There is a large community of skilled craftspeople and artisans in India. There is a unique market for handicrafts in every area. The Pashmina shawl is renowned in Kashmir, the Kolhapuri chappal in Maharashtra, and the priceless hand-woven pearl necklaces in Hyderabad, to name a few.
Basketry, carpet weaving, embroidery, and ceramics are only a few of the many widespread handicraft traditions across several states.
From the earliest times of human society, pottery has been a medium for artistic expression. Nearly twenty thousand years ago, the Chinese developed the first methods of shaping clay into pottery. Additionally, pottery has a long history of practice in India.
The Indus Valley Civilization is responsible for the first known pottery in India. Finely baked red clay was used by the Harappan people to make pots and pans. Animal and botanical motifs, among others, adorned these jars. Such designs can also be found on modern Indian ceramics.
The handicraft industry has been rapidly declining since the advent of mechanical production, which has resulted in pottery creation becoming a rare art form. Some of India's most endangered pottery traditions have been covered in this article by Prosperitymirra.
Famous and Beautiful Pottery Traditions in India
The Blue Pottery of Jaipur
Turkish and Persian arts and crafts had a significant impact on this kind of ceramics. Blue pottery designs were brought to India by Turks and Persians, and they were later utilized extensively in Mughal buildings. The absence of clay in Jaipur blue pottery gives it its distinctive appearance.
The potter instead shapes the clay using a mixture of water, borax, glass, and Multani mitti, which consists of finely powdered quartz grains.
Due of the low glazing temperature, blue ceramic pieces are exceedingly delicate. Although blue is the most common color used in these ceramics, green, yellow, brown, and white are occasionally incorporated as motifs.
Traditionally, blue pottery was crafted into urns, pitchers, pots, and vases. Nevertheless, craftspeople now use blue pottery to create utensils such as plates, bowls, cups, saucers, and spoons in response to increased demand and fast commercialization.
Khavda Ceramics
The Kutch region of Gujarat is known for its unique khavda pottery-making. One major source of influence for the Khavda style is the pots and pans produced by the Harappan civilization. Traditional "Rann ki mitti" pottery is made of mud and clay mined from a lake close to Khavda in Gujarat. After a Khavda pottery shapes the clay according to his specifications, he sets it out to dry in the sun. When the pots have hardened and taken shape, the ladies of the potter's household adorn them with natural dyes.
The moulded goods are adorned with intricate patterns and designs created from red, black, and white clay colors. Before being roasted in a furnace, the pots are returned to the sun. The potters of the Kutch region are skilled artisans who use Khavda pottery to create a wide variety of ornamental items.
Longpi Pottery
The indigenous people of Manipur have a rich tradition of making pottery called Longpi (Nungpi). Not using the potter's wheel to create their wares sets this Indian pottery style apart from all others. Tangkhul men create a wide range of exquisite handicrafts by combining clay and black rock.
Dark brown or black is the color most commonly associated with pots and pans made of black clay. There are no surface decorations or colors on Longpi pottery, unlike the other types of pottery discussed in this article. The Tangkhul people mostly use it to craft everyday items like bowls and spoons.
Soup pots, pans, mugs, and water heaters are just a few examples of the many uses for Longpi pottery. Thanks to its widespread acclaim, Longpi Pottery has begun to attract buyers from far beyond Manipur.
Molela Murtikala
The clay idols made in the Molela district of Rajasthan are famous all over the world. One kind of art that is common in this region is murtikala, which means "art of making idols" in English. This method of clay molding is used to create statues of gods in temples and figurines of local shrines.
Artists practicing Murti Kala sculpt idols out of the red clay that grows around the little ponds in Rajasthan. The damp red mud is hardened by mixing it with natural things like rice husks and animal manure.
Carving miniature clay idols is a wintertime activity for artisans and skilled craftsmen. The artisans first give the murtis a natural red hue before using them to decorate the outside or inside of the temple. They can add bright watercolours to the murti later on if they so want.
Bidriware Pots
Karnataka is the birthplace of the Bidriware pottery style, which emerged under the Bahamani Sultans' reign. The earth surrounding the Bidar fort is the source of the clay used to make Bidriware ceramics. Subsequently, various forms are taken from this dirt, which is then covered with thin layers of tiny amounts of iron, silver, copper, tin, and zinc.
Affluence and prosperity were symbolised by the purchase and use of Bidriware during the Sultans' reign. There has been a sad reduction in the manufacturing of Bidriware ceramics in recent times.
Terracotta ceramics from West Bengal
The terracotta pottery of West Bengal is made with clay that is mined from two or three nearby lakes or ponds. After obtaining the clay, it is combined and used to create various objects using the wheel. Nevertheless, not everything is created by spinning a wheel; some components of a ship are built by hand with iron tools, while others are spun on the wheel.
The next step is to bake the clay to a high enough temperature to harden it and give the object its final form. At last, the potter's wife or another member of her family paints a design or deity onto the vase to finish decorating it.
Pottery made of black clay
The Azamgarh region of Uttar Pradesh is the only place where black clay pottery is created. It makes use of unique dirt that can only be found in the Nizamabad region. The soil's dark hue is caused by a combination of factors, including black clay and trace amounts of zinc and tin. Intricate silver-colored design patterns adorn the vessels after they are formed on the potter's wheel.
This method produces vessels that are suitable for both practical and aesthetic usage. Craftspeople also carve the clay into figures representing regional gods and goddesses.
It remains a mystery why India's handicraft business is collapsing, despite the country's famed pottery and clay-molding traditions. Indian pottery has lost a lot of its lustre as a result of the growing desire for mass-produced, inexpensive goods and the falling market for handcrafted goods.
This has resulted in the bulk of ceramic workers giving up their careers in ceramics and taking up farming and peasantry.
Artists and other craft workers who make pottery do it for more than just a living; it's a way to show the world what they can do with their hands and their creativity. One should make an effort to learn more about these lovely and uncommon varieties of Indian pottery before turning to purchasing pricey Chinaware or fragile Egyptian terracotta; perhaps purchasing them will help artists and disappear Indian arts.
