Arts and Crafts of Delhi
Delhi has an amazingly long tradition of arts and crafts. Strangely enough not many people know about this: dilliwallas (Delhiites) included. Hardly surprising, considering there’s so much to confuse as arts and crafts from all over India camp out here. Actually, it would be an insult if they didn’t – after all isn’t Delhi the capital, the premiere city of India? Anyway, as a result, local traditions have gone unnoticed. As the popular Hindi adage goes: ghar ki murgi dal barabar, meaning that the things at home are rarely appreciated! In the year 1648 when Shahjahan built Shahjahanabad, the present-day walled city (though there is hardly any wall left!). Chandni Chowk, the famous market place came up as an accompaniment to the Red Fort in 1650.
But it is not as if Delhi did not have any arts and crafts before this. Stories have filtered down to us about Mohammad-bin-Tughlaq employing as many as 500 expert weavers in Delhi as far back as in the 14th century. Their assignment: to weave silk and gold brocades for the ladies of the court and as royal gifts! However, such instances are few and far between. Formally, it all began in1648.
So there, Delhi is not just a hodgepodge of traditions from all over. It does have its own repertoire of arts and crafts. Check out the following before you go shopping in the streets of Delhi.
Bamboo Work
You are bound to spot vendors selling window screens made of bamboo slats and tied with plain or coloured string in designs all over northern India.These are called chiks. Chikwalas or makers of such screens can be seen in and around the city. Delhi also happens to be an important centre for chairs and stools made of the tall golden-white sarkanda grass, which grows in large abundance in this area.
Carpet Weaving
Carpet weaving came into prominence during the Mughal era, when Akbar brought Persian weavers to India. The main centres of carpet-making were Srinagar, Lahore, Amritsar, Sind, Multan, and Allahabad. Delhi however was a centre for the production of Herati carpets (designed after the style of those made in Herat, Afghanistan) at one time. Known for their harmonious colours, the design of these carpets was kind of standard. The border was usually a broad band separated from the centre and edged on the outer side by one or two narrow bands filled with bold and conventional flower designs.
Gems, Kundan & Meenakari Jewellery
Delhi is home to two very special kinds of jewellery encouraged and patronized to the level of an art form by the Mughals. Kundan and meenakari are equally intricate and splendid, and it is impossible to say which outshines the other.
Kundan is the Mughal-inspired art of setting of stones in gold and silver. Gems are bedded in a surround of gold leaf rather than secured by a rim or claw. Famous Meenakari, or the skill of enamelling, was brought from Lahore to Delhi by Hindu Punjabis. Did you know that enamelling was originally meant to protect gold, which in its pure state is so soft and malleable that it can easily wear away? The Mughal fashion was to enamel the reverse side of jewellery to protect it from contact with the wearer’s skin.
Enamelling is a champleve technique, which in simple English means that a recess is hollowed out in the surface of gold or silver to take in a mineral. For example, cobalt oxide, which gives a blue colour, is then fired into the depression so as to leave a thin line separating the segments of colour. An ornament with both kundan and meenakari is so astoundingly magnificent that it seems to have been conjured up by rubbing Aladdin’s magical lamp.
Do visit Dariba Kalan near Chandni Chowk, which is famous jewellers’ street. The traditional meenakari and kundan designs they have are worth checking out. Another special thing to look out for is setting of the navratan (nine precious stones) in gold. This is a traditional skill practised by Muslim craftsmen called saadegars who settled in Delhi during Shahjahan’s reign. Sarafs, traditional Hindu jewellers who have been around for centuries, are still present and doing good business too.
Ivory Carving
Delhi used to be quite centre for ivory carving when the Mughals were king. Over the years, and especially after the ban on ivory, artisans have had to make do with fashioning small caskets, jewel cases, paper cutters, card cases, chessmen and boards. If you are truly interested in this craft, try the Delhi Ivory Palace in Shahjahanabad, a 300-year-old shop that used to attract the best craftsmen back then. The highlight of the place is an old set of furniture that was carved by three generations of craftsmen and was intended as a gift for Queen Victoria. In recent times, artisans have increasingly had to make do with bone, sandalwood and ivory chips.
Leatherware
Once upon a time, (yes, you’ve got it right), during the Mughal period, Delhi was an important and famous centre of leatherwork. Traditional leather jooties (ethnic footwear) and slippers, which were sometimes ornamented with pearls, gold and silver were the piece de resistance. Embroidered bags, shoes were other popular items. However, thanks to the mechanization of the leather industry, traditional leatherware finds few takers though you can spot a few craftsmen working at their art.
Miniature Painting
The Delhi school is a direct offshoot of the Mughal School. Mansoor, a famous painter of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s court, is said to be the author of this school and his direct descendants can still be found following in his footsteps. Known for its dynamism and naturalism, this school used a strong contrast in colours and the paintings were done on ivory. Now with the ban on ivory, a special handmade paper is in use.
Musical Instruments
Throughout history Delhi has been associated with the making of musical instruments, along with Calcutta, Lucknow, Banaras, Lahore, and Tanjore. There are still some old shops where musical instruments are assembled. Check out Bina Musical Stores at Nai Sarak, Delhi Musical Store at Jama Masjid and Lahore Music House at Daryaganj.
Paper Craft
There’s a lot you can do with paper and Delhiites have been doing it for a long period of time. You might have seen kites but there’s a whole lot more on offer. Starting with kites then, you can find them in the patang (kite) market in Lal Kuan bazaar in Old Delhi. These colourful, feather-light kites come in all shapes and sizes – and so they should, after all, flying kites is an important national pastime.
Tazia is the next most popular paper craft. A commemorative paper structure, it consists of coloured bits of paper pasted on a bamboo frame and carried in the Moharram procession (mourning to mark the martyrdom of the Prophet’s son). Tazias are used for a happy purpose too during the Phoolwalon ki Sair held every September. Another papercraft that takes a lot of doing is effigy-making. Effigy-makers have it really good when the Hindu festival of Dusshera comes round. Huge effigies of Ravana, Kumbhkarna and Meghnath (the three bad guys from epic Ramayana) are laboriously erected and then burnt on Dusshera to uphold the victory of truth and justice.
Pottery
There’s no escaping pottery in India; it’s everywhere, in every part, every nook and cranny of India. In Delhi, if you are looking for terracotta pottery, then you’re in luck. You’ll see cutwork lamps, long necked surahis (water-pots), gamle (flowerpots), pitchers and cups of all shapes and sizes crawling all over the place.
Around Saket, Uttam Nagar, Bindapur, Kotla Mubarakpur and Shahpurjat you’ll find colonies with a concentration of potters. If you don’t manage to get hold of quality earthenware in one of the roadside shops, look out for it at the Crafts Museum in Pragati Maidan, Dilli Haat and just outside the New Delhi Railway Station.
The art of making blue glaze pottery came to Delhi via Kashmir, the Mughal emperors’ favourite retreat, and rolled on to Jaipur. The traditional Persian designs have now been adapted to please a more sophisticated clientele. Apart from the predictable urns, jars, pots and vases, you’ll now find tea sets, cups and saucers, plates and glasses, jugs, ashtrays and even napkin rings. You can spot blue pottery being made by Hazarilal who lives in Hauz Suiwalan, one of the little alleys behind Asaf Ali Road.
The colour palette is restricted to blue derived from the oxide of cobalt, green from the oxide of copper and white, though other non-conventional colours such as yellow and brown have jumped into the fray too.
Shellac Bangles
Though Rajasthan is particularly regarded as the home of shellac work, Delhi isn’t too far behind. Especially when it comes to brightly coloured lac bangles. Do check out these dazzling bangles, often studded with glass gems, spirals of base-metal wire, foil and spangles. They make inexpensive but unusual presents for friends back home.
Wood Inlay
Thanks to Mughal patronage Delhi became a thriving centre for all sorts of crafts, among them wood inlay work too. The Mughals loved this form of decoration and their demand encouraged communities of Persian inlay artisans to settle in Delhi. Coloured woods, horn and even plastic are lovingly set into carved surfaces of a range of household objects, jewellery boxes and curios.
Zari, Gota, Kinari & Zardozi
Zari is gold, and zardozi embroidery is the glitteringly ornate, heavily encrusted gold thread work practised in Delhi and a few other cities of India. To most foreigners – used to sleek, understated wear – the north Indian bride’s lehanga, choli and dupatta, heavily emroidered with gold and silver threads comes as a visual shock. Either real silver thread, gold-plated thread or an imitation which has a copper base gilded with gold or silver colour, is used for zari.
Traditionally made for Mughal and Rajput nobility, it has now been officially adopted as bridalwear by anyone who can afford it. of course, the days of using real gold and silver thread are now history. What you can get, however, is synthetic or ‘tested’ zari emroidery. Metal ingots are melted and pressed through perforated steel sheets, to be converted into wires. They are then hammered to the required thinness. Plain wire is called badla, and when wound round a thread, it is called kasav. Smaller spangles are called sitara, and tiny dots made of badla are called mukaish.
Akin to applique, gota work involves placing woven gold cloth onto other fabric to create different surface textures. Kinari, or edging, as the word suggests, is the fringed or tasselled border decoration. This art is predominantly practised by Muslim craftsmen.
Zardozi, a more elaborate version of zari, involves the use of gold threads, spangles, beads, seed pearls, wire, gota and kinari. As one walks through Kinari Bazaar, a narrow by-lane off Chandni Chowk, one can still see men and women working assiduously at zardozi work. The method is unchanged, and sp are most of the designs – traditional phool-pattis (floral motifs) still rule the roost. Kinari Bazaar has a wide range of these dazzling garments on display and, of course, sale. This once fading art form received a shot in the arm a few years ago when India’s top fashion designers began giving it place of pride in their collections.
Dastkar, The Crafts Revolution
Dastkar is a registered society that aims at improving the economic status of craftspeople, thereby promoting the survival of traditional crafts. It provides marketing facilities and support services to traditional artisans and low-income craft groups that need assistance.
The primary objectives of the organisation were to provide a link between the rural craftsperson and the urban consumer and to tackle the problems faced by craftspeople in the country through direct interaction with the artisans themselves.
Dastkar strongly believes in ‘craft’ as a social, cultural and economic force of enormous strength and potential. The crux of its programme is to help craftspeople learn to use their own inherent skills as a means of employment, income generation and economic self-sufficiency.
The craft skill and the product – its identification, development, production and marketing – are the catalyst to help traditional craftspeople regain their place in the Indian economic mainstream and development process. The objective is to create self-sustaining, viable producer groups and encourage them to market directly and not to subsidies craft.
Dastkar’s vision is of craftspeople, especially women, running their own lives; economically independent and self-sufficient through their own efforts and through the production and sale of craft products using indigenous materials and employing inherent traditional skills that are in harmony with local social, cultural and environmental norms.
The society was founded in 1981 by six women who had worked in the craft and development sector. From a group of women working informally on a wholly voluntary basis, it is today a full-time development and alternative marketing organization with an all-India outreach.
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