Scripting Alternative Images: Institutions, Practices and Scripts of the Mritshilpis of Kumortuli

Devi Vijay

Durga Puja

• Four days in the lunar month of Ashwin (sept-oct)

published in 2018

book claims that there is "a dearth of research on the social world of the mritshilpis."

"precarity in terms of orderws, flow of labor and raw matierials."

"during peak season more than half the workforce in an artisanal studio would be constituted of temporary and casual workers."

social organization of the mritshilpis

Kumortuli as simultaneously a space of commerce, residence, apprenticeship and craftwork.

-intensified competition

-exploitative conditions like low wages and health hazards

based on visit in kumortuli in 2013

oldest and largest surviving mritshilpi neighborhood in kolkata.

ward 9 of north kolkata municipal corporation

2006-2007 -> 527 artisan families

two lineages of kumhars;

epar and opar bangals - people from india vs bangladesh

they have two different unions: kumortuli mritshilpi sanskriti samiti - > ghotis

kumortuli mritshilpi samiti -> opars

for karigars -> kumortuli mritshilpa karigar samiti

open front workshops, asbestos roofs, tarpaulins for rain

2015 guha-thakurta -> 500 workshops in 6.6 acres

stores with clothes, jewellery, saaj

peak season from august to november, production for peak begins from may, gains momentum in aug

off season from jan to early april

migrant workers return home

small studios cluster production around peak season but they have to pay higher wages then

wages of karigars increasing because other occupations pay more

timings during peak season - 6am to midnight

space blends survival and sacred

thirty interviews - 24 with studio owners and 6 with karigars

process of modeling the protima

• mixing clay

• preparing the kathamo

• preparing the ekmete and domete

• painting the eyes

the celebration of the puja

" raja krishna chandra ray's extravagant form of celebration of a festival was appropriated by the nouveaux riche upper caste hindu elites of kolkata who had acquired wealth through their transactions with the british. religious celebrations presented a legitimate way to convert their new wealth into status."

increasing demand for the idols led to the relocating of kumhars into kolkata during the four months. in the second part of th 1700s, kumartuli was carved in the black town region of kolkata. kolkata was born as a colonial outpost for the british. nineteenth century, migrants settled there - 50 workshops. similar occupational communities like the weavers of jogipara and the oil pressers of telipara disappeared due to industry competition.

1830s -> grand pujas receded, more home pujas happened. poorer residents who received generosities during the festivals were cut off. so people collected money to form associations to celebrate the festival.

unfired clay technique for modelling

clay primarily of two types - entel or chit mati - blackish sticky alluvial soil from the diamond harbor or budge budge

bele mati - white clay from the ganga ghats and more expensive

straw jute and paddy husk is mixed in for different consistencies

wooden base structure, then bamboo kathamo, then hay and thick ropes

ekmete is single coated stage

dried for four to five days

second coating of bele maati is domete

cloth placed over the clay

work organization

• studio owner

• experienced karigars

• novices

apprentices usually take 3-4 yrs in becoming all rounders

unsold idols destroyed after the festival to make use of the raw material

larger studios make around 25-30 idols during durga puja

smaller make 15

China Pal interview

• ritualistically work is supposed to begin on rathyatra but people begin during akshay tritiya

• eyes drawn on mahalaya

Kumartuli address as important to competitive market

threat of displacement that artists faced with well-intentioned and badly executed jawaharlal nehru national urban renewal mission.

importance of place also in being able from learn to each other.

collective mourning with shutters closed when a senior shilpi passes away.

studios interdependent for supply of raw materials too

some families like that of sunil pal have moved completely to fibreglass.

younger generation is moving away

studios coming up outisde kumartuli like that in behala and ultadanga. theyre gaining fame. so signifying function of kumartuli is threatened.