The women potters of Changki
In Nagaland’s Changki village, it’s the women of the Ao tribe who have been crafting clay pots by hand for centuries
T
SANGUR, PUNJAB
|THU, JUL 05, 2018
The potter's wheel has slowed down
A series of PARI stories that highlight the work of skilled potters and the troubles of their trade – falling demand, rising costs and more – that are forcing many to leave this work. Plus some curious uses of the pot
Author
‘This craft is our wealth’
In Khurja, Uttar Pradesh, Hameed Ahmed and his brothers have kept alive a distinctive kick-wheel technique of pottery for over seven generations. But the switch to gas-fired kilns is squeezing profit margins for everyone
April 22, 2025 | Sneha Richhariya and Suhail Bhat
Inside Chinhat’s Kumharon ka mohalla
Despite poor returns, the potters of Chinhat’s Kumharon ka mohalla say their ancestral craft has saved them
February 16, 2024 | Zaina Azhar Sayeda
Kummaras of Kodavatipudi
Bhadraraju makes clay pots that can hold 10 litres of water. Every part of the process is done by hand, his wife joining him for some tasks. While the other potters in Kodavatipudi have switched to machine-operated wheels, the 70-year-old veteran potter has no intention of doing so
February 02, 2024 | Ashaz Mohammed
Vizag potters: idols of clay, immersion in debt
The artisans in this AP city usually earn the most during the festival season – starting with Ganesh Chaturthi today. But they have not received a single bulk order for Ganesh idols and other products so far this year
August 22, 2020 | Amrutha Kosuru
A melting pot of lockdown losses
The Ganpati festival starting this week, then Durga Puja and Diwali, were peak seasons for potters in Delhi's Uttam Nagar. Now, they are looking at a period of poor sales, as are potters in Kachchh and West Bengal
August 17, 2020 | Srishti Verma
Sitting idol in locked-down Kumartuli
Business has come to a standstill in Kumartuli, Kolkata’s historic potters’ colony, with almost no demand for Maa Durga idols and other statues. Artisans, vendors and labourers are looking at a season of huge losses
July 09, 2020 | Ritayan Mukherjee
Feet of clay: Chhattisgarh's potters, locked down
In Dhamtari town, potters missed their peak summer sales season due the lockdown, when making and selling pots became difficult. Despite markets now opening in Chhattisgarh, they are facing an uncertain year
June 15, 2020 | Purusottam Thakur
Bengal meets Baroda to sculpt Ganpati idols
Migrant artisans from West Bengal blend idol-making styles in Vadodara, where some, like Tapan Mondal, run signature workshops, while many also work as farm labourers, house painters or in other jobs
September 17, 2018 | Ujjawal Krishnam
Firing the last of the pots in Rasulpur Sohawan
In Bihar's Vaishali district, Sudama Kumbhar is still firing the oven though many potters in his village have moved to other work, defeated by rising costs and cheaper alternatives to their hand-made clay items
June 25, 2018 | Shubha Srishti
Kapashi’s wheel of changing fortunes
PARI volunteer Sanket Jain aims to traverse 300 villages across India and, among other stories, produce this feature: a photograph of a rural scene or event and a sketch of that photograph. This is the first of his series on PARI. Draw the slider either way to see photo or sketch in full.
January 2, 2018 | Sanket Jain
Women at the wheel in the Nilgiris
Among the Kota of the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, only women can practise pottery. The craft’s strong religious roots have kept it alive, and attempts to commercialise or modify the traditional products are being debated
November 27, 2017 | Priti David
A quarter million hours of pottery
Vishnu Kumbhar’s family members in Kapashi village of Kolhapur district have been potters for 15 generations. But their rare skills are seldom recognised and they receive no support from the state to keep this great old tradition flourishing
August 17, 2017 | Sanket Jain
Scraping the bottom of the pot
The potters of the Kumbhar community of Kalahandi are slowly leaving their traditional occupation. Dwindling demand and low prices have forced them to also sell metal utensils, double up as agricultural labourers, or migrate in search of work
June 5, 2017 | Abhijit Mohanty
Music, high on pot
A suspended mud vessel in the home of a family of pastoralists in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district has a most curious function – and hardly a traditional one
January 16, 2017 | Aparna Karthikeyan
Journey through Kumartuli
At the centuries-old potters' colony in Kolkata, artisans work through the night on the clay idols that they will soon send out to the city for Durga Puja
September 12, 2016 | Sinchita Maji
When Meenakshi beats a pot 3000 times
Eight kilograms of mud that make a beautiful music in Manamdurai, Tamil Nadu
March 8, 2016 | Aparna Karthikeyan
A potter’s tale: a 100 and counting
'I lived with the art and I will die with the art’
July 24, 2015 | Gurpreet Singh
Baked earth
In this film, a third generation potter, Buddhadeb Kumbhakar, from Panchmura village of Bankura district in West Bengal, talks about his work and life
July 22, 2014 | Kavita Carneiro
Kumbharwada: a slice of pottery from Kachchh
Highly skilled potters in Dharavi talk about the techniques and troubles of their trade
July 22, 2014 | Payal Kapadia and Anushka Shivdasani Rovshen
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