dolls.
“Children as young as three or four become familiar with the process and are experts by the time they are in their teens.”
After procuring the
clay, it has to be soaked in water for a few days. The water quantity has to be
just right because if disproportionate, it will cause the clay to be either too
tight or too loose. The clay is very soft. It is kneaded and rolled like dough
for shaping into figures.
Sometimes it is cast in a mould or model. The artisans also use tiny iron rods to provide the skeletal structure for the figurines and add different body parts like legs and arms made from separate pieces of clay. The eyes, mouth and other features are carved on the face. The dolls are then dried in the sun for a few days and later placed in a covered, charcoal-fed kiln and baked.
Later, the dolls are
coated with a layer of varnish followed by colour using a brush. The paint is
prepared by adding tamarind seed power to a clay mix and then adding
watercolour to it. Often fabric paint is added too. The dolls are then costumed
with miniature clothing.
For many artists like
Bag, Ghurni clay dolls have meant the transition from poverty to a life of
comfort. And that is the biggest tribute to this centuries-old craft.
(Dola Mitra is a Kolkata-based journalist and author of ‘Decoding Didi’. She is the Editor of digital news portal Cuckoo News)
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