Ivory artisans of Murshidabad2, মুর্শিদাবাদের হাতির দাঁতের কারিগর২

হাতির দাঁতের কারিগিরেরা তাদের শিল্প দ্রব্য বিক্রি করছেন, ১৮৫১র ছবি

The causes of its decline are stated as follows by Mr. G.C.

Dutt in his Monograph on Ivory Carving in Benaal (1901) :

" For lack of encouragement the Murshidabad carvers have

been obliged to sacrifice quality to quantity. Established during

the declining days of the Nawabs of Murshidabad, the encour-

agement the art received from them was but limited and sporadic.

During the palmy days of Cossimbazar, when many Europeans

belonging to the cotton and silk factories of the old East India

Company lived there, the ivory carvers carried on a brisk

business, both in the district and out of it. Even in 1811, when

the place was fast sinking into the obscurity from which it had

temporarily emerged, it was still noted for silk, hosiery, korahs

and inimitable ivory work. Similarly, when Berhampore rose

into importance as the chief military station in this province

the art flourished there for a time, but with the decline of the

military importance of the town it began to wane, and had it

not been for the railway communication which has made a trade

with Calcutta and Bombay possible, the art would have died out

long ago. Formerly the ivory carvers used sometimes to get

large orders from Government for supplying specimens of their

work for the various exhibitions in England and other European

countries, as also in India, but this has been discontinued in

recent years, as collections for exhibitions are now generally

made on loan from noblemen and zammdars, like the Nawab of

Murshidabad and the Maharaja of Cossimbazar, who have the

very best specimens in their possession.

" Within the last 30 years the industry has altogether died

out from Mathra, Daulatbazar and Ranshagorgram, all three

villages near the city of Murshidabad. Thirty years ago there

were over 50 families of ivory carvers at Mathra, and even so

recently as 12 years back there were about a dozen houses left.

Many of them died of malarious fever, and the few survivors

have migrated to Baluchar, Berhampore and other places. At

present there is not a single Bhaskar in Mathra, and there are

not more than 25 ivory carvers, principal and apprentices all told,

living in the district."

The best workers, it may be added, live in Khagra, a quarter

of Berhampore. The Murshidabad Art Agency has been started

for the advertisement and exhibition of specimens of the art.

The peculiar features of the work are the minuteness of the

carving, which requires 70 to 80 different tools, and the

absence of joins. The carvers hate joins, and would rather

make a small image in which none are required, than a large

article which would sell at double or treble the price, because in

the latter they would have to join the pieces together. The tools

are of a simple character, being mostly ordinary carpenters'

tools, though some are far smaller and finer. They use Assam or

Burma ivory for the most part, as it is light and soft and yields

easily to the chisel without any preliminary process of softening.

For the solid end of the tusk, which is called the nakshidant,

they pay generally Rs. 8-8 to Rs. 10 per seer ; for the middle

portion, known as khovdidant, Rs. 15 to Rs. 16 a seer ; and for

the thick end, which is hollow (galhardant), Rs. 7 to Rs. 8 per

seer. African ivory, which the carvers say is hard, and

therefore liable to crack under the chisel, sells at Rs. 2 to Rs. 3

per seer less.