Dhokra – an art of antiquity

Though separated apart by distance of over four and half millennia in time and a long length of land, what joins Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan with the mineral rich tribal regions of the eastern Indian states of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal is the primeval art of metal casting through lost wax technique that has been handed down to generations of the gifted craftsmen, who practise what is popularly known as the Dhokra.

It was in 1926 that excavations at Mohenjo-daro or the mound of the dead in Sindh province, now in Pakistan, had brought to light the architectural remains of the lost Indus Valley civilisation and several artefacts including the Dancing Girl, a 10.5 cm tall bronze statuette of an ornamented female form, which was cast through the lost wax technique, which is synonym of the Dhokra art.

The Dhokra art is named after the Dhokra Damar tribes, the traditional metalsmiths of West Bengal; and the members from the regions of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal practising this art are the distant cousins of the Dhokras of central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. A couple of centuries back some of the Dhokra tribes had even migrated to Rajasthan in the west, and far off to Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in south and popularised the art there too.

Only non-ferrous metals like alloys of brass, nickel and zinc are used in the casting of Dhokra or Dokra artefacts, which though denote the primitive simplicity of the tribal life of the artisans yet make them so enchanting in artistic representation of the community’s folk motifs that there is an ever-increasing demand of these artefacts in the domestic market and abroad.

SIMPLE AND SLENDER

You have birds, animals, humans and representation of different kinds of non-living forms, and also household utilities among the Dhokra artefacts, which are simple slender, but attractive and range from andminiatures to life-size representation of living beings and objects of daily use. There are elephants, horses, bulls, crocodiles, monkeys, tigers, camels, antlers, rodents, fish, peacocks, owls, trees of ritual significance, ornamental combs, jewellery boxes, candle stands, lamps, bowls, men and women, religious images, village scenes, ornaments and even items of household furniture – all so artistically crafted with primitive implements and components that you are drawn towards them to have a closer look at their intricate details so deftly captured in excellence by innovative men and women still confined to their rustic environs, uninfluenced by modern day lifestyles. Cast with fine threads of wax, the objects of Dhokra art give out a pleasant impression as if they were woven out of metallic wires on an exotic loom. What makes Dhokra unique is that no two pieces are alike.

Other than preferences of the primeval themes and styles in choice of the subjects of the art representing the tribal folk culture and lifestyles distinct to their communities, the Dhokra artisans retain their pristine distinction in choice of implements and raw materials as well which are required in the creative processes. They employ both processes of the lost wax castings: solid casting and hollow casting. Whereas, the former is popular in South India, the latter is more commonly relied on by Dhokras of Central and Eastern India. Using naturally available materials like fine sand, cow or goat dung, bee wax, resin from locally grown Damara Orientalis tree, nut oils, paddy husk, red soil, fine clay from the termite hills and more- only from the environs around them, they endeavour to preserve the character of their art as a distinct one in its pristine form. Also, the traditional lost wax technique comes as a simple and ideal one to employ in those tribal settings.

WAX TECHNIQUE

In the lost wax technique, the bee wax along with the resin is wound thinly into a thread which is set in layers over a clay moulding of the desired shape and is used for setting the subtle contours and texture with finer details of the design and decorations of the final object. It is thickly coated further with very fine clay obtained from the termite hills and thus becomes a mould for the metal beset with drain ducts for the wax that melts away when the clay cast is baked in a slow fire furnace. With the heat melting away the wax, a hollow cast of the desired shape of the art object is left encapsulated between the two layers of the clay, which is then filled through an opening with molten scrap metal and then is left to cool down and harden after which the outer lay of clay over the mould is chipped off and the sculpture having taken shape within is retrieved, chiselled and polished for finishing towards perfection. The finished product has thus a core of clay which provides it with fullness and stability.

And this way takes birth a fine piece of art which embodies the artistic excellence of craftsmanship and also the pristine spirit of traditions and cultures preserved and passed down the generations since the times of the Indus Valley civilisation.

Bimal Saigal is a former Indian diplomat. He served as the second secretary at High Commission of India in Jamaica from 2004 to 2007.