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ART & CRAFT OF BIHAR

Wood Inlay is one of Bihar's ancient industries. The inlay continues to be done with different materials, metal, ivory and stag-horn. Apart from decorative pieces like wall hangings, table tops, trays, and a number of utility articles are also ornamented with inlay work. Patna also manufactures articles in diaper work utilizing waste pieces of wood. Marvellous pieces of trays, boxes and other articles for household use are produced using this craft. The designs are mostly geometrical but very fine and colourful.

Lacquer ware

In Bihar lac has been gathered and used for ages. The vermilion container called sindurdan used in marriages in Bihar is made by a whole community called laheris. the boxes are decorated with the prescribed motifs of fish, chakra and peacock which have a moving rythmic quality. One of the oldest items seems to be a round conical box, in which the bride's parents present her with a nose ring at the marriage that has exciting symbols of fertility and longevity engraved on its red body. Other equally colourful and ornamental articles are chapati boxes and dry fruit containers.

Stone craft

Bihar's rich heritage of stonecraft is evident from the ancient sculptures of the Mauryan period, prominent amongst which is the famous Asoka pillar at Sarnath. The most noted stoneware centre of Bihar is Patharkatti in Gaya district. this area abounds in the less expensive blue black pot stone from which images and household articles like the pestle, the mortar kharal (medicine grinder) are made. Buddhist icons are a speciality. Chandil and Karaikalla in Singhbum district and Dumka in Santhal parganas work in beautifully grained greenish black soapstone.

Glassware

Patna has had a fine tradition of glassware, mostly tableware, and this was amongst the popular items exported abroad in large quantities. This craft seemed to have declined with time. However, the state has revived glassware in another form. Glass objects are now decorated in the tikuli technique. Traditional pictures like those made on the walls of the houses, highly deorative and attractive, are made on glass with gold or silver pieces to fill up the entire picture. A number of utility articles are made in this style such as wall decorations, boxes, trays, table tops, mats, etc

Masks

The chou dance of Seraikala in Bihar is highly sophisticated and uses masks. Though the dance originated in the middle ages, the masks seem to have gained a sophisticated look over the years. Today the are not only very stylish but also equally dainty.

The papier-mâché masks of Bihar are impregnated with inarticulated meaning. Traditionally only those people who were dancers were permitted to make the masks. Originally they were made of wood, later of bamboo, then pumpkin shells and now papier-mâché.

Printed Textiles

In Bihar, printing is done on cotton, wool and silk. Places like Bhagalpur, Bihar Sharif, Darbhanga, saran and Patna are well known for this craft. Gaya, being a famous place of pilgrimage has the religious textiles with the names or footprints of deities printed all over in ochre or red. The chunris of Bihar deserve special mention. One sees a whole panorama of designs in these chunris ranging from traditional to floral and animal forms. There is a small printing sector in North Bihar at Sursand where only mica (khari) printing is done. Bright colours are used and largely dots and stars strewn all over form the designs.

Carpets

Obra in Bihar has a hoary tradition in carpet weaving dating back to the Buddhist and Mauryan era when high class floor coverings used to be woven here. But the pile carpet as we know it took birth only about 300 years ago and flourished because of royal patronage offered to carpet weaving. Though it still continues to produce the old designs based on the Indo-Persian style, it is on the decline, and having got isolated from Gaya-Sasram it produces a rougher variety in the usual floral and geometrical patterns.