Book title: Crafts Atlas of India
Author: Jaya Jaitly
Publisher: Niyogi Books
Pages: 464
Price: Rs 4,500
That there can be no single defining form of “Indian
art” to encompass the country’s myriad art forms is what the former Samata
Party chief, Jaya Jaitly, found after 11 years of painstakingly mapping India’s
handicrafts — a period during which three new states were born. What started
out as a series of maps for travellers and students eventually turned into the
Crafts Atlas of India. The labour in this labour of love is as obvious as its
considerable size — Jaitly, along with her organization, the Dastkari Haat
Samiti — an association of craftspeople from all over India — minutely
documented the skills and handicrafts they could find. The woman behind the
hugely popular Dilli Haat in the nation’s capital traversed the length and
breadth of the country, observing and working with craftspeople; in the early
1990s, she undertook the near impossible task of documenting India’s arts and
crafts. This brightly-illustrated tome is divided into sections that represent
the crafts found in each state. But what characterizes it is a series of crafts
maps — one or two for each state, depicting the state’s major art and textile
forms with the help of motifs and embroidery — that were created by Jaitly and
the craftspeople and researchers who helped her. Each map is an intricate
tapestry of the heritage and handicrafts found in the state it embodies.
As the author says in the introduction, “the creative
soul and energies” of the people have manifested themselves in the nation’s
“many-layered, culturally diverse, rich heritage of craft skills”. While trade
movements such as those on the Old Silk Route brought in demands and resources
from West and Central Asia, the static nature of the Hindu caste system ensured
that many craft forms survived, since social boundaries and rigid hierarchies
prevented the artisan from changing professions.
From ephemeral Indian crafts such as paper toys and
firkis to basketry, metalwork and woodwork; from the myriad forms of embroidery
and pottery found in the nation’s nooks and corners to the weaving, sculpting
and painting traditions all over India — in this atlas of Indian handicrafts,
Jaitly leaves out nothing. It is evident that Jaitly wanted to create a
veritable directory of Indian handicrafts; with beautiful photography and
exhaustive chapters, she created more than that. Imbalances are apparent,
though; states such as Uttar Pradesh, with its many, very visible, handicrafts,
have long chapters dedicated to them.
The northeastern states, however, are contained in one
chapter, with a few pages dedicated to each.
According to Jaitly, traditional art representing
these states could not be found very easily: she documented their rich textile
traditions, jewellery and cane and bamboo furniture. Her claim notwithstanding,
the disparity in the volumes of text devoted to different states is bound to
make one wonder: if the Northeast has become fiercely protective and insular
about its artistic legacies, is it not with good reason?
BY NAYANTARA MAZUMDER
Published on April 20, 2012
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