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Nina Varghese

Organisations like Paramparik Karigar provide a platform for traditional craftspersons to showcase their art form and market them better.

Ananta Malakar is quite unperturbed by the milling crowd and the excitement around him, concentrating as he is on his work... turning snow-white milk wood into a carnation. He is the exponent of a craft, passed on for generations in his family. The pith from a plant, which grows wild in the wet marshlands of Bengal, Assam and Orissa, is sculptured into a range of products such as masks, flowers and statues. The beautiful objets d'art that he conjures up are famous all over India and in foreign countries too.

Like the Sholapith carvings, as Malakar's creations are called, or the metal work from Bastar, there are many other Indian arts and crafts which could be seen in the living rooms of the rich and famous today, thanks to non-government organisations like Paramparik Karigar.

Founded by eight master craftspersons from across India in 1982 with the patronage of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and Roshan Kalapesi, the NGO became active in the mid-1990s and today comprises about 2,000 craftspersons. The organisation tries to create an environment that is right for the craftsperson to create his craft. The biggest challenge is to ensure that the skills remain relevant and alive.

It has several volunteers and corporate supporters who help organise exhibitions and promotional events. Through these exhibitions, craftspersons are encouraged to try out contemporary marketing methods and have direct sales experience with the clients. Their economic wellbeing is linked with the continuation of their traditional skills that are generations old. Prabha Nagarajan of Prana, who anchored the Chennai leg of the Paramparik Karigar exhibition, says that the recent exhibition-cum-sale at the Lalit Kala Academy in Chennai showcased the arts, crafts and textiles of India.

Talking about her experience at the exhibition, Asha Mahadevan, a software executive in a Chennai-based company, says, "Though I don't wear sarees, I love to buy them for my mother. The Maheshwari and the Jaipur sarees were quite outstanding. We never get such authentic stuff in the stores." These exhibitions also help the customer see the master craftsman up close, which makes for a better understanding of what is happening at the grassroots level.

Over 44 craftspersons participated from over 13 States, a number of them have won the National Award for excellence in their karigari or area of workmanship.

The exhibition had on show Kalamkari, palm-leaf etching from Orissa, lac work and Bagru prints from Rajasthan, Kanthakam and Sholapith from West Bengal, Kashmiri embroidery and Paithani sarees from Maharasthra. Prabha says that the organisation holds a number of design intervention workshops, which helps these craftspersons to design and create products and crafts based on market needs and preferences. It also sources material for them and provides resources to conduct detailed research into their craft.

Paramparik Karigar encourages the craftspersons to innovate new techniques, designs and styles.

Kalamkari, for instance, is a fashion statement today. Kalamkari literally means to pen — in Persian kalam is pen — and kar is craft. This art form from the Deccan is today mainly centred around Sri Kalahasti and Machilipatnam, both in Andhra Pradesh. Kalamkari prints not only grace the pallus of sarees and dupattas, but adorn the walls of hotels and corporate houses too. Authentic Kalamkari prints are highly priced. For instance, J. Niranjan Chetty's `Tree of Life', which has six panels, is valued at Rs 50,000. One of the better-known Kalamkari craftspersons in the country, he is the son of J. Guruppa Chetty, the most famous among Kalamkari artists, who has worked hard to keep this art form alive. Guruppa Chetty won the National Award in 1976 and has made a success of the craft with his wife Girijamba who colours the paintings outlined by her husband. He was also one of the first to initiate the formation of the Paramparik Karigar to provide a voice to the craftspersons, help in design intervention and to impart marketing skills. He was also awarded the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Memorial Award for his contribution to craft.

Interestingly, these art forms have found their way into books, especially for children. The exhibition also had a story-telling session by Good Books, Chennai. Two folktales, one from Bihar and the other from Tamil Nadu, were narrated. The illustrations for the stories were based on the folk art of the region — A Curly Tale adopted the Mithila style painting of Bihar and the Magic Vessels was based on the Ayyanar sculptures of Tamil Nadu. Rajeshwari Rajan, a teacher at a Chennai school, says this was a great idea to sensitise children on the old art forms.

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