Kumartuli-The clay tussaud of India

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Within the bustling streets of congested north calcutta , in the region of bengal lies the area know as kumartuli - the home to the clay idol makers and clay art of india , the best clay art forms that the world has ever known .

the idea of clay deities originates with shastras declaring the mediums of deity construction--stone,wood,metal,clay and painted . in bengal the river ganges join with brahmaputra to form the largest river delta in the world which splits up into numerous distributeries untill joining the sea . hence this region is abound in fertile gangetic clay and scarce in good quality stone .

the hindus of this region had to make a choice , and they chose the readily available clay as a medium to craft their gods . an art that finds mention in the durga saptashati , which describes how king surata made a clay deity of the goddes to worship her in the autumn . over the last thousand years the art has evolved a lot .

the original seat of learning was at the city of krishnanagore from where the early craftsmen migrated to calcutta and settled in the new region of kumartuli . The city , with its innumerable festivals there were no dearth of orders from customers.

the technique used is primitive yet clever --

on a strong and firm wooden platform straw is bound tightly using ropes to give it the form of a god or goddess . then the first layer of fine clay is applied mixed with rice husks to give shape to the body contours . after that dries another type of fine clay is used to smoothe off the body . the head is crafted hollow in dice and placed in proper position while the fingers are made of clay mixed with cut jute fibres to give it added strentgh . as a final touch fine pieces of cloth are soaked in clay and smoothely layered around the skin surface to prevent it from cracking once it dries . then it is painted , varnished and dressed in clothings and imitation jwellery made of tinsel and foils and sent off to the respective places .

use of clay meant that there was no restrictions in height of the images . hence image worship in bengal assumed gigantic proportions which often reached upto 25 or 30 feet ! once the celebrations are over the deity in ritually immersed in a river to allow it to return to the 'elements' .
this practice has now spread to other parts of the nation , the most notable example seen in ganeshotsav of maharashtra .

today kumartuli draws to itself its own group of photographic enthusiasts , toruists , curious onlookers . however with poor infrastructure and low price of the deities the problems that the community faces are many . a ten armed durga (say 12 feet high) with demon mahishasura , a lion , lashmi , saraswati , ganesha and kartik ( together they constitute a set of durga puja) would cost only around 15000 rupees.

but these patrons of art continue with their ancestral passion of arts and religion .







given below are two images showing the first two stages in construction of a durga idol .

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two other pictures showing lined up gods and a finished hand of a goddess .

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1-faces lined up for drying .
2-a carved face of a goddess .

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1- a secular sculpture
2-the face of mahishasura in agony