Bhubaneswar, Prasanta Kumar Bhuyan, 12/12/2020: The Dharu community sees themselves in distinctive red and white garments woven by the weaver communities of Kotpad, Odisha. In another video, visitors can see Odisha craftsman Dhokra craft in the works. Tourists can open the Twitter and Facebook page scstrti, stscdev, and visit Dharura craft and Dhokra crafts during a virtual tour at the state’s Tribal Museum on 13 December. The Dharua community lives mainly in the districts of Malkangiri, Navarangpur, Bolangir, their main occupation being farming, forest collection, baskets, and agricultural labor. The wax technique of metal casting in Dhokra is a primitive technique. Earlier, metalwork was done by nomadic groups, which used traditional techniques to manufacture Dhokra crafts. Over time, these groups have settled in tribal-centric areas, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal.
The artisans of Dhokra in our state live in both tribal and non-tribal districts: Rayagada, Kandhamal, Nayagada, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, and Mayurbhanj. The raw materials required to make Dhokra crafts are brass, wax, bitumen, resin, clay, and paddy, husk, sand, and wood. Wax, resin, and bitumen are taken proportionately (1Kg: 250g: 10g) in a container and pour water into a container, and heat it to form a semi-solid. Puster is applied to the perforated cotton gauge to remove residual material. The ratio of water and brass in an artwork is 1:10. Hand knives are used to cut wax, a wooden implement called Tessa aided with a sieve metal plate that is used to make wax threads. They follow festivals such as Lendipanda, Ghia Panda, and Gosendia Hia.
The Dharua is one of the Gondid tribes and is otherwise known as the Dharua Gonad. He is polytheistic and his pantheos include many tribal deities such as Astipal, Gramshi, Garam, Ramkin, Barapahar, Buradeo, etc., and Hindu deities such as Jagannath, Lakshmi, Mahadev, Kali, Durga, Sheetal, and Mansa. Different ends are used to make threads of different diameters to apply designs to the craft. Wax threads are placed on a wooden board. The mold is given a shape using a specific stick (saddle), tongs (chimuta) are used to cover the craft in the mold and it is removed from the furnace, hammer (hatudi) is used to wax. Baking the furnace is done to shape and break the mold. In the video, visitors can learn the process of making Dhokra items in detail.
Dhokra craftsmen make a range of decorative crafts and utility items of various designs and requirements. These include elephant, horse, tortoise, crocodile, cow, buffalo, fish, peacock, jewelry, wall hangings, etc., figurines of Dongria men and women, idols of Ganesh, Krishna, Shiva, Lakshmi, etc., utility boxes, and personal Huh. Adornments like a hairpin, ear-pin, etc.