Clay Images of West BengalCalcutta Notes 6th October 1980 am-Kalighat Sirish Pal's studio. A Dakina Kali was being made ready. Some Durgas were being painted in traditional colours-demon green, Sarasvati white etc (these are the kind seen in Assam now). I also spoke to a very old, toothless man who told me his name is Chitrakar (he is related to Sirish Pal), His studio is just down the road next to Sirish's. He was producing some new style figures. He told me his eldest boy is in Bombay. He himself lives in an alley off Kalighat Road. I saw one person in the studio filling up a large mould of a swan (hans) and other animals, birds has also been made from moulds. These were for the vahanas of gods. Inside Sirish's studio a very unusual modern style image (aladha) is being made for somewhere in Dum Duma. Previously I went to the Santi Ashram. The two disciples were there and invited me in (this time they weren't wearing red but were in mufti). A few more images were installed. Noteable ti s Katyayani. she is black, has protruding tongue and is in all respects like Kali except that she has usurped the position of Durga and is killing 2 demons-Sumbha and Nisumbha (one is smaller than then other and is already lying on his back beneath the modern lion). The demon (larger) is being killed by Katyayani as he emerges from the severed head of a buffalo. I also noticed that either side of siva prone on lion were two standing male figures-Krishna (or Vishnu?) and Brahma (?) also detached and on the ground a seated Chandi (?) that fits onto the top bit of the blue chali above Shiva. Komala is the Gaja Lakshmi image and Kaminik is the tall image next to Shiva prone an Shiv Parvati. The Dasamahavidyas are arranged on the right side of the pandal and the astadasamahavidyas ae working their way round from the back to the left side. The bearded sadhu told me that there will not be 108 images as was expected due to a 'bad market' (?). am-went to Chitrabani and read Rupa's article. Interesting points: a) Krishnananagar, Shantipur and Ranaghat centres of clay image making. All are fairly close geographically b) that people are beginning (in Cal) to buy images locally rather than from Kumartuli and Kalighat (eg at Ramlalbazar) c) that clay is shipped up river from Uluberia (Pradip had mentioned this) d) that Meera Mukherji made images and it was a vogue now to get famous artists to make images (ie non kumar artists) e) that some kumars returned to Krishnanagar in the off season (Dec-Jan) to plough land and make additional images (small) to earn extra income f) that whereas some kumars' children were very well-educated (some to MA) others were forced to apprentice their children to the job from a very early age because of financial hardship g) she also mentioned the fact that the break up of the additional figures coincides with the break up of the joint family system in Bengal (Shymal from the Calcutta Museum also made the same point). To my mind it is an artistic improvisation for the sake of originality-the sociological explanation is reading too much into it. Dipak Majumdar suggested a conversation with Rupa (taped) to blend the views of an objective outsider (me) with an inquisitive insider (Rupa) on certain finds about Kumartuli and the art. pm-Mr Mukherji tells me that the Mallik family own the Marble Palace off Chitpur Road. The Malliks got rich by cooperating with the British East India Company. They are the scheduled caste. They will probably be doing puja there. Also Rani Rashmoni's family (which has now, he thinks, ended-now in the hands of Hazra family) do puja on Freeschool St. The courtyard he tells me is large and in the old days the Rashmoni family used to all bring buckets of water into the courtyard and take their morning bath there. 11th October 1980 - Krishnanagar 13th October 1980 - Maniktola and Kumartuli 14th October 1980 - Kalighat and Kumartuli 15th October 1980 - Kumartuli, Kalighat, Bhaskar Chunder's house and Hazra 16th October 1980 - Nimtala Ghat and Datta bari 17th October 1980 - Kumartuli, Dutta house and Banerji house of Nafar Kundu Road 18th October 1980 - Krishnanagar 19th October 1980 - Shibnibash and Krishnanagar rajbari 21st October 1980 - Calcutta, Nafar Kundu Road 22nd October 1980 - Kumartuli and Kalighat 27th October 1980 - Kalighat and Patuapara 29th October 1980 - Asu Datta's house 30th October 1980 - Tarakeswara, Radhanagar, Gopalnagar, Krishnanagar 31st October 1980 - Tarakeshwara and Kolimbar village |