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Kolkata: About 150 families of Bonkapasi, a remote village in Katwa, are burning the midnight oil to complete orders of “sholar saaj” (wood sponge ornamentation) for Durga Puja organisers across the country. With a turnover of more than Rs 50 crore during the puja months, all men will leave the village a couple of days before Mahalaya with these ornaments to dress up the Goddess in pandals. Additionally, thousands of complete such “sholar saaj”, alternatively known as “daker saaj”, are shipped from this village by postal service every year. At the biggest workshop here, over 50 artisans are working day and night to meet the deadline before travelling across India, mostly to Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
It is said that the term “daker saaj” was derived from “daak” or post, as the raw materials required to make these ornaments were imported from Germany to Kolkata by post. This was completely halted during World War I. During the mid-19th century, there were mainly two kinds of “saaj” or embellishment: sholar saaj and daker saaj. The latter, primarily made from silver foil and enhanced with silver sequins, was not available in India in those days and had to be imported from Germany. The material was expensive and affordable only to Durga Pujas belonging to zamindars.
The indigenous, less expensive sholar saaj was introduced by a village woman, Katyani Malakar, about 125 years ago. Bonkapasi, the only village in Bengal which supplies this embellishment across that world, is situated about 150km south of Kolkata. The area is popularly known as the rice bowl of Bengal and usually depends on farming. But in Bonkapasi village, around 4,000 workers now only depend on this art form throughout the year.
Aditya Malakar, son of Katyani Devi, was an internationally recognised shola artist who travelled across the globe to spread the art form,. He was also the key person behind popularising the art among the villagers. His son Prabir Malakar, 51, also a national award winning artist, said, “Shola work is intricate and needs patience. Artisans used to suffer from eye-sight related diseases.” Every year, Prabir arrives in Kolkata on Mahalaya to dress the Durga idol at the 150-year-old Saha Barir Puja in Bowbazar in traditional shola attire.
“This year, we have enormous pressure to complete the order of 347 complete sets of ornamentations,” said Kashinath Paul, 68, a student of Aditya Malakar.
The complete “shola” decoration of a Durga idol has 13 items, including sari, aanchal, chik (necklace), mala-saaj (pendant), mukut-chura (crown), beni-makar (earrings) and churi-bicchu-krishnachura (bangles). The work for Durga ornamentation usually starts on the day of Rath Yatra and a a good quality intricate wood sponge ornamentation of a 12ft Durga idol can cost Rs 1.5 lakh.
Traditional sholar saaj is naturally white, but, due to demand, golden, pink, yellow and blue colours are added. “During the 90s’, the rise of theme pujas linked with a decrease in use of traditional idols across Kolkata had posed a major crisis for artisans,” said Jibon Malakar, 57, who believes improved connectivity and demand from other states for traditional attire have finally helped the artisans survive.
Most are acquainted with sholapith products linked with the Bengali wedding rituals. Shola is a dried milky-white spongy plant that grows in marshy waterlogged areas. “The best quality of naturally growing shola came from Dakshin Dinajpur in the past. But nowadays, the marshy areas have been changed into fishing ponds,” said artisan Gorachand Ghosh. Now, cultivated shola from South 24 Parganas is the only source of raw materials.
It is said that the term “daker saaj” was derived from “daak” or post, as the raw materials required to make these ornaments were imported from Germany to Kolkata by post. This was completely halted during World War I. During the mid-19th century, there were mainly two kinds of “saaj” or embellishment: sholar saaj and daker saaj. The latter, primarily made from silver foil and enhanced with silver sequins, was not available in India in those days and had to be imported from Germany. The material was expensive and affordable only to Durga Pujas belonging to zamindars.
The indigenous, less expensive sholar saaj was introduced by a village woman, Katyani Malakar, about 125 years ago. Bonkapasi, the only village in Bengal which supplies this embellishment across that world, is situated about 150km south of Kolkata. The area is popularly known as the rice bowl of Bengal and usually depends on farming. But in Bonkapasi village, around 4,000 workers now only depend on this art form throughout the year.
Aditya Malakar, son of Katyani Devi, was an internationally recognised shola artist who travelled across the globe to spread the art form,. He was also the key person behind popularising the art among the villagers. His son Prabir Malakar, 51, also a national award winning artist, said, “Shola work is intricate and needs patience. Artisans used to suffer from eye-sight related diseases.” Every year, Prabir arrives in Kolkata on Mahalaya to dress the Durga idol at the 150-year-old Saha Barir Puja in Bowbazar in traditional shola attire.
“This year, we have enormous pressure to complete the order of 347 complete sets of ornamentations,” said Kashinath Paul, 68, a student of Aditya Malakar.
The complete “shola” decoration of a Durga idol has 13 items, including sari, aanchal, chik (necklace), mala-saaj (pendant), mukut-chura (crown), beni-makar (earrings) and churi-bicchu-krishnachura (bangles). The work for Durga ornamentation usually starts on the day of Rath Yatra and a a good quality intricate wood sponge ornamentation of a 12ft Durga idol can cost Rs 1.5 lakh.
Traditional sholar saaj is naturally white, but, due to demand, golden, pink, yellow and blue colours are added. “During the 90s’, the rise of theme pujas linked with a decrease in use of traditional idols across Kolkata had posed a major crisis for artisans,” said Jibon Malakar, 57, who believes improved connectivity and demand from other states for traditional attire have finally helped the artisans survive.
Most are acquainted with sholapith products linked with the Bengali wedding rituals. Shola is a dried milky-white spongy plant that grows in marshy waterlogged areas. “The best quality of naturally growing shola came from Dakshin Dinajpur in the past. But nowadays, the marshy areas have been changed into fishing ponds,” said artisan Gorachand Ghosh. Now, cultivated shola from South 24 Parganas is the only source of raw materials.
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