Carving poetry, for fancy decor

Traditional artisans like naqqash and sangtarash from Rajasthan weave fantasy out of marble. By M.A. Siraj

March 09, 2018 06:41 pm | Updated 06:41 pm IST

It was marble from Rajasthan’s Makrana mines that went into building the Taj Mahal. But a lesser known fact is that it were sangtarash (stone-carvers and sculptors) and naqqash (engravers) from the State who enabled Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to realise his dream in marble. With empires having vanished, the imperial patrons of these craft are gone. Centuries after their fall, the craftsmen who chiselled the marble and inlaid it with gems and stones continue to weave fantasy out of them. If they were gilding the walls of the Durbar halls in palaces of yore, today they could be seen embellishing temples and pavilions and gazebos in star hotels now. But a sizeable section of them is engaged in turning out objects of décor for emporia and export too.

Known as Naqqashi, the art of inlaying precious metals into the chiselled drawings on the surface of marble was first seen in Amer Palace built by Raja Mansingh, the Maharaja of Jaipur. The stunning beauty and undimmed sparkle continues to startle millions of visitors who flock to the Fort even to this day.

The art has however transmigrated largely from walls to objects today. It is said Raja Mansingh brought the original artisans from Afghanistan while returning from his military expeditions as the head of the Mughal army*. Known as ‘naqqash’ (engravers), they trained a bevy of stone-carvers in the craft whose descendants continue to practice the same.

For harmony

Naqqashi presupposes sangtarashi as precious metal has to be inlaid into the chiselled grooves. The craft advanced once it came into the hands of Rajasthani artisans. Some of them began to stud them with gems and precious stone. It began to be called ‘Kundan-jadai’ work.

A kind of varnish is finally applied to seal the pores and bring all the elements in harmony and render them scratch-proof. Today nearly 5,000 craftsmen practice the craft in Jaipur, Udaipur and Kishengarh, a town 100 km from Jaipur.

Suraj Sharma, a recipient of Rajasthan State Award for Craftspersons for the year 2001, says the experienced craftsmen are adept in the entire process: drawing patterns on the marble surface, carving the grooves with precise depth, applying herbal adhesives and inlaying hyper-purified gold foil into them and shading the portions where colours have to be rendered for paler tones.

The pasted gold foil becomes part of the object, imparting it the rich brilliance. Gold, due to its anti-corrosion properties, retains its luxuriant aura for centuries. No wonder the British Museum devotes a whole section to art objects from Jaipur. If more colours are needed for embellishing the surface, cobalt oxide and copper oxide are inlaid for blue and green shades respectively.

The Rajasthan Rural Non-Farm Development Agency (known as RUDA), has now taken the artisans engaged in sangtarashi and naqqashi under its wing since 1995 and provides them access to markets and export channels. The Agency organises these artisans into clusters, arranges workshops for skill-augmentation, conducts research, provides micro-credit and facilitates marketing and export of their products.

Attar Singh (29) received six months of training in the craft at a RUDA centre and is now a certified ‘Sangtarash’ (stone-carver).

He mainly works upon marble and red sandstone, chiselling out idols, elephants, mushrooms, camels and friezes with floral motifs for walls. He is often commissioned to work on famed stone jalis (lattice work) in star hotels and gardens. Similarly Banwari Lal Saini (42) is a specialist in carving out domes and jharokas (windows).

Carving poetry in stones, most of these artisans eke out only a measly livelihood as traders, emporia and exporters reap the major benefits. According to Suraj Sharma, a sangtarash earns Rs. 500 a day while gold foil engravers may receive around Rs. 800.

Agencies like the State Handicrafts Corporations however enable them to get direct access to art buyers by organising Dastakar Haats (Artisans’ Fair).

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