CHAPTER 3

POTTERY, IDOL MAKING & CLAY MODELING

AS A TRADITIONAL FAMILY OCCUPATION IN INDIA
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INVOLVEMENT OF
WOMEN: CASE STUDIES OF MUMBAI AND KOLKATA

3.1 Introduction
India, the land of many gods and goddesses, and their images, has a tropical climate with
extreme humidity and thus offers an ideal place for traditional clay modelers and potters.
Clay pots or ‘matkas’ or ‘kalsis’ are the best containers for the purpose of storing water
and keeping it cool, especially among the poorer section of the Indian population who
have no capacity for owning a refrigerator. It may be noted that before the advent of the
machine age and the refrigerator it was these pots that served as the only sources for
storing water. This heritage is still continuing and matkas can even be found in rich
families who can easily afford to own the best of the available refrigerators. The
traditional use of ‘bhars’ (earthen cups) to serve tea or lassi in shops and of ‘diyas’
(earthen lamps) on festive occasion and many other similar usages of earthenware even
nowadays offers potters the privilege of carrying on a traditional ancestral heritage.

3.1.1 Origin of Pottery worldwide, with special reference to India

There is a good deal of controversy in respect of the exact time of origin of pottery in
India. Various authors have advocated different dates for the origin of Indian pottery.
N.S. Bist, a researcher in the history of pottery in India states that the history of pottery
dates back to the later stages of Mesolithic culture. Existence of pot making during the
Neolithic Age was confirmed from some excavations in Bellary in the Bareilly district.1
The existence of potters in various places of India has also been mentioned in different
books and references on the Indus Valley Civilization, the pre-Mauryan period, the
Upanishadic age as well as that of the period of the Ramayana.2 An important evidence
is available from H. B. Walter’s book entitled History of Ancient Pottery – Greek,

1
N.S. Bist , Economic Study of Ceramic Industry in India, Ariana Publishing House, New Delhi, p 10-13
2
K.C.Gupta, Progress and Prospects of Pottery Industry in India, Mittal Publications, Delhi, 1988, Chapter 2 –
Growth of the Industry, pp 18-22

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Etruscan and Roman based on the work of Samuel Birch on this subject. While
recording an admiration of the beauty of Indian pottery he comments. “The pottery of the
Indians is artistic in the sense of being an expression of an indigenous art and much of it
is beautiful, but whether the makers possessed any real appreciation of beauty is open to
doubt. The pottery was exclusively the work of the women”.3 This mention of women is
noteworthy in the context of the present thesis.
From what have been stated above, it appears clear that the occupation of clay modelers
and potters has survived over the years and the people engaged in this profession are
traditional workers.

3.1.2 Pottery as a traditional art and the involvement of women

An important point which deserves special mention in the present context is that the art
of pottery is passed on from generation to generation with the potter’s child learning the
art simply by watching his father followed by self practice; there is no need to go
through a strenuous academic course like that of a doctor.
Artisans, who have an inclination towards idol making and pottery, are passionate about
their art which they use for the purpose of earning their livelihood and for propagating
this tradition from generation to generation. These artisans in the traditional occupation
of pottery are known in India and the world as Kumbhars, Kumars, Kumbhakars, potters
etc.
Apart from being a traditional occupation, pottery is one of those professions which are
family based occupations where the potter employs his own family members. This is
applicable all over the world. In the absence of much literature on pottery and clay work
in India, references have been drawn from the works of westerns scholars whose
comments and observations are very much applicable in India. J.B. Priestley, in his book
English Journey, gives a good description of skilled potters:
This sound element of craft, in which they can, and do, take a personal
pride, removes all these men from the ordinary ranks of modern
workmen. They are not merely doing a job, on the contrary these men
and no doubt many of the women too become more themselves,
enlarge their personalities. 4

3
H. B. Walter, History of Ancient Pottery – Greek, Etruscan and Roman, Vol. 2, Charles Scribner's Sons, New
York,1905
4
J.B.Priestly, English Journey , William Heinemann/ Victor Gollancz Publication, Dec 1934, p 204

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In recognition of the intersection of the two worlds of residence and work in this
particular occupation, Richard Whipp in his book, Patterns of Labour - Work and Social
Change in the Pottery Industry, comments “It is becoming more common for them ‘to
mesh two important specialities, labour history and the history of the family’ because
these topics embrace two of the more fundamental areas of human activity”.5 The
potters have always shown how interdependence of family members could remain
strong, especially where there is a high level of female employment/involvement.
The physical proximity of the home to the workplace and the mixing of the work routine
and domestic activities serve as two basic links between home and work. While the
residential pattern of the potteries ensured a special link between home and work, the
work cycle which binds the domestic and industrial spheres firmly. Home and work
routines are always synchronized. Synchronization between home and work routines
being obligatory, working hours becomes long and irregular.
It now becomes important to find out what role the family plays at work in the backdrop
of importance of the family or kin relations in the social structure of the pot bank. 6
Transmission of skills and job inheritance constitute two of the functions of the family
and work. Job inheritance forms a principal source of enhancing the collective earning
power of a family. Since profit depends exclusively on skilled work, members of the
family or kin or relatives with skills become the first choice. The potters also augment
their social status and commitment to the work through the training of relatives. This
kind of involvement of relatives results in saving time and funds, while the strength of
family employment helps in the strengthening of the workgroup.
Tilly and Scott in their book, Women, Work and Family, highlight the extent of family
employment starting from the 19th century; they hold that “either way they were
considered and apparently considered themselves members of a team, earning a family
wage.”7 The authors also argue that through such kinds of employment, the workers get a
platform to organize (though informally) and come to terms with ‘work as a whole’ at
the same time. This is more applicable for women engaged in the pottery industry, who
are otherwise very unorganized and inarticulate. It is the family that fetches a job for her
(though again, mostly unpaid), trains her, and provides her with an emotional attachment

5
Richard Whipp, Patterns of Labour – Work and Social Change in the Pottery Industry, Routlegde Publication,
London, 1990,p 71
6
Ibid
7
Joan W. Scott, L.A. Tilly, Women, Work and Family, Holt, Rinehart & Winston Publication, UK, 1978, p113

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to her family; she can combine the roles of a wife, mother, daughter, daughter-in-law as
well as labourer with no sharp division of labour within the household. It is in such
occupations “where married women are not simply preferred as either child carrier or
consumer specialists”.8
However, it should be emphasized that only because the women worked, did so many
potters’ families survived economically. It is perhaps the family mode of work which
enables potters to overcome the periodic crises of intermittent employment and poverty.
Poor households send as many members as possible into wage-earning employment.
Potters, according to many authors, have not reached the stage where increased
productivity and higher male wages permit a sharper division of labour within the
household 9. According to Richard Whipp, a woman is looked upon as lazy unless she
takes her share in contributing to the family income since the main impulse to work was
prompted by necessity.”10
It is observed that the potter’s family not only unites the worlds of home and work but
also provided the means of survival for many workers, especially women.
However, although women of the family are brought into the work-field, the roles of
men and women in a potter’s household are quite different compared to contemporary
prevailing middle-class notions. The working-class family has generally been perceived
as essentially patriarchal where in the family and domestic sphere, men stood at its head,
their place sustained in the vast majority of working class households by their role as
principal breadwinner. Though the potter’s family sometimes ran counter to this
syndrome, yet it is found find that many male potters regarded themselves as the
breadwinner of the family. 11 Here the involvement of women is encouraged, but barely
recognized as the work they are involved in is mainly subsidiary and of lower status. In
fact, in Europe, tradition of male superiority had been constructed throughout the
preceding century. In 1844, William Evans12 publicly rebuked women for going out to
work since it ‘reversed all natural order’ (Potters’ Examiner and Workman’s Advocate

8
Ibid
9
Ibid, pp 230-231
10
Whipp, n. 5
11
Martha Blaxall and Barbara Reagan, Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segregation ,
University of Chicago Pr (Tx), 1976
12
William Evans is a former potter in United Kingdom in early 19th century, who tried to organize the potters against
exploitation. He ran a radical, pro-union newspaper called “The Potters’ Examiner and Workman’s Advocate , Vol.1,
No.1 – Vol. 3, No.26,between 1843 to 1845

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2.10.1844)13. As a result an unasked question in the labour sector emerged, what is fit
work for women? Jacqueline Sarsby14 noticed that ‘In the pottery industry, women are
said to be more suited to mindless machine ……. of decorating rather than heavy work at
the clay end. Women have been attendants on men from the time that whole families
worked together the man as thrower, the original potter with his wheel, and his wife and
children as assistants, that women's primary responsibilities are in the home, and that
men are responsible for earning money in the family. Decorating work is an essentially
'feminine' occupation; men are seemingly ideologically invisible in these jobs.’ 15
However, it may be pointed out that there is a strong and continuous presence of female
labour across the pottery industry and women do contribute to the maintenance of the
home and family.
Though the public image of the woman potter is one of dependency, in many cases the
reality is quite different. Given the economic circumstances of the industry, along with
the effects of diseases caused by occupational hazards, in many cases the woman became
the main and sometimes sole breadwinner for a family. In most instances, women
became the chief bread earners by reason of their husband’s unemployment. Though the
individual and organized potters appear to have retained the traditional patriarchal
pattern in both the area and the wider society, yet the researcher have found that in some
instances, female potters also enjoyed and value highly the friendship and sociability of
work. It is, therefore, in work that many women find a measure of independence and
identity.
Given the above historical contextualization regarding the emergence of pottery and the
growing importance of the contribution of women in this occupation, particularly in the
west, it becomes necessary here to draw a connection between theory and practice and to
find how the above formulations are relevant in the contemporary world especially in
India. In order to do so, two cities in India have been selected – Mumbai and Kolkata, to
draw a comparative analysis of the pottery industry as an occupation, and the position of
women in it.

13
Ibid
14
Jacqueline Sarsby is a photographer, who began her career as a social anthropologist and oral historian, and
researched on subjects like the lives of Staffordshire pottery workers.
15
Jacqueline Sarsby, “Sexual Segregation in the Pottery Industry”, Feminist Review, Palgrave Macmillan Journals, No.
21 (Winter, 1985), pp. 67-93, , available at http://www.jstor.org/stable/1394840 .Accessed: 18/12/2012

165
In Mumbai, Kumbharwada is a slum where pottery is present in its original form, with
people engaged in the business of making water pots or kalsis of various shapes and sizes
along with the making of diyas and other decorative items. They hail from Gujarat and
have established this potters’ colony.
In Kolkata, three different kinds of slums have been selected – Kumartuli, Pal Para -
Dakshindari and Harish Neogy Lane – Ultadanga (Saheb Para).
Kumartuli is the oldest one of these areas, and is famous for big-sized clay idol making.
Many of the people who live here are the original inhabitants of Kolkata. Dakshindari
consists of migrants from East Bengal who are engaged mainly in small clay idol making
through dices, clay toy making, modeling, making decorative items etc. Ultadanga also
consists of migrants mainly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh (UP). They belong to the
Prajapati caste (non-Bengali speaking) like that of Kumbharwada, and are also engaged
with pottery only. However, they are different from the inhabitants of Kumbharwada in
the sense that they make small items like bhars, due to lack of space.

3.2. Potter’s colony in Mumbai – Case Study: Kumbharwada (See Annexure 21 and
22 showing Map of Kumbharwada)
3.2.1 Introduction
Pottery in Mumbai is not indigenous in nature. This is to say that the local people of
Mumbai are not engaged with this occupation. It is inextricably linked with
Maharashtra’s neighbouring state Gujarat from where the potters mainly migrated and
settled in Mumbai. Kumbharwada, a settlement of potters, the slum selected for study, is
a closed artisan community settlement. It is not merely a home for the potter but a place
of work as well; therefore, it creates additional space or other problems to slum dwelling.
The mark of a slum in any part of the world is lack of basic facilities and inadequacy of
space. Such conditions in intra and inter family give rise to tensions. Productive activity
within the limited space in the potters’ settlement adds a new dimension to the stress and
strain of slum living in Kumbharwada.
The initial information on Kumbharwada was gathered by observation and long
interviews with the office bearers of the Prajapati Kumbhar Cooperative Society and
Kalyan Kendra (details of their working are given later in this chapter), with the
initiators of these agencies, and finally with some of the numerous common people who
live in Kumbharwada. The common people are the practicing Kumbhars, the ex-
Kumbhars that is those who have given up their profession for other occupations, and

166
non-Kumbhars are those who have slowly penetrated into this area. Men and women, the
old and the young, of these various categories were interviewed repeatedly.
On the basis of these interviews and the initial information collected, a questionnaire was
constructed. In selecting the sample potters, for the purpose of this dissertation, however,
weightage was given to the first two wadis which have a high concentration of potters,
less on the third and the fourth wadis. Ex-potters are scattered all over but live largely in
the third and fourth wadis while the fifth contains non-potters. In the course of the study,
some office bearers of the co-operative, the welfare centre and the Panchayat became
suspicious of the intention of the present researcher. They were, therefore, not asked to
fill in the scheduled questionnaire, but the information given by them earlier when they
were in a co-operative mood, was utilized for the analysis. Information given by them
had been faithfully recorded. As a matter of ethics, the names of these office bearers are
not revealed.

3.2.2 Sampling of interviewees

In a respondent group of 48 potters (to match with its counterparts of 3 potters’ colonies
in Kolkata – 16 from each), the following facts were found:

Table 3.1: The names of the wadis with number of houses and population are given
below:
Names of Wadis Houses Population
First Wadi 525 2075
Second Wadi 135 650
Third Wadi 455 2955
Fourth Wadi 1000 3374
Kharwa 150 800
Fouzdar 100 448
Sutar Chawl 227 835
Total 2592 11137
Source: Kumbharwada Health Post, BMC, 2013

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3.2.3 History of the development of Kumbharwada and its present geographical
location
Kumbharwada, as the name indicates, is a potters’ settlement. This place was assigned to
the potters by the Bombay Municipal Corporation (BMC) in the early thirties of the
twentieth century.16 Its area is about 9 acres and its current population is more than
11,000, though all are not Kumbhars. Originally, these potters were from the coastal
areas of Saurashtra (Kathiawad), Kutch, Gujarat, Daman and Diu. The reports of the
origin of this group in Bombay vary, but viewed from a historical context, they do not
conflict with each other. According to the Gazeetteer of Bombay City and Island (GBCI),
190917, repeated droughts and famines compelled many craftsmen to migrate. It states
“In 1877, the city was filled with famine striken people from Deccan, Gujarat and
Rajaputana.”18 According to local sources, about a century ago, a small group of twenty
five potters came to Bombay to find some means of livelihood. In course of time they
brought their families and kinsmen from the villages and settled first in Parel19. By this
time, Parel had ceased to be a residential area for the rich. It was developing at a rapid
rate, into a busy industrial centre. A number of cotton mills had sprung up, and the
Government also chose to locate the central railway workshop in this locality. It could
not any longer accommodate any impoverished new comers who did not fit into the
modernizing sectors of the city, but the factory workers and some of the older inhabitants
continued to live there. The Kumbhars moved down farther from lower Parel, first to
Elphinstone Road and then to Matunga, and finally to the present site at Dharavi Sion. 20
Dharavi is a swamp reclaimed from the Mahim-Sion creek. This creek marks the
northern end of the Bombay Island. It is a central facet of Mumbai and has given her a
distinctive culture with a wide mixture of different communities from the north to the
south, the east to the west. According to an author, ‘It is where Bambaiya, popularized
by Hindi films and spoke every day in Mumbai streets, comes from.’21 It is the attitude,
the energy that has made this city the commercial capital of India. In the heart of the

16 This information is given by the local Kumbhars and confirmed by the ward officer of BMC, to the researcher
during her interview sessions in Kumbharwada between 2012-2013

17 Gazeteer of Bombay City and Island (GBCI), Vol. I, p 31

18 ibid, p 206

19 Ibid, p 45

20 Ibid, pp 178- 179

21
Kalpana Sharma , Rediscovering Dharavi – Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum, chapter entitled ‘Allah ki Gaon’,
Penguin Books, Australia, 2000, p 37

168
metropolitan city of Mumbai lies Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums. Spread over 535
acres the area is unique for housing about 4500 industrial units. 22 Some famous
industries are located here, including tanneries, leatherworkers, potteries, garment
making, and even chemical plants.
In popular imagination, Dharavi is a dirty, pest-ridden locality without basic services
where thousands of people live in subhuman conditions. Dharavi, a settlement with
almost one million people (there is a considerable gap between ‘official’ and ‘unofficial’
population figures because of a large, unregistered, floating population), spread over 175
hectares23, is a bustling collection of contiguous settlements, each with its own distinct
identity. The dividing line between these settlements is sometimes a nallah, sometimes a
small road, sometimes a wall- constructed hastily at times of conflict. The real dividing
lines are based on the history of migration patterns in the city of Mumbai, on the State’s
policies of dealing with the urban poor, of village industries that have translocated in an
urban setting and of language, religion and region.
As people lived where they worked, inevitably Dharavi developed with enclaves that
were exclusively inhabited by people from a particular region. Over time, the nature of
these settlements has altered. Yet there are still several settlements where almost
everyone comes from a particular district. As a result, you have a ‘duplicate’ Tirunelvelli
district in one part where only Tamil is spoken, or a ‘duplicate’ Jaunpur district, or a
Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh in another part. People living in such enclaves tend to be
more isolated, do not mix socially with other groups, and keep to themselves. Those
living in these separate settlements also include the Kumbhars from Saurashtra, the
Valmikis from Haryana, and the Nadars and Adi Dravidas from Tamil Nadu. The potters
from Saurashtra initially settled in south Bombay but had to relocate twice before they
were allocated land in Dharavi to establish what is till today called Kumbharwada.
Kumbharwada has a distinct personality of its own, where manufacturing of clay pots is
a tradition handed down from generations. The potters (Kumbhar) are a Gujrati-speaking
caste, properly known as Prajaapati Kumbhars, from the Kathiawar peninsula in the state
of Gujarat. They are proud of themselves and their work, and a few will occasionally
assert that they are higher in rank than Brahmans because they do not beg. They are also

22
Information elicited from Mr. Kokate, an employee of BMC during one of the interview sessions with the
researcher.
23
ibid

169
proud of their Gujrati way of life and of the particular dialect of the language that they
speak.24
The Kumbhars of Kumbharwada, however, made it clear that it is not the splendour of
Bombay city, or the prospect of money making that lured them, but rather the need for
survival which drove them away from their village into cities after a particularly bad
season of drought and famine, possibly in 1877. In other words, it was only when they
had found a place of relative security to live and to work did their families joining them.
In the process of time, their relations and other village folk too moved into
Kumbharwada. In this kind of a situation, questions such as hygiene, inadequacy of
space etc, became irrelevant. Slum or no slum, it was at least a place, where one could
live and work, in other words, could survive. The Kumbhars continue to maintain contact
with their villages, their places of origin, not only to find mates but to maintain ties with
their property. They may own tiny pieces of land in the villages, but they are too small to
yield sufficient income for survival in the village. Thus, these potters live both in the
villages of their origin as well as in the slums, some persisting in their traditional
occupation, desperately trying to survive, while others have moved into different
occupations, which vaguely promise to be relatively more lucrative; but by and large, the
potters seems to have merely exchanged rural poverty for the deeper misery of the urban
slum. In the present social structure and with their own present social attitudes they have
little option. They hang on to this urban space mainly due to the following reasons:
a) This land was technically a wasteland and, therefore, the rent that the Kumbhar had to
pay the BMC was low.
(b) The potter was now be a direct legal tenant of the Municipal Corporation and,
therefore, would at least cease to be pushed around by other more aggressive groups in
the city.
(c) The area lies well within the municipal limits; therefore, the market for the potter’s
commodities was fairly close at hand
(d) Finally, what perhaps clinched the matter is that for the first time, he could plan to
live with his family. Further, the area was spacious enough to accommodate many more.

24
Information provided by an old male Kumbhar of Kumbharwada and an ex-employee of BMC (Respondent P, name
withheld due to request from the respondents) to the researcher during her interview sessions with the respondents on
23rd august 2013
170
3.2.4 Characteristic features of the settlement
The present researcher’s observations indicate the following general characteristics of
Kumbharwada settlements:
(i) The original settlement was of three wadis, or alleys, 80 feet wide, with houses lining
each side of a wadi. The Municipal Corporation later installed six water taps, two per
wadi. Since the original settlement, the colony has expanded with the addition of four
more wadis. A great number of housing extensions have taken place, that now crowd
into the originally wide alleys.25 These original settlers took upon themselves to rent out
part of their assigned land as well as encroached area, to the new comers, i.e., the fresh
immigrant batches of potters, or to any one who is willing to pay the rent that is
demanded. They got entry into Kumbharwada through payment of ‘pugree’. Pugree is a
tabooed practice, but after the Second World War, pugree became a way of life and a
part of Bombay culture. Kumbharwada whether it can be called a slum or not; could not
escape the prevalent cultural practice. Sub-letting a house is an exploitative activity not
only of the wealthy section of the Kumbhars, but also many a poor Kumbhar is forced to
let out a part of his wretched house during the rains. The monsoon is a lean season; any
source of income, however meager, is welcome.
(ii) An average potter joint family has about 6-8 members occupying an area of 600-800
sq ft in a rundown shanty, made of brick and cement walls and corrugated sheet roof
tops. The first impression one gets as one steps into the heart of Kumbharwada is that
one is lost in a strange maze. A potter’s house is both a home and a workshop. Clay pots
producing activity is carried on within the house on the floor, and a wooden loft is built
overhead as a makeshift place for members to sleep and eat. All the houses accommodate
a potter’s wheel. This is the heart of the potters’ workshop where the wheel is fitted and
the potter sits working at his wheel. A bunch of houses open out into an open space
where there is a shared kiln for firing the pots. This place is famous for clay pots and
people from all over the country come here to buy their products. Over time, the
Kumbhars have developed their own social links and keep to themselves and do not
believe in inter-community marriages. They have their own way of settling disputes and
only turn to the police if this does not work.26 They have also evolved a cooperative

25
Information gathered from BMC officials by the researcher during her visit to the BMC Ward Office situated in G/N
Ward on 19th August 2013
26
The researcher during her interview sessions with the informants (names withheld) of the area came to know that the
Kumbhars rely on the head of the community who is generally a very elderly person, known and acceptable to all,
knowledgeable about the entire community and place, for conflict and grievance redressal in the area. He is the patel
of the area
.
171
system of buying commonly needed supplies like cotton waste for lighting their kilns.
Kumbharwada has numerous kilns. Every evening several kilns are lit to fire the pots. If
space permits, the woman of the house shares the shade. She prepares the clay to feed the
potter’s wheel. Certain unbaked pots cannot take more than a certain degree of direct
tropical sunlight. Priority is, therefore, given first to the pots and unbaked pots which are
stacked in the shade. The operation of polishing of pots, drying and carrying them, taking
care of them, giving finishing touches to them are all done by the women, who work the
entire day under the sun. The man at the wheel is, however, always in the shade.
(iii) In a settlement where living and working are clubbed together, lack of space creates
multiple problems. Between the rows of houses are open spaces or narrow lanes. The
lane has to accommodate soak pits27, technically two per potter’s family, and an open
kiln. The kiln is a low platform on which the pots are fired. The lane also serves as a
storehouse for preparing pots for those small houses which have no loft. The area of the
soak pit varies according to the economic status of the potter. There are still others who
are too poor to even own a pit. Pits are however, available on hire when they are not
being used by the owners. Every self employed potter is therefore not necessarily free to
determine his own schedule of work. His schedule gets further disrupted when he has no
kiln of his own.
(iv)The water filled pits are an ugly sight. A pit is also a death trap in the monsoon when
the whole area lies submerged under water. There are no large open drains in
Kumbarwada. The pits are a substitute for open sewage tanks. To add to the ugliness of
the yard, there is a small pit composed of cow dung, (picked up from the road), and
powdered charcoal and un-burnt material from the kiln. Unsightly patches of soggy earth
are left all over in the open space after the women wash their clothes and utensils.
Wherever possible, pots are laid out to dry in the hot sun, while others are piled up for
lack of storage space. The narrow uneven lane is crowded with a potter’s personal,
domestic and workshop activity.
(v) The lanes in Kumbharwada may be dirty, but the house of the potter is a strange
contrast. It is spotlessly clean, neat and bare. The rich have rows of shinning brass
utensils. The poor have a smaller number but shiny all the same. The house is made up of
a mere four wall and a roof of tin beaten together to give shelter. The drabness of the tin
wall is mitigated by colour; this is drawn by old, discarded calendars – the only art
available to the urban poor in an underdeveloped market society. There is no evidence of

27
Covered porous walled chamber under the ground to store clay, which allows water to soak into the ground so that
the soil remains wet.
172
any effort at spontaneous artistic expression. Besides, the Kumbhar has neither the time
nor the energy to preserve and develop a lively traditional folk art. The houses have to be
made relatively smoke proof. The simplest method is to minimize the inlets into the
house. An average Kumbhar house has a low door and windows. It keeps out the smoke,
but in the bargain, it keeps out light and fresh air as well. There is a slight variation to
this building pattern in the case of the wealthier households.

3.2.5 Nature and constraints of livelihood and the process of pottery making with
special reference to the involvement of women in Kumbharwada
The entire family of the potter is involved in the trade. Boys begin helping out with
simple tasks around the age of 10 and during their teens begin learning the craft. Wives
help to knead the raw clay and to transport the ware to the market or peddle it in various
neighborhoods of Mumbai. As a family enterprise, the potters are in control of the means
of production, most important of which is their own skill. Potters are, moreover, their
own bosses. As one man put it, "One thing is better about potters' work, no one gives
orders. One is his own boss and all work is at home."28 Just as space and time in the
home are organized around the tasks of pottery making, so too seasons of work are
constrained by the requirements of the wheel or the Hindu festival calendar. The period
of the monsoons is especially difficult since the pots do not dry or the ovens fire. The
days before festivals such as Naag Panchmii and Diwali are ones of feverish activity to
fashion traditional items required for those days. The potters' craft is embedded in the
caste system and Hindu religious belief. The Kumbhars have a myth about the potters'
wheel.29 The story goes like this. In ancient days the potters' wheel used to turn by itself.
It was given by God. One day a man kicked it with his foot and it stopped turning. The
potters then went to Shankar Bhagvaan and told him what had happened. He gave them
a stick and said the wheel would have to be turned by using the stick. He also took off the
waist string from the potters and said the pot would have to be cut from the wheel by that
string. The wheel itself is worshipped daily and is associated with Shankar Bhagvaan
(Lord Vishnu), who carries a wheel in one of his hands. The wheel is also worshipped
because, as one respondent put it, "From the wheel we get our daily work, and from our

28
Statement given to the researcher by a female resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent A, (name withheld) during one
of her visits to the area in September 2013
29
Ibid

173
daily work we get the food which fills our bellies."30 All holidays from work are Hindu
holidays or festivals, and most of the potters' recreation is in the form of religious songs,
stories, and rituals. Mukaddar, that is fate, is a term frequently heard among them.
Pottery is an essential item in various Hindu festivals and life-crisis ceremonies. This
role of pottery in caste matters and Hinduism in several contributes to their traditional
and conservative outlook. There are other reasons for this conservatism. The Kumbhars
are willing to experiment and change the technology of their craft. But their greatest
source of income comes from flower and water pots of various types and sizes. Water
pots made in the traditional way keep the water cool in the hot season. Plastic and
aluminum are very competitive and the potters today encounter difficulty in selling their
products.31 In Mumbai, the potters are a traditional occupational caste grafted onto the
market system in the form of an ethnic group that services a market of conservative,
secular and religiously defined demands. A leader known as a ‘patel’ and a council of
elders known as a ‘jamaat’ originally governed each of the wadis in the potters' colony.
The ‘office of patel’ is ordinarily inherited patriarchic within families. Today ‘patels’ are
still respected but do not carry their former influence. Their duties are largely restricted
to presiding at life-crisis meetings, organizing festivals, and settling quarrels.32 In some
of the wadis, factions have arisen and formed their own ‘jamaats’. This factionalism is
due to the rise of newer institutions and leaders in the community as it faces problems of
integration into an urban environment and a monetized and industrializing economy.
Pottery was once a thriving industry, but according to a potter who lives there,33 they live
with their families in dilapidated shanties about 600 square feet in area. Pottery is no
longer a lucrative business as market demand for earthen pots is fast diminishing. As this
is the only trade they have inherited from their ancestors, they are left with no option but
to carry on with pottery despite the low return. Basically, pots are made out of mud and
clay and rolled and shaped by hand with the help of rotating wheels. Pottery making,
which involves a certain deftness and craftsmanship, is considered an age-old traditional
art in India as has been noted earlier. In the past, people stored drinking water in pots,
which helped to cool it, but refrigerated water bottles have replaced pots. Tea is no

30
Ibid
31
Information elicited from the informant of the area of Kumbharwada (a member of SNEHA) during the various
informal discussions between him and the researcher between August 2013 to September 2013.
32
Ibid
33
Ibid

174
longer served in pots on trains, having been replaced by disposable plastic/ paper cups.
Even clay flowerpots are slowly being replaced by much lighter and unbreakable plastic
ones. The demand for pottery today is therefore seasonal; for example, for festivals like
Diwali, the festival of lights that takes place in October-November, clay lamps are lit as
per tradition.
For an ordinary potter, life in the Kumbharwada settlement is tough. It is even more so
for the Kumbhar women. It is tough for various reasons. While, the potter has no master,
he has no ready market for his wares either. The cost of production of pottery is high and
the demand low. The space for work is cramped, the production process is difficult and
arduous. A great deal of money, time and energy are spent by the potter’s family before a
consignment of pots is ready. Though pottery is the traditional business of the Prajapati
community, outsiders (not belonging to the Prajapati community) are infiltrating into
this area, and becoming part of the traditional pottery business, thus their spaces are
getting further cramped.

3.2.5.1 Work schedule

The potter begins his working day long before eight in the morning. A woman’s work
day begins earlier, even before sunrise. The household chores have to be completed
before she can take part in the productive work. Pottery making is a family affair. The
male member and the unemployed members of his family participate, or are expected to
participate in it. Yet, the present researcher perceived a peculiar pattern emerging. Such a
pattern may essentially be a product of the Third World. Only one member of the family
perpetuates the family craft. This is true whether a family is joint or nuclear, or whether
it is successful or unsuccessful as a potter family. The demand for pottery is going down
and the future seems bleak for a potter. The successful potters are acutely conscious of
this and have taken particular care to train their sons, especially the brighter ones, to take
up other lucrative occupations. Among these, two were interviewed; whose families have
sons as officers in the merchant navy. 34
A potter begins his apprenticeship as a little boy, when his fingers are still supple and can
be trained in this dexterous art. The question of training a daughter does not arise. It is
said that a Kumbhar is too conservative to permit his daughter to take up productive

34
Statement given to the researcher by a resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent A, (name withheld) during one of her
visits to the area in September, 2013

175
activity outsides his own home.35 But this is perhaps not true. It is a myth perpetuated
and spread by those who deliberately want the potters to remain in a closed community
and wish to prevent them from joining the mainstream of life.36 Now, however, some
attempts are being made by SNEHA (an NGO) situated there to build up some kind of
awareness among the potter community to give autonomy to their women. Indoctrinated
traditionalism is breaking down under the demands of changing needs. The present
researcher found young Kumbhar women taking up the job of polishing pots on a per day
basis.37 This is a fairly common practice in Kumbharwada today. Women both young
and old go out hawking pots which may or may not be their own family ware. 38 Whether
women have started taking up jobs unrelated to pottery was not discovered by the
researcher
Pottery making is a lengthy and complex process. No new technology has been added to
lighten the labourious process. The most painful is the first process, viz., preparing the
clay, which is mostly done by women. The quality of the clay is so poor in
Kumbharwada that it needs a prolonged period of soaking. Such impurities like stones,
pieces of wood, glass, etc have to be removed from the clay. The viscous clay has to be
thinned and sieved. No instrument is used for thinning. A woman’s pair of feet alone
does this job. She vigorously stamps the clay with her feet and then churns the hard
lumps of clay with her legs, standing waist deep in the water. Now and again she bends
down in the mud to pull out some large foreign matter. The churned clay is sieve into
another pit, the storing pit where it is allowed to lie till the water evaporates. This job is
mostly done by a strong male member of the family. The rich potter always hires
outsiders for this arduous task, and the not-so-rich also hire people. This particular work
is far arduous for just any person to do. Often, either a sturdy Bhaiya - a rural immigrant
from Uttar Pradesh or a local Maharastrian – contemptuously referred to as a Ghati by
the local residents are hired for this work. The hired labourers often live in
Kumbharwada. It is not unknown for a husband-wife team to carry out the whole
operation. As a man churns the clay the woman feeds it with water. She does the
relatively lighter job of carrying water but often from a long distance and sometimes

35
Ibid,
36
Statement given to the researcher by a women resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent B, (name withheld) during
one of her visits to the area in September, 2013
37
Ibid
38
Ibid

176
from a nearby sewage pit. The hired labourer is paid piece rates; for instance, the current
rate for preparing clay for a medium sized pot of say 10’x7’ is about Rs.25/-.39 This
operation on an average lasts for three days. The average number of outside labour
employed depends on orders. Cost varies according to the task to be preferred. There are
different costs for mixing, making and baking. The cost per piece varies anywhere from
Rs. 2 to Rs. 30 (for making). Cost for mixing is Rs. 1500 for a specific quantity of clay.
The job is largely profitable for labourers as compared to the persons employing them as
they are paid per piece for the work to be done. Then, whether the product is at all sold
are solely the owner’s responsibility, and not the labourer’s. Usually preference is always
given to known people from the neighbourhood or other similar people for contacting the
labourers. A lot of people have the skill but no space of their own for making pots/ kiln
for baking, so they go and work for others.
There is usually no role for middlemen in the area. Products are usually sold directly to
vendors. A lot of people in Kumbharwada also run their own shops. Usually about 10-25
percent is considered as breakage products. This percentage increases more during the
monsoon. Weather conditions, hamper the baking and drying processes and wastage can
go up to 50 percent.
The average number of finished products sold from home per week depends largely on
orders and the number of members in a house, since it is largely a team effort, where
every member of the family contributes to the task. So, more hands means more work,
thus, more income.
The average monthly income per household ranges anywhere between Rs. 5,000 -
15,000, but it largely depends again on orders and the number of members in the house.
A small quantity of this prepared, roughly sifted, clay is sifted as required near the work
place. The clay is not ready yet to be thrown on the wheel. It needs further processing,
which again is the domain of women. A day’s requirement of clay is stamped on
vigorously again till it reaches the right consistency. It has to be made flexible. This
work is done by members of the family both men and women, and by hired labour in
case of rich households.
The next operation, again done by the women, is very tiresome. It is also a very
responsible one. Every bit of grit has to be carefully hand picked. Any piece of impurity
implies total wastage. Clay with foreign matter in it cracks while being baked and once
baked, clay cannot be reused. As many as hundred and fifty to two hundred pots are

39
Ibid

177
baked at a time. A woman of the house is, therefore, responsible for this crucial task. She
finally rolls the clay into ‘pindas’40 to feed the potter. The potter looks more relaxed
seated at the wheel in the shade of the porch (covered entrance) skillfully working with
the clay. The man and woman, though seated close hardly talk to each other. They work
in concentrated silence, the craftsman and his helpmate. Later, the partly made pot is
moulded into the desired shape. Right in the middle of the narrow lane, young women
bend over the pots polishing them with heavy strands of glass beads. The woman may be
a wife, but more often she is the daughter- in-law of the house or a hired hand.41 At
midday, a man might rest for a while but the woman has to get back to her household
chores. She has to serve the meal, clean up the utensils and wash the clothes. A younger
woman also has babies to feed. No ordinary potter earns enough to feed his children with
a balanced diet; the mother has no time to devote to her kids. There is no crèche to
relieve the mother. There is a Balmandir within the Kumbharwala for the tiny tots built
by SNEHA. It has trained teachers, free food and toys. Yet only a few send their children
to this nursery school because they want to personally take care of their children; their
families, too, want this. After the chores are over, the woman is back to her productive
work. Production of pots goes on till sunset.
Late evening is the ‘bhatti time’. The kiln (bhatti) is a mere raised platform. The pots are
carefully laid on the platform, liberally sprinkled with cotton waste and saw dust (the
fuel), then fully covered with tin sheets and the fire is lit. The fire burns till early
morning, but quite early in the night the bhatti begins to cough up smoke. There is
smoke everywhere in Kumbharwada. It takes a long time for one to get conditioned to
this choking smoke of waste cotton. The inmates of the settlement have no alternative
but to submit to its discomfort. It is a question of livelihood for the potter and survival
for the rest of the inmates of this settlement. As a result of this persistent smoke-filled
atmosphere, there is a high incidence of lung diseases in Kumbharwada. Details are
given in the next chapter. Over and above the discomfort and danger to health hang an
even more dangerous threat, a fear of being ousted from Kumbharwada. The authorities
of a municipal hospital speak of the dangers of the smoke to their patients.42 They have a

40
Pinda is the local name for the finally prepared elongated balls of clay.
41
Statement given to the researcher by a male resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent C, (name withheld) during one
of her visits to the area in the year 2013

42
Information was elicited during the researcher’s interview with the neighbouring municipal hospital (name withheld)
in Dharavi in September 2013

178
greater influence over the Municipal Corporation than the poor inmates of
Kumbharwada. The hospital authorities have pressurized the Municipal Corporation to
shift the Kumbhars out of their settlement. This is a threat that could become a reality
and further complicate the lives of the potters.
The manufacture of pots is not the sole concern of the potters. Prepared pots have to be
sold in the market where there is little demand. Both men and women, more often
women, the old and the frail who cannot labour hard at kneading and polishing, go out to
hawk the pots. Now and again, a young woman may go out too, but she preferably goes
escorted by an older person. This is a hangover of the past.43 One often sees very old
women carrying giant sized baskets piled with pots. Sometimes an old woman is too frail
to carry more than a single pot or a water cooler. For the self-employed old age is no bar
to work, and work they must till physical strength gives fails altogether.
However, new trends are coming in. Not every potter sends his family out to hawk.
There are other methods of selling and one of them is contractual work. Whole
consignments of pots are taken away by the contractor. Like all business contractors, he
is a blessing and a curse. He gives the potter credit in time of need but also controls the
marketing of goods. The alternative to the contractor is the low price at which the potter
has to sell in the open market, an unreliable fearful market. This is a dilemma for the
potter. He sells not only his own and those of some others but also the fancy-ware
produced in the co-operative society’s Karkhana, the workshop. The history and
functioning of the potters’ cooperative society are detailed later in this chapter.
Fancyware naturally fetches fancy prices. However, the lifestyle of the successful
potters, a mere half a dozen or so, is apparently no different from that of the others. 44
They continue to suffer the problems of Kumbarwada – its dirt, smoke and diseases. This
suffering is in a sense self imposed. Many have accumulated enough money to buy a
house in a middle class locality and some actually have. But a successful potter
maintains an establishment in Kumbharwada. An important consideration for the rich
Kumbhar who remains in Kumbharwada is his membership of the co-operative which he
has to forego if he ceases to be a local resident.45 The stakes in the co-operative,
especially if he is an executive committee member, are too high to be thrown away. A
43
Statement given to the researcher by a resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent A (name withheld) during one of her
visits to the area in the year 2013
44
Ibid
45
Statement given to the researcher by a resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent C (name withheld) during one of her
visits to the area in the year 2013

179
better house has no meaning for a potter. Slum or no slum, in the hard world of
competition, in the world of the dying craft, economic returns have to be calculated. All
calculations weigh in favour of his living in Kumbharwada. In Kumbharwada he can buy
cheap labour and spare himself and his family the back breaking exertion that the
ordinary potter’s family has to go through. A plentiful supply of unemployed labour is
available at Kumbharwada.46 A rich Kumbharwada is known to have imported his poor
unemployed relatives from his village for this purpose.47 The rural migrants, especially if
they are relatives work for an even lower wage than the ones in the local labour market.48
The ordinary poor potters who constitute the numerical majority of the Kumbhars do not
have the means to hire labour. Productive work has to be done by the family. The
division of labour is based on sex. The woman has, besides the productive work, the
drudgery of domestic chores which she cannot escape. A woman has to participate in the
productive work but the man does not necessarily participate in the domestic work. Even
in productive work, he is a craftsman doing creative work; she does the mechanical jobs
and aids him to become a creative craftsman. The potter can find refuge in the notion that
he is a Prajapati -- an incarnation of the creator, who is always male in Hindu religio-
mythology. The woman does not have even this psychological escape. It is also believed
that a daughter, who soon after marriage leaves for her in-laws house, may carry away
any new innovations in the art to her new family which would be professionally injurious
to her father. May be because of this, she is not trained in the art like the male offsprings.
The women’s work is more laborious than that of the male potters. The Hindu potter
takes two regular holidays per month, besides those on religious/festival days. The two
fixed days are on a new and full moon day when the wheel cannot be touched. A woman,
however, can be seen polishing pots or carrying basket load of pots for sale on these
days. There are also no taboos on domestic work. A Hindu woman is expected to keep
away from work for forty five days after child birth. A ritual impurity surrounds her. But
when need arises, such taboos are discarded. The demand of work is so heavy on a
Kumbhar woman that she can take no more than fifteen days leave after child birth.
Many are back to work within seven days. 49

46
Ibid
47
Ibid
48
Ibid
49
Ibid

180
In the entire process of production, women are omnipresent right from the beginning
with stocking, carrying products, clay-preparing and pinda making, product drying,
colouring, decorating, dice work, child bearing, household work etc. They have to do
everything except sitting at the wheel. They work for such long hours that they fail to
have any time for themselves.
Therefore, many people are moving out and joining some more lucrative business or
occupation. Even women are becoming more interested in anganwadi or balwadi work
or may even work as domestic help.50
Another problem is the storage factor. There is little space to reside and for production
work let alone for storage purposes. That is one reason why the potters are unable to
expand their business. They face another challenge when they take out their products
from the bhatti after burning them. Many of the products break and/or become defective
pieces due to failures in the production process. This also leads to loss in business, and
blame is often placed on the women for failures in the preparation of the clay.51
Moreover, the potters are facing problems as the market is shrinking and there is fierce
competition from cheaper and more durable light metalware which is taking the place of
earthen pottery. The price of pottery is going up because the cost of production is rising.
The raw material and other material needed for processing products are getting more
expensive and difficult to procure.52
A potter’s work is hard; more hands lighten the burden of labour but at the same time
increase the cost of feeding the workers. Primitive technology and underdevelopment of
the society do not permit full development of the productive power of a man or woman.
Control of the size of the family has led them to more problems. Now they have to hire
labourers, the work which previously was done by household members.53
Community living is an important aspect of the Prajapatis. They have attempted to
instill pride among the potters that they are creators and insist they must stand together as
a community. A natural corollary to this is that a Prajapati cannot accept work from

50
Ibid
51
Ibid
52
Statement given to the researcher by a male resident of Kumbharwada, Respondent E (name withheld) during one of
her visits to the area in August 2013
53
Ibid

181
outside.54 One good result of building up this type of community feeling is that Hindu
and Muslim Kumbhars live amicably together.
Yet they are an endogenous group and interact within their community. Even though the
men have some sort of interaction with the outside world, the women are almost totally
restricted, either due to social customs or because of their own wills and nature. They are
generally very shy and helping husbands is the norm of their life. They are rarely
outspoken and feel secluded from the outside world. Most of them still reside like village
dwellers in the heart of the city, moving around with ‘ghunghats’ (heads covered with a
portion of their sari or dress) and traditional Gujarat dresses. The younger generation
women, however, often resist this traditional mode of living, although most of them
finally succumb.55
There is one Nagar Sevika from the potter’s community; she was given unanimous vote
by the women of the community with the hope that she will uplift the position of the
women of this community. 56 However, she changed her attitude the moment she gained
power and forgot all her electoral promises. As such hope that was generated was lost.

3.2.6 Agencies/Organisations
There are mainly four organization/ agencies within the potter settlement. These are:

A) Prajapati Kumbhar Cooperative Society

A humanitarian and philanthropic Gujrati57 took an interest in the Kumbhars and formed
a committee that collected and donated money for construction of galvanized tin houses
in the first three wadis. This also was the beginning of the potters' long association with
private social work channels in Mumbai.58 The committees work, embedded in religious
meaning and value, Gujrati ethnicity, and profound poverty made it not only a municipal
but also a community trust worthy of being preserved and helped. The fact is that the art
of pottery was at risk because of poverty, lack of raw materials, supply of fuel and other
problems. A small incident precipitated the formation of the cooperative society.
54
Ibid
55
Ibid
56
Ibid
57
The names of the philanthropists are not remembered by the male interviewee (Respondent E), who was interviewed
at Kumbharwada, Mumbai on 15th September, 2013.
58
Exact date could not be collected as the interviewee himself was unaware of this and there is the total absence of any
official record to verify. Interview held on mid September, 2013 at Kumbharwada.

182
Outsiders were already working with the idea of the formation of a cooperative society.
It was not an indigenous development. What triggered the formation of the cooperative
was the incident of a boy flying a kite who accidentally bumped into a bhaiya carrying a
load of willow dust on his head. This is the fuel for firing pots. The bump upset the
bhaiya’s balance as well as his temper. A fight ensued between the bhaiyas and the
potters.59 The bhaiyas, almost monopoly sellers, henceforth refused to sell cotton waste
to the Kumbhars. Dependence on erratic and temperamental monopoly sellers had to
cease. The alternative was self reliance. The decision was taken to form a cooperative
which would organize its own supply of willow dust. The impetus to the formation of a
cooperative was given by a philanthropist60; who offered a free supply of willow dust
from his textile mills to the Kumbhars. The idea of a cooperative became attractive to the
potters. A second version was given by the initiator of the cooperative. She and her sister
were concerned with socially underprivileged groups. They became deeply interested in
potters and in pottery. To them a producer’s cooperative was the only means of salvation
for the craftsmen. In 1949, a producer’s cooperative named Shri Prajapathi Sahakari
Utpaddak Mandal was formed and in 1951 it was formerly registered as a cooperative
society.61 Formerly, the membership of the cooperative society was open to all the
Kumbhars residing in Kumbharwada, although it was registered as a producers’
cooperative. Purchase of a minimum of one share gave the right to be a member and to
enjoy the benefits of the society. The value of a share was Rs. 10, and it is so till today. 62
However, according to the amended rules of the society, membership is now confined to
only active or practicing potters. The earlier shareholders are, however, permitted to
continue to hold their shares. Today the cooperative society has about 350 members
helped by a Managing Committee of seventeen members which includes the president,
the vice-president, the manager and others members.63 The people are more accustomed
to the term ‘society’ than ‘cooperative’. It may be mentioned that there is not a single
women member. There are two versions regarding the non-involvement of women. The
cooperative’s members held that there is not a single Kumbhar woman who is smart

59
Information elicted by the researcher from the patel of Kumbharwada in 10th August 2013
60
Interview, n 56
61
Information elicited from one present cooperative member of Prajapati Kumbhar Society in Kumbharwada, Mumbai
(name withheld) by the researcher in March 2014
62
Ibid
63
Ibid

183
enough to be a part of the core committee and they do not even know how to attend
meetings. They are illiterate; therefore, they are not fit to sit with the male members.
The other version is that of the Mahila Mandal Chief in Kumbharwada. According to
her, the male members have gained total control of the society and give no space to the
women to voice their demands.64 Today the society owns three trucks, which it uses to
get fuel and transport pots to market. It also runs two rationing shops, a bal mandir (a
creche) and a clinic
The cooperative society is the link between the government of Gujarat and the practicing
Kumbhar. The main purpose of the society is to make contacts with local spinning mills
from whom cotton lint may be obtained. As mentioned above, cotton lint is the main fuel
used in firing pots and is a vital element in the Kumbhar economy. The society is
supposed to get cotton willows, white clay in bulk supposedly at a low price from
Gujarat stores; these supply the Kumbhars at a lower price than the market.65 They also
get a supply of red clay from Panvel and Thane. 66 White clay is required for decorative
items and red clay for idols. Bulk buying straight from the textiles mills with no
intermediary seems to have had no economic advantage for the potters in general. But at
the same time the members are assured of an almost regular flow of fuel. The non-
members however complain of discrimination in the supply of fuel to them. A contrary
statement was made by a senior member of the managing committee who insists that the
cooperative makes no distinction between members and non-members in supplying
fuel.67 Service, he claimed, is rendered strictly according to the order placed by the
client- member or otherwise. The non-members, however, complain that unconcern and
delay in supply of fuel causes a tremendous loss to them. 68 The society also serves other
functions. They, sometimes, arrange health camps every three months, give
recommendations for admission to schools and hospitals, give space for clay storage to
each potter and provide space to run a dispensary, a computer class and an art school.69

64
Ibid
65
ibid
66
Ibid
67
Ibid
68
Information was elicited by the researcher from the local Kumbhars of the area who were not members of the
cooperative society, on March 2014, to know about the kind of problems they face as not being the members of the
society
69
Ibid, n 60

184
Moreover, sometimes they also arrange sawambhara (cooperative Prajapati marriage
age of many couples to cut down cost).
There have, however, been complaints of mismanagement and corruption. One of the
accountants is reported to have embezzled money to the extent of Rs. 16000.70 The
members of the society demanded action against him. Nothing was done. The money has
not been repaid either. Such misconduct is ignored, much to the annoyance of the
ordinary Kumbhars, the poorer shareholders. Further, the physical living conditions of
the Kumbhars do not have a chance to change in the present structure. Some dream of a
neat new settlement, with small but well built houses with a private backyard for each
house. The backyard would provide ample space and privacy for work. Above all, there
would be well constructed closed kilns which would rid them of the smoke. 71 However,
others are afraid of any construction and intrusion of promoters, because of the fear that
their land would be taken away in the name of redevelopment.72 Thus the situation
remains the same.

B) Kalyan Kendra
The notion of welfare service in Kumbharwada was first conceived in the late forties by
a physician-cum-social worker.73 He was particularly concerned with the high incidence
of tuberculosis in Kumbharwada which was almost a breeding ground for the disease. He
traced the cause to the smoke filled atmosphere, water logging during the rains, lack of
sanitation, poverty of the people and consequent low nutritional standards. Singly he
could do nothing. He needed a more powerful agency to organize a welfare center. The
Institute of Social Service, a Catholic women’s institution was willing to explore the
possibility of setting up a centre. The initial activity consisted of weekly medical services
by a trained doctor and free distribution of milk for children. A general meeting of all the
Kumbhars was called and a committee was elected. A committee comprising of three
members from the Institution of Social Service, three from the cooperative and three
from the local Saikanik Mandal74 came into being and Shri Soratia Prajapati Nagar

70
Ibid, n 66
71
Information elicited from an informant of the area, during prolonged and continuous interviews with the researcher
during the months of August and September, 2014 in Kumbharwada.
72
Ibid
73
The name of the physician-cum-social worker is not remembered by the interviewee. Interview held in the Clinic
situated in Kumbharwada Cooperative Society, on 15th September, 2013
74
Researcher’s Interview with cooperative member, n. 60

185
Kalyan Kendra was formed.75 This centre was useful for the sponsoring agency as a
training ground for its own students.
Full fledged working of the Welfare Centre began on August 15, 1960. The Central
Welfare Board through the help of the All India Handicrafts Board, made a grant of Rs.
25,000/-. The money was sanctioned to the Institute of Social Service for the period
commencing from December, 1960 to November 30, 1963 for establishing welfare
extension services. The centre was formally named Shri Soratia Prajapati Nagar, Kalyan
Kendra. The major objectives of this welfare centre were to build fraternity, cooperation,
good behaviour, service and equality. In other words they were centred on the main
theme of betterment and uplift of the community.
The committee members selected for the Kalyan Kendra were the already established
local leaders. The local leaders had their first training in leadership in the cooperative
society. Two members of the Institute of Social Service were to act as consultants to the
committee. The advisory committee consisted of Panchayat members and prominent
leaders. A full time trained organizer was appointed to coordinate and run the Kalyan
Kendra. Some enthusiastic young men of the community were recruited to assist in the
work of the Kalyan Kendra. The Kalyan Kendra started out with four major activities:
(a) Nursery School - The Bal Mandir, meant for tiny tots. It had a trained teacher and an
ayah.
(b) Women’s craft class - Sewing, dress making, and embroidery were taught to women
by a trained crafts teacher.
(c) A recreation centre open to boys and girls
(d) A dispensary was set up with a qualified doctor in charge. It was open thrice a week.
A nominal rate of 10 paisa was charged for every consultation.
The Kalyan Kendra gave an opportunity to students of social work to learn and practice
their social work techniques whether on a group or a community or single case work. It
appears that this was one of the major purposes of the sponsoring agency and the purpose
was served.76
The running of the dispensary and the school are the two most important functions of the
Kalyan Kendra. The dispensary today has two doctors; one of them holds a M.D. degree
and the other a MBBS degree. Yet only five out of the total sample of forty eight

75
ibid
76
ibid

186
Kumbhars who were interviewed by the researcher found the services satisfactory.77 Two
out of these five are committee members of the cooperative and the Panchayat.78 The
charges are as low as Rs.10 per visit. Many of the respondents stated that the timing was
unsuitable for potters. The potters are busy from ten in the morning till late in the
evening. Yet, the dispensary is run during the day. 79 Some suggestions were put forward
by the women respondents. The first one was to organize the dispensary in such a way so
as to prevent the conflicting situation between different groups. Second was to stop the
preferential treatment given to the Managing Committee members and their relations. A
third major recommendation was to give greater attention to tuberculosis patients as the
treatment is lengthy and the drugs expensive. Another important recommendation was to
run an anti-natal and post natal clinic with a woman doctor in attendance every day.
Obviously, no apparent note has been taken of these suggestions.
A consequence of this indifference is that the dispensary is poorly attended by the
common Kumbhar whom it ought to have primarily benefited. The dispensary is a show
piece proudly displayed to distinguished visitors who visit the slums or those who appear
as potential donors to Kumbharwada. A small minority manages to take advantage of
this dispensary. According to the members of the Managing Committee, medicines are
sold at a very nominal price to patients. The Kumbhars, however, resent having to pay
the price, which according to them, is very high.80 The Municipal hospital in the
neighbourhood provides free services and free medicine.81 The ordinary Kumbhars
complain that though a stock of medicines lie in the dispensary at Kumbharwada and the
doctor in charge writes out a prescription, they can hardly afford to buy these from a
chemist.82 The real demand of the people is therefore ignored by the committee members
of the Kalyan Kendra and the cooperative which are supposedly democratic.

77
Information elicited from an informant of the area (name withheld), during prolonged and continuous interviewes
with the researcher during the months of August and September, 2014 in Kumbharwada.
78
Ibid
79
Researcher’s Interview with cooperative member, n. 60
80
Ibid, n 77
81
Ibid, n 77
82
Information elicited from a female resident of Kumbharwada of the area Respondent F (name withheld), during
prolonged and continuous interviewes with the researcher during the month of September, 2014 in Kumbharwada.

187
The Balmandir, that is, the nursery school, too runs in the same fashion. Even if the
Balmandir caters only to the potters’ children, the strength of the nursery school should
be higher than what it is. Free meals are served to the children in the afternoon.83
The social worker in Kumbharwada is responsible for establishing a rapport and for
popularizing the services rendered by the Kalyan Kendra. She is acquainted with all the
Kumbhars and is much loved by the small group of committee members with whom she
is in close contact. She is also loved by their family members. The task of coordinating
the activities, running the business and training are heavy burden for a single person and,
therefore, it is believed to be a major reason for the failure of Kalyan Kendra.
What is important to mention here is that both the Balmandir and the dispensary could
have been of great benefit to the women of Kumbharwada, but the potential, for various
reasons was not developed.

C) Panchayat and Jammat

Kumbaharwada also has a Panchayat and a Jammat, which are essentially social
organizations based strictly on caste and religion and by location, viz., wadi wise. The
function of these social organizations is to settle disputes mainly relating to marital
affairs. The disputes are settled by referring to traditional norms which are distinctly
different among the two communities, i.e., the Hindus and the Muslims. The origin of the
social organization, the Panchayat and its counterpart the Jammat, is obscure. No one is
willing to give any information. The ordinary Kumbhar seems to be ignorant of its
specific activities. Since the history of the Panchayat is not known, therefore the link
with the other two organizations remains unclear. What is particularly interesting is the
fact that only a Kumbhar who owns shares in the cooperative has a right to be elected to
the Panchayat. That is the minimum but essential qualification, as well as the link. The
Hindus have a Panchayat in each wadi. The Panchayat consists of a patel, a kotwal and
three others members. The patel records births and deaths. This record becomes a
reference point to decide voting rights. There is a general Kotwal for the whole of
Kumbharwada. His role is that of a traditional “town crier” who performs the role of the
police. The Panchayat meets whenever a social problem arises. There is only one fixed
meeting, held immediately after Diwali which is one of the major festivals of the
Kumbhars. It is also the beginning of the financial New Year for the business
community. The Panchayat is only concerned with social matters. The Muslim

83
Ibid
188
counterpart of the Panchayat is the Jammat. It consists of a Patel and four chaudaris;
like the Panchayat members, they are elected from only the respected members of the
community. Minor individual matters are disposed off by the Jammat, but for larger
issues the general body of the Jammat is invited for the meeting. The researcher found
both organizations to be largely defunct. Few individuals refer their problems to the
Panchayat or the Jamaat. There is a general feeling among the Kumbhars that justice is
linked to one’s economic position and that there is little fair play. Nowadays, the
importance of the Panchayat has been reduced and the Kumbhars hardly rely on it.
These organizations mainly continue because of tradition. 84

D) SNEHA - NGO
SNEHA is a social organization and a Non Governmental Organization (NGO),
which has been working for the women Kumbhars for the last eight years through the
formation of Mahila Mandals and Bachat Committees. It is a counterpart of the
Panchayats and the cooperative society, which do not allow any woman to be member.
There are 10 mandals in the Prajapati society in Kumbharwada with 10 members. All
the members give Rs. 50/- per month, the total amount of which is deposited in the
nearby branch of Indian Bank. Interest gets generated and loans are taken for business
and personal requirements. The mandals are as follows: Tulsi, Uma, Bhagwati, Krupti,
Pragati, Hapti, Jai Matadi, Radhe Krishna, Ambika and Durga; they have divided
themselves in groups to function well and systematically with less confrontation. They
give tailoring, balwadi and anganwadi training to women, as well as training in the
making of diyas and in painting. The most important contribution of this organization is
the initiative to make women aware and conscious of their rights and freedom, help them
to come out of the shells, voice their demands and present their views on issues in
common forums, as well as to the police. 85 Previously, all problems used to be resolved
by the panchayats and decisions used to be highly biased towards men. The NGO
however promoted a pro women stance. It has also arranged medical camps, blood
donation camps, eye surgery provisions for senior citizens etc.86

84
Information elicited by the researcher during her prolonged interview sessions with the informant of the area and the
Kalyan Kendra officials, in a meeting organized by the researcher at the informants place on 12th and 13th August
2013.
85
Ibid
86
Ibid

189
3.3 The Three Potters and Clay Modeler Communities in Kolkata --– Case Studies:
Kumartuli, Pal Para--Dakshindari and Harish Neogy Street – Ultadanga

3.3.1 Introduction
Clay has always been included in lists of suitable materials for image making, pots, diyas
and other useful and decorative items. In Bengal, clay images that are used for worship
are generally referred to as "mrinmaya" or "mrittika pratima". The clay images are made
using various kinds of clay over a frame of bamboo with the bulk of the figures being
made initially from straw over which clay is overlaid. When Calcutta was established as
a major trade centre during the 18th century a group of clay image makers settled in what
is now known as Kumartuli in the north of the city under the patronage of the landed
gentry who were moving into the city themselves. The image makers supplied clay
images to families which held pujas (worship) in their homes. Later, communal or
'sarvajanin puja' became popular and these now far outnumber those of the traditional
families, which still preserve the old style images rather than the more modern style
favoured by the popular market. 87 Along with Kumartuli, gradually with growing
demand, some other colonies of the same type developed in Kolkata like Dakshindari,
Ultadanga, Kalighat etc.
This industry in Kolkata has acquired some unique characteristics which have denied
them separate categorizations as a small scale or cottage industry, either under the Khadi
and Village Industries Board (KVIB) and Khadi and Village Industries Commisssion
(KVIC) or in the census data. Whatever data that are there with the KVIB and KVIC are
all related to pottery which has a meaning and domain that does not include in any way
the artisans of Kolkata. Pottery industry, according to the Commission and the Board
(elicited from interviews with concerned officials), includes four branches – terracota,
earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. Moreover, the industry, according to the Board,
has to be situated in rural areas to have access to various governmental beneficiary
projects and schemes. Firstly, except for the slum on Harish Neogy Street, all others
focus on clay imaging and modeling which does not fall in the categories mentioned
above. Secondly, all three slums selected for the present study belong to an urban
locality in North Kolkata under Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the South
Dumdum Municipality (SDDM). Thirdly, the potters in Harish Neogy Street are not

87
Information elicited from a senior Kumar of Kumartuli (name withheld) by the researcher during her prolonged
general discussions with the different residents of Kumartuli,in April 2014 in Kumartuli, Kolkata.

190
Bengalis (the original inhabitants) and are considered as migrants88 who can never be
given any benefit and opportunity in a city that does not belong to them. Fourthly, most
of the residents of Pal Para are also migrants, and the slum is not even registered under
the SDDM; further there is no proper population and slum data available. Fifthly, potters
and clay imagers are household industry workers (HIW), yet we find that in the census
data they are not placed under this categorization. From the secondary survey of the
researcher, it was observed that Kumartuli includes 470 clay imagers, whereas in the
census report only 9 are included.89 As they do not exist in official records, they are
denied any government benefits. It is an irony that Kumartuli, which happens to be a
traditional potters’ colony and has been in existence since British times, and which is
acclaimed by the general public opinion of Kolkata as the highest supplier of images and
clay articles (although no official record could be found) nationally and internationally,
does not have any actual survey data.

88
Interview elicited by the researcher from the general discussions that took place with the informants of the three
potters’ colonies of Kolkata (Respondent I, J and K, names withheld) between April 2014 to July 2014. Respondent I
is from Kumartuli and is a senior clay modeler, Respondent J of Dakshindari is an employee under SDDM and a clay
worker by profession and Respondent K of Ultadanga is a member of the West Bengal Earth Pot Maker Welfare
Association
89
Bustee data received from KMC official

191
3.3.2 Kumartuli – Introduction --Location
Figure 3.1: Map of Northern Part of Kolkata showing the location of Kumartuli

Source: Personal collection of a clay worker in Kumartuli

(See Annexure 19 for a detailed Map of Kumartuli)
Kumartuli is the hub and a revered hotspot for traditional Indian pottery, clay modelers,
doll-makers and image –makers who are popularly known as mrit shilpis in the northern
part of old Kolkata. It is bounded by Rabindra Sarani in the east, Ganga Prasad Lane in
the west, Durga Charan Banerjee Street in the north and Banamali Street in the south.
Within this area there are two other streets – Kumartuli Street running parallel to Durga
Charan Banerjee Street and Bhaskar G. Paul Lane running parallel to Rabindra Sarani.
The area is internationally claimed as a clay modelers’ community; it has approximately

192
528 resident families. 90 This area deserves special attention not only because of its
economic activity, but also because of its heritage value. Image makers of the Kumartuli
area are responsible for making images of Gods and Goddesses for social and religious
festivals, of which Durga Puja is the most important one.

3.3.3 History and tradition

The tradition of clay modeling as a distinctive feature of Bengali culture dates back to
the 17th century when potters in search of better livelihood came from Krishnagar to
Gobindapur, a prosperous village on the banks of the Bhagirathi (now river Hooghly), to
make a living by making pots, clay toys and cooking utensils for household use.91 Later,
when the land at Gobindapur was acquired by the British East India Company to build
Fort William, the inhabitants migrated further up the river to Sutanuti. The potters moved
on to the new destination, and colonized a vast area and named it Kumartuli.92 The
Bengal Consultations, a journal published in 1707 AD, gives an account of the presence
of Kumartuli's artisans who occupied 75 acres of land at Sutanuti, which is a constituent
of present day north Kolkata. Presently, the potters’ colony is extended over an area of
approximately 5 acres of land, stretched over Ward Number 8 and 9 under the Kolkata
Municipal Corporation. There are around 300 studios in Kumartuli, many of which serve
as both workplace and home. Each house occupies a nominal area of about 100-150
square feet. Tin and matting make up the roof. Electric lighting is minimal. Most of the
artisans sit on the floor to work. During the festival seasons, the alleyways are packed
with images drying in the sun. Most of the structures are hutments of kutcha and semi-
pucca categories. It may be noted here that this area of Kumartuli where these shilpis
(craftsmen) live are ironically categorized as authorized slum areas93, in spite of the fact
that they have been residing since the birth of Kolkata. The poverty of these potters
demoted them from the position of original inhabitants to slum dwellers in course of
time.94 This area consists mainly of two kinds of slums95 -- (i) The first kind of slums has

90
Information elicited by the researcher from the aged kumors (Respondent L and M, names withheld) and the
members of the Mrit Shilpi Samities (Respondent G and H, names withheld) in Kumartuli during her general
discussion and interview sessions in April 2014, on several dates.
91
Ibid
92
Ibid
93
Ibid
94
Ibid
95
Nitai Kundu, Understanding Slums: Case Studies for the Global Report on Human Settlements 2003, Urban Slum
Reports -- The Case of Kolkata, India, P 8, available at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-
projects/Global_Report/pdfs/Kolkata.pdf accessed on 01.07.2014

193
been existing since the British period when middlemen took land from the landowners,
usually for a long term and built hut type settlements which they let out to migrants. This
migration continued till the partition of India when Bengal was divided into East and
West Bengal. Migrants from East Bengal needed a place to live and had no alternative
but to accept accommodation without basic amenities. Initially, Kumartuli was inhabited
by migrants from Krishnanagar; later on, migrants from East Bengal, now Bangladesh
also settled here. Therefore, within Kumartuli, we find the existence of two pattys
(habitations) – ‘bangal patty’ where the migrants from East Bengal settled, and ‘ghoti/e-
deshiyo patty’ where the original inhabitants of Kolkata reside. There is another type of
slum called the “thika tenant slums” where the slum dwellers have taken possession of
land at a fixed rent and have constructed their houses. The land selected for the slums
was inferior in quantity, and as such, the thika tenants got them at a nominal rent. As the
landowners did not have substantive interest in the land and the hut owners were busy
with their own business, no one paid any heed to develop the living environment of the
area, leading to a congested slum with workshop and living space amalgamated together.
The area also has two cooperative societies or samities – the Kumartuli Mritshipi Samiti
with 80 members who are termed as bangals and the Kumartuli Mritshilpi Sanskriti
Samitis with around 340 members, one for the bangals and another for the Ghoti/ ae-
deshiyos respectively. They were formed to look after the interests of the artisans of their
respective communities, for instance, providing some business funds, raw materials at a
cheaper rate, providing free polythene sheets in rainy seasons etc.

3.3.4 Labour
Image–making process is a very labour intensive activity and for a majority of the
activities they need specialized labour is needed. This industry is heavily dependent on
the supply of temporary labour from Krishnanagar, Shantipur, Nadia etc. Per day rates
vary from Rs.200-300/. However, hired artisans are not paid on a daily basis. They are
hired for a particular season and a yearly contract is signed on the basis of the daily
wage. The payment is done weekly or monthly; this is mutually settled. Helpers are also
hired. During the festival season, labour hiring shoots up to 3000-4000 from 1000 people
in Kumartuli, to meet the work pressure and deadlines for idol supply. These are all
skilled labour. For transportation, unskilled labour is employed. These temporary idol
makers, during the festive season, have long working hours and irregular timings.

194
Therefore, they prefer staying near the workshop, which is another constraint due to lack
of space. It should be noted here that there are no female hired labourers. It is also found
from the interviews, that the hired workers have outnumbered the traditional family
workers in Kumartuli.

3.3.5 Raw Materials used

The raw materials used for idol making can be grouped according to the sequence of use:
a) Basic raw materials used in the first stage for making the frame and the initial clay
work are split bamboo, garan wood, straw, husk, clay, thread etc.
b) Materials needed in the second and subsequent stages when finer work and actual
finishing of the images are performed are whiting and various coloured pigments and
paints, cloth, shola96 ornaments made up of synthetic materials etc.

3.3.6 Production Cost

The production cost has mainly two direct components:
(i) Cost of materials like clay, wood, jute, wire, paints, dices, brushes, trays, polythene
etc
(ii) Cost of hired labour
In addition to these, the artisans have to pay rentals for space required for clay work and
storing, and they also have to bear the interest amount on borrowed capital.

3.3.7 Major seasons of work

There are mainly three seasons when demand for clay images is high:97
a) Poila Boishakh (Bengali New year) Season: mid-February to mid-April (demand for
Laxmi and Ganesh idols)
b) Durga Puja Season: April to October (7 months) (demand for idols of Viswakarma,
Durga, Laxmi, Ganesh, Kartick, Saraswati, Kali,Jagatdhatri)
c) Saraswati Puja Season: December to January (2 months) (demand for idols of
Saraswati and Annapurna)
It should be noted here that the Durga puja season does not include only the Durga puja,
but idols are made for all the pujas of the season.

96
Shola is known in English as cork which is an impermeable, buoyant material, a prime-subset of bark tissue that is
harvested for commercial use.
97
Researcher’s interview, n 89

195
Although festivals last for short durations, but to supply the growing demand for the
idols, the artisans work all through the year, divided into the above mentioned three
seasons. However, their products are sold only during the time of festivals or pujas. A
new source of income has come up, however, for the idol makers with the growing
popularity of Lokenath Baba (a popular Bengali saint) among Bengalis. The demand for
Lokenath Baba idols is rising high and the idol makers make his idol throughout the
year.98

3.3.8 Storage
The clay modellers keep their products stored in their small workshops. Those who do
not have any separate storage space either hire a place or keep the images on the lanes
adjacent to their house, or in their small residential rooms under the bed or maybe on top
of almirahs. Those who do not have a proper space to store generally concentrate on
small idol making and “chhache phela thakur” (moulded idols) which they can store in
their own houses.99

3.3.9 Marketing
Most of the images, dolls, and other products are sold from the production location. The
owner producer deals all the transactions directly with the customers. There is no area
marked for public display, so that, the customers can exercise their choice. The producers
display their products on the roads to attract their customers. Kumartuli, unlike other
potters’ colonies, has its fixed customers, who come to them for years. It has a different
reputation in the pottery market. Nowadays the potters are even opening their own
websites to attract and propagate their products to customers outside the boundary of
West Bengal, especially to attract foreign customers. This, however, is done by the male
artisans. The women lack such opportunities to propagate their business. 100
According to one of the Samiti members, the idols made here are also exported to other
countries and there is a huge turnover in the export business amounting to an estimated
Rs.5 crore.101 Emerging virtually as an independent international brand of Durga-image
makers, Kumartuli continues to remain an exclusive exporter of the idols of the goddess

98
Ibid
99
Ibid
100
Ibid
101
Ibid

196
to non-resident Indians (NRIs) settled in different nooks and corners of the globe during
the Durga Puja held annually.
Though Kumartuli has been sending images made of clay on the hay structure of Durga,
her children and the demon Lord Mahishasur overseas since 1954, the demand for idols
during Durga Puja season in (September or October every year) started soaring after
1963 following the exodus of a large numbers of Indians to different parts of the
world. A spokesman of Kumartuli Shilpi Sangha (KSS), an association of the craftsmen,
said NRI's from countries like Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia, Austria and Poland, now
throng to the Kumartuli to select the images. U.S. based NRIs, including the Bengali
Association of Southern California, the Bengali Association of Greater Chicago,
Dakshini Sanskriti, Garden State Puja Committee of New Jersey, the East Coast Durga
Puja Committee of New York, come to Kumartuli to select deities to ship to their cities.
Additionally, hundreds of agents in Kolkata service NRIs seeking idols from the
colony.102

3.3.10 Process of Image-making in Kumartuli

The image-making at Kumartuli is done through various stages which are as follows:
a) Preparation of the framework and the core with split bamboo, garan wood and straw.
The foundation for the idols and their base setting or kathamo is made from tall wooden
planks, many of them are circular in type. These support the basic 'tacture' (structure).
They have a special day for beginning this kathamo making. Using the aforesaid wooden
structures as support, they shape the figures with hay and mount them onto the wood.
The hay structure is, thus, the deciding factor for the idols' final shape and appearance.
b) Initial application of clay (etel mati transported from Uluberia, Diamond Harbour)
mixed with husk and jute–fibre (dhaner khola/tush– khor) reinforcement on the straw
helps to bring the basic cut of the image figure, which is then allowed to dry.103
c) After having dried a finer layer of clay (bele mati from the Ganga belt) is applied to
conceal all the cracks etc appearing due to shrinkage.

102
Ibid
103
Basically, there are two different types of soft clay or sticky soil and sandy soil. In fact, Ganges soil is sandy soil
and is available in any of the ghats of the river and is therefore, quite cheap. Sticky or chit soil however comes from
Diamond Harbour and Budge Budge. Local unavailability of such soil makes it costlier. Sticky and sandy soils are
quite different in character and one of them can be easily identified from the other. Sandy soil is whitish in colour
while chit soil is dues black. Sandy soil does not stick to the hand and leaves a faint impression only. Sticky soil on the
other hand, sticks to fingers and cannot be easily separated.

197
d) The model is then wrapped tightly with nekra or cloth-rags in order to develop a
smooth finish; otherwise, the "skin" feels dusty and uneven.
e) The head and fingers are then added. The faces of the idols and their gahana or
ornaments are made with the help of chhanch (moulds). But, the fingers and the thumbs
are to be shaped by the potters without the help of chhanch, a task which they perform
with a distinct sense of pride. The artisans have little electricity light after sunset and
work largely by candlelight.
e) A primary coat of white paint is applied after the images are dry.
f) Paints of various colours and pigments as may be necessary for the realization of the
ultimate form, are applied next. As far as paints are concerned, spray guns are
increasingly used these days, apart from the traditional mixes. Spray guns offer a quick
and better look. "We need to be faster as demands mount every year," a Pal (name
withheld)104 says.105 The finer parts of the models such as the fingers are done with
pencil-guns. Talking about paints, another Pal (name withheld) noted "The authorities
have banned seese (lead) to be used in our paints," he says. "But we have no substitute
either!" He raises his voice and his eyes are passionate with emphasis as he said, "We
need to run our families; this is our only way to earn. Our purva-purush (ancestors) have
been doing this since ages."106
g) The eyes are painted, ornaments added and final touches are given to the gods and
goddesses.
h) For the models, male and female images have separate chhanch for their faces. But the
mould for the image of the Narayana Devta is that of a female. The models are referred
to as putul or doll until the day the pujari or priest does the pran prathishthaa. Pran
prathishthaa, translated, means invoking life.107
i) Special images of fibre-glass material decked up with oil paint are also in vogue. Some
artisans work for family celebrations as well.

104
In West Bengal specially in Kumartuli, the surnames of the potters are mainly Pal
105
Information was elicited by the researcher during her general discussions and interviews with some senior male
respondents of Kumartuli (Respondent L and M, names withheld) who happens to be the traditional artisans and have
witnessed the changes that their occupation has gone through, on several dates July 2014

106
Information elicited from interview with a male potter of Kumartuli, Kolkata, (Respondent N, name withheld) on
February,2013
107
Ibid

198
Idols take months to be finished. They require a lot of hard work and tenacity. But
Kumartuli's artisans are deft and it almost seems like they bear their skill in their genes;
they also have a positive outlook towards their work and towards pottery.
There are some casual artists and artisans also who sometimes come from even distant
places only for the sake of the pleasure they derive from this particular form of art. The
practice of burning clay for the creation of moulds is not prevalent in the Kumartuli area.
Works of artistry involving fibre glass and bronze nowadays occupy a higher status and
carry at the same time, a higher monetary remuneration. Such creations are long lasting,
too. The bigger shops in the locality keep different images, sometimes of historical
figures, many items like sponge and wood outfits, golden and silvery bullen outfits, saris,
decorative garlands etc. Moreover, various types of outfits and accessories are packed
inside boxes and sent to different districts and states like Bihar, Tripura, Assam, and
Delhi where these deities are worshipped in large numbers. All such packed boxes with
the name of the shop printed on them, are placed in rows and column awaiting dispatch.
Apart from, wholesale outfits, there are shops that undertake retail sales too on the
advent of the festive season.

3.3.11 Artisans other than clay based workers in Kumartuli

Alongwith clay making, there are some other related activities of artists like shola shilpis
(artists), saaj shilpis (ornamental artists) etc which form a part of this huge industry.108
The other businesses are wholly dependent on the idol makers; the other shilpis provide
the decorative items to the latter to give a complete look to the image. These decorative
materials are becoming expensive by the day. Thus the lower income artists are now
concentrating more on chhacher thakur which does not require separate decorations.
The prices for clay are rising, leading many deviating from clay image making to shola
image making or plaster-of-paris image making. The images that are exported outside are
mostly made from these light raw materials like shola and plaster to avoid huge
outbound cost tariff and freight charges as well as breakage charges.109
Most of the movement of raw materials and small finished products within the area and
outside are dependent on non-motorised transport like rickshaws, vans, pull carts etc.
Apart from being comparatively cheap and suitable for small operations, they are also
non-polluting and labour intensive which is very much required to provide employment.

108
Ibid
109
Ibid

199
It is the finished heavy products that are predominantly transported by motorized
transport.

3.3.12 Women workers in Kumartuli

Women are employed in large numbers in dressing and decorating images of the
goddesses for making sponge and wood decorations, separating tufts of hair and fixing
crowns. They work hard even through the night. Women and even the children are
engaged in different types of work to save expenses during periods of heavy work.
Women would not, however, used for making frames comprising tightening and
fastening of bamboos and hay. But in the months of Shravana and Bhadra (August-
September) of the Bengali calendar the entire family of the artisan actively participates in
work. Daughters and daughters-in-law are engaged in work involving painting, putting
ornaments on the necks and arms of idols, dressing the deities in saris and dhotis and
fixing decorative borders on them. They are also engaged in untying the bundles of false
hair and pasting them on the heads of the idols. The cost of labour during this period
becomes so high that larger participation of family members in the jobs done by workers
from outside becomes highly convenient.110 On the issue of non-involvement of the
women members of the family in the entire process of making idols, one of the heads
(male) of an artisan family expressed his feeling and stated that women do not find time
to involve themselves in image making after taking care of the household.111 Moreover,
he went on to state further in an offended tone that if women come forward to perform
the entire job of image making then what would the menfolk do.112 When asked about
the possibility of any social taboo in the matter, he became visibly soft and tried to
explain that under the prevailing economic contraints, there is hardly any time for giving
serious thought to the issue, and whoever can earn anything comes to the benefit of a
needy family.113 Another head (male) of an artisan family stated that his wife excels in
the job of dressing the female idols with saris which is beyond his capability. 114
Moreover, womenfolk, according to him, possess an excellent sense about which is
110
Researcher’s interview, n. 105
111
Information elicited by the researcher from Respondent N, a male potter of Kumartuli (name withheld) on 10th
April, 2014
112
Ibid
113
Ibid
114
Information elicited by the researcher from Respondent 0, another male potter of Kumartuli (name withheld) on
10th April, 2014

200
beautiful and what is not. Anything that fails to pass the test of beauty to a woman would
not seem to be beautiful to him too.115
Then he was asked, if that be so, then why women artists not achieve any fame. Is it
because they do not make complete images from the beginning to the end? On this issue,
the male artisan said that at one time, womenfolk obtained substantial amount to bank
loans. At present, neither the women nor the men get any such loan because the previous
loans are lying uncleared. Those women who received loans also work but they do not
want to come to the forefront because of their innate bashfulness and reluctance towards
publicity. 116 The job of making big images might call for adequate muscular strength, but
during his childhood, he said, he had seen a woman making larger than 5 foot high
images of goddess Durga right from the beginning to the end single handedly. The
quality of her work was exquisite. She used to make the frame, apply paint over it and
dress the idol all by herself. Nobody spoke ill of her because she was a child widow.
People had great sympathy for her. But nowadays people have abandoned all such noble
sentiments like sympathy, love and respect. Nobody thinks about the others. This is why,
he thought, women like her are no longer there.117
He went on to relate reminiscences about his mother. They belonged to a poor family.
His mother used to make beautiful puppets in between household jobs. Those puppets
were sold in the markets. His father used to make images. But his mother made puppets
to cope with the family needs. During the Jhulan 118 festival, the women and children of
the families sit on both sides of the street selling artificial fruits, puppets made of clay
etc. In Kumartuli, there is a smaller market for buying and selling these types of puppets.
Kalipada Pal, a famous artist, related the distressing story about how once upon a time,
he used to make images of goddess Durga. But now he is suffering from an acute
shortage of funds. The daughters and daughters-in-law make puppets nowadays to earn
something for the family. He has two unmarried daughters.119

115
Ibid
116
Ibid
117
Ibid
118
Jhulan is a festival dedicated to Lord Krishna. The festival lasts for seven to thirteen days, and starts on the third
day of the bright fortnight of Shravan month in Bengali calendar (July-August) and ends until the full moon night of
the month (Jhulan Poornima). During this festival, the Radha-Krishna deities are gently swayed on a swing. This is one
of the most importanty festivals celebrated in Vrindaban (a city in Uttar Pradesh). However, we can also find glimpses
of this festival in West Bengal, where people decorate their house with small clay toys, which are produced by the
potters.
119
Information elicited from Kalipada Pal, a potter of Kumartuli, during researcher’s interview with him on 9th April,
2014
201
There are clay-making artisans in every home in Kumartuli. Names of two women of the
area who used to make images based on their own efforts are well known. One of them
was Kamakshya Bala Pal, who along with her two daughters was confronted with
imminent disaster resulting from the untimely premature death of her husband. But she
survived. She used to travel all the way from her residence up to her own shop on foot.
Besides puppets she used to make big images herself.120 One resident, Dilip Pal can still
recall memories of the days of his adolescence and related how Kamakshya Bala with
her head covered with a veil travel walked to her shop and returned again after the day’s
work.121 The other woman, Sati Rani Pal, also made small sized images of goddess
Durga, but retired from her job after her sons grew up.122
There is obviously some difference between the job of making small and big sized clay
idols. Whereas the making of a small sized model requires adequate skill of the worker’s
hand, the making of big images requires physical strength in addition to the skill of the
hands. Especially, the tying of hay requires a great deal of strength. Because of the
relatively lesser physical strength of women, it is not possible for them to undertake the
preliminary job of building the kathamo fully. But the daughters and wives of almost all
the artisans are required to participate in the work during periods of heavy business for
the sole purpose of reducing the pressure on funds. The wives have to take the
responsibility for placing ornaments, fixing crowns, dressing the idols in saris and
painting. Teamwork or collective effort constitutes the basis of image making. It may be
possible to make one or two small sized images single handedly.123 But a good number
of human hands especially women’s hands become necessary to perform ancillary jobs
like bringing raw materials, preparation of the soil, making frameworks, making idols,
application of decorations etc. As a consequence, the personal control of the artisan over
items like raw materials, labour and production cost remains high.

3.3.13 Problems faced by the Kumartuli Clay-workers

One of the major problems of the artisans is adequate fund flow for the smooth running
of the business. As per the versions of the artisans who are scattered over places like

120
Ibid
121
Information elicited from Dilip Pal, a potter of Kumartuli, during researcher’s interview with him on 10th April,
2014
122
Ibid
123
Ibid

202
Dakshindari, Kumartuli and others, banks are not generally interested in providing loans
to a single individual.124 They may, however, provide such loans to a cooperative society
consisting of 8, 10 or a greater number of members. This procedure becomes convenient
for a bank on account of the resulting reduction of responsibility. At the due time of
repayment of the loan, a member becomes pressurized by his fellow members to make
the repayment in due time. But, if the problem is seen from the other side, it aggravates
personal relationships between the members. The entire society might have to take the
blame for the backwardness of only one or two of its members. It was, however, learnt
that all of those artisans belonging to the Kumartuli area who have constituted such
cooperative societies have been benefited by them.125
Bank loans are therefore, not available only to those who are alone and isolated. Even
renowned artisans are no exception. A discussion with the Manager of a Bank in the
locality however, revealed a different picture. It was learnt that the largest existing
cooperative society of the clay modelers undertakes the responsibility to recommend the
amount of loan that may be given to any particular member after due consideration of the
amount of loan sought by him and his capability to repay the loan.126 In other words, the
sole responsibility for making the repayment lies exclusively on the particular member
taking the loan. But the bank also noted that because of social pressure, the bank’s risk
reduces considerably. It is also mandatory to get the recommendation of the Samiti in
respect of receiving any bank loan. But it is also a fact that because of this receipt of
loans are not materializing in reality. This is because many artisans do not have
information about the process of getting a loan. As a result, they often come back from
banks with a wrong impression, because of the deliberate misinformation of touts and
agents.127
However, it should be reiterated that clay-model making business is seasonal, and
artisans remain under-employed for a portion of the year. From the nominal income they
earn during the peak seasons, they have to keep a portion saved for the slack season.
Moreover, with the increase in the price of raw materials, fuel prices and labour charges,
the cost of production has increased; on the other hand, there is negligible increase in the

124
Researcher’s interview with informant, n. 88
125
Ibid
126
Ibid
127
Information elicited from the bank manager of the locality in April, 2013 (name of the bank and bank manager
withheld)

203
price of products due to a high degree of competition in the market. Kumartuli is
suffering from an apprehension of being closed down or terminated. Members of the
younger generation of artists and artisans of the older ages are quitting their traditional
occupation of image making to take up different occupations like those of moulding,
casting, foundry and others.128 The potters and related artisans of Kumartuli are part and
parcel of the cultural tradition of Kolkata, yet they work and live in deplorable
conditions. The main problem issues are:
1. The majority of the establishments operates out of kutcha (uncemented) constructions
and is susceptible to water logging, poor sanitation and fire hazards.
2. The houses virtually do not have natural ventilation and light.
3. Overlapping existence of workshop and living space due to shortage of space;
residents are deprived of basic services, and production units are constrained from
expanding their activities.
4. Absence of any organized marketing network129
5. Lack of unionization of the artisan workers
6. No organized pay or fixed prices for products leading to extreme form of bargaining
between producers and buyers130
7. Lack of properly channeled funds
8. Constraints in receiving dedicated labourers131
9. Lack of proper car parking space
10. Seasonal nature of the job
11. Lack of proper storage space
12. Lanes are too narrow for accessibility of carts and cars
13. No place for mass display of idols and dolls
Though these artisans are traditional workers, yet their work is not entirely based on
tradition. To cope with the changing world and national as well as international demands
they are adapting and innovating new forms based on traditional art forms. Further, the
advent of ‘theme’ pujas has led to a decline in the importance of clay modeling. The
traditional art forms are decaying and image making orders are received more by modern

128
Information elicited from various women clay workers respondents (16 in number) (names withheld)of Kumartuli
during FGD interview sessions with the researcher on April, 2013
129
Ibid
130
Ibid
131
Ibid

204
art students with formal training from art colleges.132 Moreover, the younger generation
of this community is losing interest in this business having seen their parents working so
hard yet not being properly recognized, nor adequately paid, and therefore, unable to
upgrade their living conditions.133 Those among them who are receiving education, are
trying to move away from the family business and are entering new job sectors, either
buying houses or renting one and shifting away from Kumartuli. 134

3.3.14 Sampling of interviewees

The community is basically divided into four categories of people –Clay modelers, shola
shilpis, saaj and other shilpis and godown (storeroom) holders. The distribution of
population according to the above mentioned groups are given below in Table 3.2:

Table 3.2: Gender –wise Distribution of Workers in Kumartuli

Categories Male Female Total

Clay modelers 124 26 (51%) 150
Total family
Shola shilpis 38 16 (31.4%) 54 Nos.
performing the
Saaj and other mentioned
41 6 (11.8%) 47 categories of
shilpis work –
Godown holders 16 3 (5.9%) 19 101
Total 219 51 270

Source: Survey conducted by KMDA in 2012

Out of a total of 51 women, 16 were selected for interview purposes, of whom 8 were
clay modelers, 4 were shola shilpis, 2 were saaj and other shilpis and 2 unpaid helpers
who are also 1 godown holders.
Out of 219 males, 10 were selected for interview purposes, with 5 being clay modelers, 1
shola shilpis, 1 saaj and 3 samiti members.

132
Ibid
133
ibid
134
Ibid

205
3.4. -- 17 no. Pal Para
3.4.1 History, Process of Clay-work and the involvement of women
17 no Dakshindari Pal Para is a different kind of potter’s colony situated under South
Dum Dum Municipality (SDDM). (See Annexure 16 and 17, showing Map of SDDM
with wards and Map of Dakshindari showing Pal Para Potter’s Colony respectively). It is
situated only 1 km from the Bidhannagar railway station and is close to Ultadanga and
Lake Town on the VIP road. Here the potters have settled on encroached lands near the
khal (canal).They are mostly migrants from erstwhile East Bengal, now Bangladesh.
They used to be potters in their place of origin; after partition they came and settled on
these lands and gradually their business of making clay models and pots of various kinds
flourished. Here the business mainly thrives because of women artisans who makes small
‘chhacher thakur’ or dice-made idols and decorative items all the year round. They are
either whole-sellers or labourers or work for contractors or middlemen. Pots are also
made by a small number of potters from Uttar Pradesh in a small pocket at the extreme
corner of Dakshindari. Large idol orders are also taken, but are mainly produced in
Duttapukur near Barasat where many of the potters of Dakshindari have bought land and
production stores for production.135 This they have done due to lack of space in
Dakshindari and secondly, due to the lack of any kind of legality of their residences.
Those who could not afford to buy lands in Duttapukur mange their livelihood by
producing small idols and decorative items. Although this is a slum, yet it is not enlisted
as a slum under the SDDM.136 Therefore, no official data or statistics are available.
Whatever data could be gathered is from the local residents and a former councillor
under SDDM who is also a woman clay modeller and stays in the locality. The houses
are mostly shanty type structures. The area is more or less square in shape. The houses
on the borderline are better constructed than those in the interior. The entire stretch of
land beside the canal and in front of the houses is used for carrying out craft work and
drying the images. It is a worth seeing scenario during the time of festivals when women
construct temporary bamboo shades and camp there (see snapshots at the end of this
chapter) along with necessary raw materials and make small clay idols all by themselves
without any help from the male members of their families. The body language and the
spirit of these women exhibit visible signs of empowerment and happiness. They sell

135
Information elicited by the researcher from a SDDM official, a resident of Dakshindari and a potter by caste whose
other family members still thrive on pottery, during prolonged discussions with him between May 2013-August 2013,
in SDDM office in Nagerbazar, Kolkata
136
Ibid

206
their products and use the money earned from them for family welfare. In order to supply
orders during the peak season, they work tirelessly day and night collectively. Although
such a scenario is not visible in all its exchanges in the other two sites, a general increase
in the rate of women participation is evident everywhere. The basic difference in respect
of these participation modes lies in the fact that in Dakshindari the women are involved
more in their own business or as daily wage earners, whereas in the other two sites they
are mostly engaged as unpaid help in their family businesses. Dakshindari is less popular
than Kumartuli and has not been explored before for any kind of research. This place has
been selected for the purpose of counting the role and position of women artisans in a
different context than that of Kumartuli where the women are only ancillary workers
with some big idol makers. Kumartuli is nationally and internationally recognized. It has
been in existence almost since the birth of Kolkata. Dakshindari is not as old as
Kumartuli. Moreover, it carries immigrant population and the places where they reside as
refugee land or vested lands137 – the space either belongs to the state government or the
railways, and the land is not registered under the name of the clay artists. Whatever,
recognition they receive now is through middlemen, who create a liaison between the
producer and the exporter. So basically there are four kinds of persons involved in the
process of production
 Producers (clay artists)
 Middlemen
 Exporters
 Buyers
The products are produced on the basis of the direction given by the middlemen, in terms
of quality, type and quantity. Many a times the products have to be re-processed to
upgrade the quality and to make them acceptable by international standards.
The artists operate from their places of residence and orders are packaged, supplied and
transported from there only. They supply locally, nationally and internationally,
generally on the basis of advance payment. Most of the families employ labour, both
men and women, depending on the nature and kind of work involved. The labourers are
employed on the basis of one year contract, and the payments are done in gaps as and
when required by the labourers. The full and final settlements of payments are done at
the end of the season. Here the labourers are mostly women who work for 12 hours
normally and get a payment on the basis of Rs. 100-150 per day; they not only make

137
Vested lands are such where the right to use the property passes on illegally to a particular entity.

207
chacher thakur, but also do other ancillary work like mixing clay, filtering and cleaning
of the clay, removing alien particles from the clay, drying the products in the sun etc.
These kinds of work are also done by the women helpers of the family. Those families
which do not have such women helpers employ women labourers. In a nutshell, these
kinds of work are done by the women particularly, either on a paid or an unpaid basis.
The male labourers get payment between Rs.300-400 per day with meals.138
The most crucial problem affecting them is the problem regarding lack of space.

3.4.2 Sampling of interviewees

No actual population data could be gathered as this slum is not a notified and listed one
under the municipality. 16 women respondent were interviewed out of which 8 were paid
workers in others establishment, 4 were own account workers and 4 were unpaid helpers.

3.5 Harish Neogy Road, Ultadanga

3.5.1 History, Process of Clay –work and the involvement of women139
Harish Neogy Road, Ultadanga is another potters’ colony which is very different from
the other two localities discussed so far, in terms of social composition and nature of
production. The earlier two were mainly populated by Bengalis, whereas this one is
occupied by ‘Prajapatis’, a Kumbhakar sect from UP and Bihar. They migrated from
those areas generations back and gradually settled in Ultadanga Muchi Bazar area. Their
numbers gradually increased and finally they became a potters’ community and the area
came to be known as a potters’ colony. They are proficient in making bhars (small cups),
pots and matkas (water pots), diyas (lamps) and other decorative items. They generally
do not make idols. The women again here are ancillary workers and are used for
preparation of clay, carrying products, drying them, weighting and arranging them
according to size and shape, colouring and decorating if needed and also selling them by
the Ultadanga Main Road adjacent to their area of residence during Diwali season. The
women, however, make diyas and decorative items, whereas men make bhars on the
wheels. The wheels previously were hand run, and were very difficult to use because of
the extreme exertion of pressure resulting many a time in chest and hand pain. Later from
1985 most of the families have begun using electric wheels; women are denied access to

138
Information elicited from a women respondent during face to face interview sessions with the researcher in
Ultadanga, Kolkata in May 2013
139
Information elicited by the researcher from a member of the Kumbhakar society who is a practicing potter and an
LIC agent and three senior potters of the area between January 2013 and August 2013 in Ultadanga potters’ colony.

208
the use of wheels. The women work almost the entire day starting from 4 AM till 10
PM.140 Not only do they contribute to the business, they have to take care of their
families and have cooking and child rearing duties. They are very poor, with no basic
amenities of life present in the area, have insufficient income, low educational
knowledge. The Prajapati community, unlike the Bengali kumbhakar communities, is
more conservative. This conservative outlook automatically has the greatest impact on
the women, who are not only denied access to proper education, but also to the outside
world. Their presence is restricted to the private sphere. Their space is limited to the
neighbourhood and the houses of people living in the community; chatting with fellow
Prajapatis in the compound area provides them the only source of entertainment. They
move around with ghunghats (women covering head with a portion of the sari called
anchal), and dress typically like conservative women.141 Their whole lives revolve
around supporting their husbands and households. They have no outer knowledge which
restricts them from getting employment in any job other than that of an unpaid helper in
the family enterprise. They cannot take up jobs that are considered socially derogatory
like that of a domestic help because they belong to a high caste and their community will
not permit them to do so. Previously they were not even allowed to sell the products by
the roadside. Now, however, due to financial constraints, such restrictions have been
lifted. The men nowadays are doing jobs in factories for additional income. The area, till
date, has not received any benefit or help from political parties, the KMC, or the
government or any NGO. No agencies have taken any responsibility to improve their
living conditions. There is no self-help group for women, no bank loans are received, no
funds are disbursed, no schemes are applicable or implemented, no caste certificates are
issued, and no training is imparted. They are very poor kind of people living with the
minimum basic necessities of life. Housing structures are in a deplorable condition; they
are made of straw, bamboo, tin, and are kutcha formations, with thatched roof. They
have a common toilet which a cluster of say 10 to 12 houses share. They use their houses
as their work place, the burning area, as kitchens and for dining, as bedrooms, store
rooms as well as for business dealings. The women are involved totally in the business as
helping hands and for all kinds of subsidiary work related to the business. The houses
which are very small in size provide space for living, working and storage purposes. The
potters face extreme challenges due to competition from other cheap and more polished

140
Ibid
141
Ibid

209
and decorative ready made factory made goods, which serve the same purpose. They
thus cannot increase the price of their products in order to retain customer demands since
business profit is decreasing day by day. The artisans hold that the sweet and tea shops
now use plastic cups for dahi (curd) and tea because they are cheaper. However, they
forget the pollution factor that is attached to the use of such plastic goods for food
consumption.142 They can also have a bad impact on health, and also they are non-
recycled products. They block drains and litter roads. Clay products are good for health
and are biodegradable. That is why potters say about their products: ‘From earth we
begin and unto earth we perish’. However, the government and environmental agencies
have some objection against these potters in the sense that they create air pollution
through bhattis (kiln) for baking the clay. The government has pressurized them to quit
the place because they create pollution; whereas plastic cups which are major
contributors to water logging in the city, are not actively restricted. The problems and
hindrances the potters here face are more or less the same as those of the other potters’
colonies. In the rainy season, they face the maximum problems like the others. The
additional problem that they face over Kumartuli and Dakshindari, is that they prepare
bhars and matkas in bhattis where it is difficult to keep the fire going during rainfall.
This causes difficulty in supplying finished products in time. As the area is small, they
have fewer numbers of bhattis and pressure mounts on bhattis during the rainy season.
The potters use them in shifts.
The potters here have no season; all through the year they make products and store them
to capacity.
The place has a strong resemblance to Kumbharwada in Mumbai, where the Prajapatis
from Gujarat reside and work.
The only positive feature in this potter colony is that the potters here are the best
organized among the three Kolkata colonies with three trade unions to take care of their
demands and problems. The first is known as the West Bengal Earth Pot Maker Welfare
Association. (See Annexure 18). It is a registered union (registration no S/1L/57186).
The second trade union is the Sarba Bharatiya Anunnata Kumbhakar Samiti with
registration number AS/ 40268, and the third one is the West Bengal Potters’
Association. This area is under KMC Ward 14, part 39/132.143 All the families contribute

142
Ibid
143
Sarva Bharatiya Anunnata Kumbhakar Samiti- a registered SHG has come forward for the welfare of the under
developed potters in all the different states of India. This organization aims at building up a countrywide movement for
210
Rs.100 each per month to one of the associations, and get loans up to Rs. 10000/- at an
interest rate of Rs.2/- per Rs.100/-.144 The Samiti has also helped them to buy iron vans
to carry their products to the markets. Previously they had to carry the heavy items as
headloads to far away places. They either sell their products directly or through
middlemen. If they sell personally, they cannot sell beyond the fixed rates of the
association. But the same products are sold at a much higher rate by the middlemen who
buy from these potters. The shops deny paying them a higher rate even though they are
willing to give high prices to the middlemen for the same products. While transporting
the products to the shops, if any products break, the potters have to replace the products
or prices are deducted. However, no protest movements have yet been organized on
behalf of the potters. While transporting their goods, they are sometimes forced to pay
bribes to the police to allow them to carry their products to the shops on the road. The
clay is supplied from Canning in South 24 parganas, West Bengal; this is etel clay, which
comes in trucks every 15 days. Each potter buys approximately 20 buckets, costing
Rs.850/-. Clay is bought at a rate of Rs 7500/- per truck which is supplied to the slum.
This mud is divided among approximate 5-6 families.145 They buy this clay twice in a
month; they need to pay Rs 200 for loading and Rs.200 for unloading clay from the
truck. They never deploy any outside labour as it is their family business and the profit
margin is low. So employing outside labour would further lower the profit. Types of raw
materials that are used are clay as the basic raw material, raw colour for bringing about
the earthen colour, coal, saw dust, wood for burning, etc. The average number of finished
products produced per week depends on orders, mood, weather, and availability of raw
material. The average monthly income per household is approximately Rs. 3000 to Rs.
5000.

the realization of the legitimate rights and demands of the poor, oppressed and neglected potters, some of the more
important ones being:

i) Awarding OBC (other backward classes) certificates,

ii) Grant of a pre-matric annual stipend of Rs. 400.00 (Rupees four hundred only) each to students in class V to
X for enabling them to continue their studies.
iii) Availability of annual stipends for undertaking studies from class XI upto Masters Degree and in the cases
of various different technical educations as well:
iv) Obtaining the facilities of 27% reservation in the cases of Government Services and trainings, including a
relaxation of age amounting to 3 years for the same.
In addition, the society claims to provide necessary assistance in obtaining grant of various types of educational and
industrial loans. Source: A member of this samiti (name withheld) during face to face interview with the researcher on
16th April, 2013 in Ultadanga Potters’ Colony (See Annexure 15)
144
Researcher’s interview with a member of Kumbharwada society, n. 139

145
ibid

211
Preparation of the clay is done by separating unwanted particles from the clay by hand,
legs and a medium sized wire-like string with a metal base; after that there is loading of
water to be used in the preparation of clay, pouring an adequate amount of water to
soften the clay, properly mixing the clay and drying it in the sun for the entire day, re-
sizing the clay into specific lumps that will be poured over the wheel, again softening
and mixing the clay to be finally used by the males for making different items on the
wheel. The preparatory work is all done by women. They also sit in front of the wheel to
help the men to immediately remove the pots or other items from the wheel instantly
after the required shape have been given in the wheel. The women also stack these soft
clay items on a long wooden piece. They work constantly till the entire stack is filled
with products. The women then carry that wooden piece filled with clay products outside
their house under the sun for drying. Generally, they dry the items on the rooftop so that
they get the direct sun ray and are quickly dried, and another wooden piece full of
products can then be dried. There is a major shortage of space and not to many items can
be dried at the same time. Moreover, over piling on the rooftop may create an extra load
on the roof; as the roofs are not made of very heavy material, there is a chance of roof
collapse. The women keep track of these products and see whether they have dried and
prevent them from over drying and any other wastage and loss. After drying, they bring
them down from the roof and put all the dried products in the colour mixture which they
have made at home by mixing market made colour with saw dust. After the products
have acquired the earthen colour, they put the items into the bhatti for baking. They wait
for a sufficient quantity of products before they arrange for the bhatti as using the bhatti
is a very expensive process for them. They have to arrange for coal, wood, bichuli (hay)
and saw dust to light the fire. They may prepare the bhatti once in a week to save cost of
production. Above the bhatti there are bamboo racks of around 3 to 4 layers depending
on the height of the place. Those who have small bhattis inside their houses do not have
this facility of stacking items in bamboo racks above the bhatti. They, after burning in
their small bhattis, put the products under the sun for natural baking; but then they have
to depend on the whims of the weather. For them, work becomes difficult during the
rainy season when they do not have much space left for storage after arranging for their
own living areas. Those who have personal bhattis stack their goods above the bhattis
and use a fan above the bamboo racks to help in further drying. When there is no
adequate sunlight for drying they use another technique to dry their products. They burn
the wood pieces and cover the products by these burnt wood pieces. All these are again

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done by the women. Then finally, they sell their products in the market generally in three
ways.
First, they supply to the bhyaparis (the businessmen) who come to their houses and they
get paid by them. These bhyaparis either supply the goods to adjacent sates at a higher
price or make additional profit or sale them inside the city in places where the Prajapatis
cannot go due to distance or unavailability of access.
Secondly, the women and the girls of the family sit on the main roads just outside their
colony. Popularly, the area is known as Muchibazar. The demand increases during any
festive occasions like the Bengali New Year in April or Durga puja time and especially
during Diwali when a supply of diyas and other decorative items are needed. Thirdly, the
male members of the family mainly carry the products to specified shops and markets in
cycle vans. Thus, we find that in the entire process of production, women play a
predominant role but their contribution is mostly unacknowledged. When asked about
the time spent in the business they seriously could not answer and calculate as according
to them they work the entire day either contributing in the business process or in the
household by cooking, managing children, husband or the aged members of the family.
Moreover, when asked about the earnings of the women, their facial expressions showed
that they considered the researcher to be a fool to ask such a silly question. They reacted
so abnormally that any further question could not be asked. They held that it is their
family business and family money; they can never expect any personal money from the
business. It is the contribution of all that helps in the running of the business and without
their help their men cannot work and run the business. The entire business process is a
tedious one which requires expert knowledge, patience and hard work. The combination
of all three can fetch them a little bit of money to survive and continue their family
tradition. The potters have fixed parties146 in Burrabuzar, Hatibagan, Muchibazar in
Kolkata and outside Kolkata in Delhi, Mumbai, Benaras and Chennai. The Ultadanga
potters differentiate themselves from the Kumartuli and Dakshindari area ones by stating
that they are the only potters, while other areas have clay modelers.147 But the
government fails to distinguish between the two and terms them under same heads.
Potters do not make idols whereas the clay modelers devote themselves mainly to that.

146
Information elicited from informants, n. 88
147
ibid

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3.5.2 Sampling of Interviewees
The following addresses are combined together to form the potters’ colony in this
locality. 19/3, 20/8, 20H/6, 20/11, 30/1, 36/23 – Harish Neogy Road, Kolkata – 700067
and 18 Canal east Road, Saheb Bagan, Kolkata -700067. Harish Neogy Road was chosen
for this present survey. About 107 potters reside here of whom 66 are male and 41 are
female. The list of items produced by them and their respective prices fixed by the
association are also given in Annexure 18.
Out of 41 females, 16 were selected for interview purpose. 10 male potters were
interviewed to get the general idea about the locality, occupation and the problems faced
by them.

3.6 Conclusion
A total of 48 women respondents from Kolkata (16 each from the three areas) and 48
from Mumbai were selected for the purpose of interview. Regarding the overall
condition of the three potter colonies in Kolkata and one in Mumbai, apparently it was
observed that Ultadanga is the worst of the lot. Second from the last is Dakshindari,
followed by Kumbharwada. Kumatuli’s condition is better than the other potter colonies
as per the qualitative interviews that the researcher held with the different informants and
respondents of the area. The next two chapters will give statistical data to analyze the
comparative positions of the selected slums. These chapters will further locate the
women workers more specifically and discuss their varied problems.

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Photographic Evidence of
Field Research Done on
Pottery Mumbai

215
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Photographic Evidence of
Field Research Done on
Pottery/Clay Modelling
in Kolkata

218
Kumartuli

219
Three different potters associations in Kumartuli

220
Women clay image makers in Kumartuli

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Dakshindari Pal Para

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Ultadanga Potter’s Colony

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