Incredible India: Crafting Nature

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The history of India’s crafts is a story of humankind’s engagement with nature. Creative hands turned rock into objects of divinity, minerals into lamps to worship them, plants into woven textures to wear and waste materials into beautiful objects of everyday utility. To honour Nature is to honour its creator and to mould object by hand is a mode of worship. The Indian crafts practitioner is therefore the greatest conservationist who craves to live in harmony with his environment. The plea to address issues of ‘ecology’ and ‘environmental degradation’ was born out of the minds of those who saw with horror the ravages of an over-industrialised society. This book is a response to such a plea and seeks to highlight the extraordinary, creative and peaceable relationship between the craftsperson and the environment. It also seeks to emphasis the need to respect it and cherish it, both for art’s sake and for the protection of Nature’s bounty. This unique book describes the environment surrounding the major and minor crafts of India, offering a wealth of information to art, craft and Nature lovers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jaya Jaitly

Jaya Jaitly is a social and political activist and a prolific writer on crafts. She is the founder and president of the Dastkari Haat Samiti, and has worked with India craftspeople for more than three decades in the design and marketing of crafts and handmade textiles. She has initiated many innovative programmes to promote awareness and respect for craftspersons and help them towards self-reliance and dignity. Her publications on crafts include The Crafts of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (1990), The Craft Traditions of India (1991) and Visvakarmas Children (2001). Bhramara Nayak is an accomplished painter in the traditional patachitra style of Orissa. He received the Orissa State Award in 1985, and the National Award for Master Craftsperson in 1984. He is the chairman of Orupa, an NGO producing and marketing crafts. He teaches patachitra painting at the Jawahar Nabodaya Vidyalaya in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa.