CRAFTSMANSHIP
AND BELL WORK
The
exquisite taste for making handicrafts is an important trait of the tribals of
Madhya Pradesh. The Murias
and the Marias of Bastar are excellent wood carvers. They show their art
either on visible logs of wood pieces used in their dwelling hutments or on
various objects of daily use. Tobacco containers of the Murias will
attract anyone for their tortoise and the sun-moon motifs and designs.
Craftsmanship of the Murias can be seen in wooden blocks made for supporting
hair and in wooden pins used to adorn hairdo's by the Ghotul girls. The
most charming work of this tribe is the making of combs. On many of the
combs leopard and other kinds of animal motifs are made. Wooden spears and
utensils are intensely carved.
In Bastar
those who can afford would care to erect funerary pillars in the memory of their
deceased relatives. The Murias and Marias call these pillars Munde or
Khamba. They are mostly made of saja or saria wood and are carved on all
sides. It bears all sorts of figures.
In Bastar and other places, at the Nawa festival, the
potters make toy grindstones, bullocks, horses, earthen wheels to be attached to
little carts, cooking pots and tiny heaths. Murias and the Savaras make
more elaborate toys which are used during their festal dances. To a long
bamboo pole they attach a number of wooden animals like monkeys or lizards and
arrangement of strings move them up and down so that they appear to be climbing.
Brass work
occupies an important place in the craftsmanship of the Bastar
tribes. The urge for creativeness reflects in most of the images made of
the brass and bell metal. For preparing these figures they follow the
ancient cire-perdue process. First the earthen core is made, then
wax is shaped on the object which is ultimately replaced by molten metal.
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