Dokra Craft Of Bengal - Harking Back To A Lost Legacy Of Ancient Indian Handicrafts
It is no secret that India - one of the fastest developing nations in the third world - boasts of one of the richest cultural legacies in the world. India has been the cradle of one of the most ancient and culturally, scientifically, academically and heroically advanced civilizations of the world - namely the Indus valley civilization. It is but natural that India has still retained some of the more valuable vestiges of its rich past.
Here I am referring to the abundant flourishing of different kinds of handicrafts in various corners of this incredible country. Dokra craft or Dhokra art is one such unique handicraft of India that dates back to the days of Mohenjodaro - one of the prime seats of the erstwhile Indus valley civilization.
But unfortunately this incredibly beautiful and skilful art of metal casting known as Dokra craft is fast on the wane, slowly but steadily tiptoeing towards the same fate that has been embraced by millions of other handicrafts of the world which are slowly and silently dying out due to lack of patronage, sponsorship, exposure and lack of artisans.
Close to 4500 years back, the craftsmen settled in Mohenjodaro created bronze figurines of a girl in a dancing pose using a combination of lost wax technique and metal casting. This craft is characterized by a strange but unmistakable vitality coupled with an intrinsic starkness along with a seamless blend of tradition - all molded together in the form of art.
Dokra craft has a massive fan following in laypersons, scholars, art connoisseurs both in foreign countries as well as in India. Dhokra art is one of the most coveted art forms among educated and well informed collectors of art all across the globe. And there is something rather strange about Dokra craft that is its USP - no two pieces of this Indian handicraft are alike. Each and every single piece of Dokra craft is unique.
This metallurgical art form on which Dokra craft/Dhokra art is based has the lost wax technique as its foundation - something that the aesthetically inclined French call "cire perdue". And it is special in the sense that in spite of being one of the oldest Indian handicrafts, it is still the most advanced! A majority of modern day sculptors favor the Dokra craft over other techniques of sculpting figurines and Dokra craft is eco friendly as well.
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For those of you who are not familiar with Dokra craft, it is a kind of Indian handicraft that involves metal casting or metallurgical art form that makes use of the lost wax technique.
Do you know why, among all the other Indian handicrafts and brassware handicrafts, Dhokra art or Dokra craft is so much in demand? The main USP of this Dhokra metal craft is that no two pieces of Dokra art are alike.
Many people in the west and also in India have this strange misconception that Dokra craft refers to ornate tribal jewelry made by the tribals in the backward regions of India. In truth Dokra craft refers to all those metal artifacts made with the help of lost wax technique manufactured by the Dokra kamars of Bengal and elsewhere.
Since time immemorial, Indians have associated particular tribal districts of Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh with the folk art of Dokra or Dhokra. Dokra craft is a type of metal craft falling under the genre of brassware handicrafts.
The process in which Dokra craft or Dhokra figurines are made is just fascinating. At first the Dokra craftsman will create a clay core, dry it and add designs, patterns, expressions, decorations and wax channels to that clay replica.
Analyzing The Demand Of Indian Handicrafts And Brassware Objects (Dhokra Craft) In The Western World
There were traveling groups of metal craftsmen sporadically scattered all over the mineral rich, tribal belts of central India such as in the tribal districts of Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Vindhya hills region, Orissa and Bengal. These nomadic metal craftsmen, belonging to socially inferior castes are referred to as Dokra or Dhokra.
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As you have learnt from the title, Dokra craft indeed ranks among the oldest and most ancient processes of metal casting of the non ferrous variety that human civilization is acquainted with. You perhaps won't believe it, but this type of Indian handicrafts or brassware handicrafts date back to the era of Indus valley civilization some 4500 years back.
The brassware images and hollow brass objects are cast using the process of lost wax or cire perdue. First the Dokra artist has to envisage the image he wants to create in his mind. For that he has to meditate hard.
Since time immemorial, Indians have associated particular tribal districts of Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh with the folk art of Dokra or Dhokra. Dokra craft is a type of metal craft falling under the genre of brassware handicrafts.
Many people in the west and also in India have this strange misconception that Dokra craft refers to ornate tribal jewelry made by the tribals in the backward regions of India. In truth Dokra craft refers to all those metal artifacts made with the help of lost wax technique manufactured by the Dokra kamars of Bengal and elsewhere.
Dokra craft and manufacturing have received a big boost recently due to rising demand in foreign shores. Foreign customers and leading global high street fashion houses have expressed a lot of interest in the unique Dokra craft.
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