Rameshwar Baghel, a Bell Metal worker from Bastar

Rameshwar Baghel is a bell metal worker from Bastar in Chattisgarh.  Soft-spoken and shy, it took him a while before he was able to open up and talk about his family and work.   He had come to the Crafts Museum with his nephew, leaving his wife and three daughters behind at home.  When asked why, Rameshwar tells me that Delhi is not a safe place to bring his family.  It is only within the confines of the Crafts Museum that he feels secure, building bonds of friendship with the other artisans.

Rameshwar comes from a family of bell metal workers going back as far as four generations.  Born and brought up in Bastar, Rameshwar lives in a Basti of bell metal workers in Kunda Gaon that functions more or less like an extended family.  There is a feeling of kinship amongst all basti members, each family helping each other out both in work as well as personal matters.  When asked the size of his family, Rameshwar without batting an eyelid told me that the entire basti was his family.  The working unit is more specific, comprising Rameshwar, his two brothers, one nephew and a helper.

The women of the family help mainly in terms of design, their aesthetic sense being tapped by the men, who do most of the Bhari Kaam, i.e. heavy work such as moulding and baking.  The question of separately remunerating the women doesn’t even arise, a look of amusement passing through Rameshwar’s face at the very thought.  This phenomenon is now almost universal, the woman having to toil over a plethora of tasks without even appreciation, much less a salary.  The Bastar community of metal workers is no exception in these terms.

Bastar metal work has a characteristic style and elegance about it, one that Rameshwar assures me cannot be duplicated. Yes, there are various kinds of metal workers from all across the country, but Bastar metal work had a special technique unique to Bastar.

There are two methods by which metal statues and other object d’art are made.  One is solid, the other hollow and lighter depending on the amount of Peetal (brass) used.  The process of production starts with preparing a mixture of clay with Chaval ka Chilkha (rice husk), which is then kneaded and sculpted into different figures. The surface of this clay model is than smoothened by rubbing a certain kind of leaf – Sem ka patta (broad bean leaf) - after which the clay model is decorated by using wax thread that is pasted onto the clay object.  This wax thread is made by pushing blocks of wax through a metal sieve.

The clay model is then treated with different kinds of soil, first by river bed mud along with coal which is mixed, sieved and applied in order to fuse the wax thread designs into the clay.  After this, red soil with rice husk is applied to solidify the clay.

The next stage involves baking in a Bhatti (oven), into which the clay and wax objects, with holes made at the bottom, are put in along with brass metal.  The metal melts, as does the wax that seeps out through the hole, replaced by molten brass instead.   The alternative method is one where instead of clay and wax, only wax models are made and designed, put into the oven and when melted, completely filled with metal, making it heavier.  This method is used mostly for small statues which are more expensive. In either of the two methods, the following raw materials are required:

• Beeswax at Rs 140 per Kilogram

• Brass at Rs 110 per Kilogram

• Fire wood for the Bhatti at Rs 80 per quintal

Rameshwar spends approximately Rs 10,000 per month on raw materials alone and manages to average a monthly income of Rs 5,000 over and above this.  One small statue can take up to 10 days to make, each object being made from start to finish by one person alone.   Each craftsman waits till there are about 100 pieces of clay and wax models before collectively baking them in the oven.

The margin of profit on each item varies, ranging from Rs 100 to 200 depending on quality and detail of the work.  Smaller items are more popular at the Crafts Museum and other melas that Rameshwar and his basti members have attended in Bombay and Agra.  They also supplied to the Madhya Pradesh State Emporium in New Delhi until recently, when the separate State of Chattisgarh was constituted.   There is an understanding between all Bastar bell metal workers in so far as attending exhibition melas are concerned.   Each Bastar craftsman’s wares are pooled in and collectively exhibited at melas, irrespective of which individual is invited to a mela.  Depending on what is then sold, the craftsman whose creation it is, is duely paid.  There is no question of dishonesty and jealousy on the part of any particular craftsman.  It is after all family, explains Rameshwar.

This is the first time that Rameshwar has himself attended an exhibition at the Crafts Museum in Delhi.  While Rameshwar is happy with the rapport he has with other craftsmen, business has been slow.  This is primarily due to the weather, most customers being unwilling to venture out in the heat.  Despite this, Rameshwar is a content man.  With the support of his family and basti members, he is optimistic about the present and secure about the future.