Umesh Kumar Ray

Priti David

Editors

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Shreya Katyayini

Photographs

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Mohammed
Asghar&#39;s hands move with machine-like precision and they do not stop even while
he is talking.

“Kuch pal ke liye bhi hath ruk gaya to kaam
kharab ho jayega [If my hand stops even for a few moments, the work will be
ruined],” says the 40-year-old who practises a craft that is said to date back
three centuries.

Asghar
is a chhapa karigar (manual
block-printing artisan) and has been doing this for a decade now. Unlike other
block printing craftspersons who print designs on fabric using wooden blocks
dipped in dye, he uses a very thin sheet of aluminium to print metal flowers
and other designs onto cloth. 

The
thin aluminium foil called tabak when
imprinted on cloth brings a festive look to sarees, shararas, lehengas and
other clothes for women. A shelf behind him displays dozens of wooden moulds
with intricate designs that transform ordinary clothes into something festive.

The
town Biharsharif in Nalanda district of Bihar has half a dozen chhapa shops. Like their clientele, chhapa karigars are mainly Muslim and
they belong to the Rangrez (dyer)
caste, which is listed under<a href="https://state.bihar.gov.in/bcebcwelfare/CitizenHome.html"> </a><a href="https://state.bihar.gov.in/bcebcwelfare/CitizenHome.html">Economically Backward
Class</a>
(EBC) in Bihar. There are an estimated 43,347 of them, according to the latest
caste survey conducted by the Bihar government.

“Thirty
years ago, I had no [other opportunity to] work. So, I joined this,” says
Pappu. “My maternal grandfather would do chhapa.
I have inherited this work from him. He passed the time and I am also passing
time,” adds the 55-year-old who has been running a chhapa clothes shop for 30 years in the busy and densely populated
Sabzibagh locality of Patna, the capital of Bihar.

He
says that demand for the craft is fading: “Earlier there were 300 shops in
Patna but only 100 are operating now,” and silver and gold printing are not
used anymore – aluminium has taken over.

Asghar, who also works at a small workshop in
Sabji Bazar says that 20 years ago, tabak
would be made in Biharsharif town itself. “Earlier, tabak would be made in the city but due to scarcity of labourers,
it is not made here. Now, it comes from Patna,” he says.

The
star of the chhapa show is tabak, so fine that it starts flying in
the slightest breeze, some of it sticking to Asghar&#39;s face and clothes. At the
end of the day, he has to dust it off and also clean his palm covered in a
thick layer of glue. “It takes two hours to remove the glue from my hand. I use
hot water for this,” he says.

“The
glue dries quickly, so all the processes have to be done very quickly,” Asghar
says as he displays the steps to us, starting by rubbing the glue kept in a tin
pot onto his left palm. Once his palm is completely covered with glue, he
rotates the wooden flower mould on the palm to soak up the glue and then stamps
the sticky mould onto the cloth.

Working
swiftly, he carefully removes a foil from under a paperweight holding down the
wafer-thin sheets, and pastes it on the stamped part, the glue making the foil
stick in the pattern of the block.

Once
the foil is on the cloth, it is further pressed down with a padded cloth until
it is completely stuck. “This has to be done so that the tabak sticks properly to the glue,” he adds.

A
delicate process, it is done swiftly, and in a matter of seconds a shining
circular shape emerges on the cloth. The newly done chhapa cloth is kept in the sun for at least an hour for the glue
to dry properly and the foil to stick permanently.

The karigar repeats this process, working
continuously without a pause. The red cloth he is currently printing is a daldhakkan – cloth used for covering
bamboo baskets.

Aluminium
foil sheets of 400 pieces – each between 10-12 square centimetres – cost Rs.
400; a kilo of glue costs Rs.100 to 150. “Chhapa
increases the price by 700-800 rupees,” says Pappu (he prefers to use only this
name), a chhapa clothes shop owner.
“Customers do not pay that much money.”

Chhapa clothes are traditionally used in
the weddings of the Muslim community of Bihar, especially those from the
Magadha region in the southern part of the state. It is integral to some
customs – the bride and her family must wear chhapa sarees or wedding attire with it, regardless of their social
status.

Despite
the cultural significance, chhapa clothes
are not worn for long. “The glue that is used in this printing has a very
unpleasant smell. And then the printing is so weak that in one or two washes
the entire aluminium foil comes off,” says Pappu. 

After the three-four months of the wedding
season, chhapa comes to a standstill,
and artisans must look for other work.

&quot;I
work eight to 10 hours at the shop and complete chhapa work on three sarees,” says Asghar. “I earn around 500
rupees a day for this work, but it is available only for three to four months.
When there is no chhapa work, I work
at construction sites.”

Asghar
lives in Biharsharif town, about a kilometre away from the workshop where he
works from 10 in the morning to 8 at night. “To save money, my son brings
home-cooked food during lunch,” he says.

For
a brief period of five years, he migrated to Delhi and worked at construction
sites. Now he lives right here with his wife and their two sons aged 14 and 16,
both of whom are in school. Asghar says he is satisfied with his income in
Biharsharif and staying with family is a bonus for him. “Yahaan bhi kaam hoiye raha hai to kaahe la bahar jayenge [I am
getting work here, so why would I migrate]?” he tells this reporter.

Mohammad
Reyaz works as a chhapa karigar in
Pappu’s shop. The 65-year-old has also acquired other skills to ensure a
livelihood through the year: “When there is no chhapa work, I work with a [music] band. Apart from this, I know
plumbing too. These works keep me engaged throughout the year.”

Pappu
says the income from this is insufficient, and it is difficult to sustain his
family – his wife and their three children aged between seven and 16 years.
“There is little to no earning in this. Till date I have not been able to
figure out how much margin I get on a chhapa
cloth. Somehow, I just manage to arrange food for my family],” he says.

He is unwilling to pass on the unsustainable
craft to his sons. “Hum pagal nahi hai
hain jo chahenge ki mere bete is line mein aayein [I am not insane to wish
that my sons join this business].”

07-PXL_20231101_082336109-UKR-Bihars_chhapa_artisans-wafer-thin_margins.jpg

Not
much is known about the origins of chhapa
and how they came to occupy such an important role in the culture of Bihari
Muslims. Francis Buchanan, a surgeon and surveyor in British India, uses the
word ‘chhapagar’ for artisans doing
manual block printing in Bihar.

“It
is difficult to trace how the culture of wearing printed clothes in Muslim
weddings came to Bihar. But this culture is very much visible among the Muslims
of Magadha region of Bihar, so it is believed that it started from that
region,” Umar Ashraf, Patna-based history enthusiast, says.

He
runs a web portal named Heritage Times and a Facebook page where he documents
the lost culture and heritage of the Muslims of Bihar.

The
evolution of this craft in the region is attributed to the inbound migration of
Muslims in the 12th century to the Magadha region. “Maybe they brought their
culture with them of wearing chhapa
clothes during weddings, and they continued in Magadha as well,” adds Ashraf.

Chhapa has also returned to the rest of the world: “We have
many such examples which show that Bihari Muslims settled in Europe, America,
Canada and other countries take chhapa
clothes from India to wear in weddings there,” he says.

This story is supported by a
fellowship in memory of a trade unionist from Bihar who championed the
struggles of marginalised people in the state.

Bihar’s chhapa artisans: wafer-thin margins

بہار کے چھاپہ کاریگر: حاشیہ پر بسر ہوتی زندگی

பிகாரின் சாப்பா கைவினைஞர்களின் குறையும் வருவாய்

ਨਿਗੂਣੇ ਮੁਨਾਫ਼ੇ ਖ਼ਾਤਰ ਵੀ ਕੰਮ ਕਰਨ ਨੂੰ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਰ ਬਿਹਾਰ ਦੇ ਛਾਪਾ ਕਾਰੀਗਰ

ଅବହେଳିତ ଜୀବନ ବିତାଉଛନ୍ତି ବିହାରର ଛାପା କାରୀଗର

अशाश्वत भवितव्याच्या छायेत बिहारचे छापा कारागीर

ബീഹാറിലെ ചാപ്പ കൈപ്പണിക്കാർ: തുച്ഛമായ ലാഭം മാത്രം

ಬಿಹಾರ: ಕುಶಲರ್ಮಿಗಳ ಬದುಕಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೂವು ಅರಳಿಸದ ಛಾಪಾ ಕಲೆ

બિહારના છાપા કારીગરોના વરખ વિનાનાં જીવન

बिहार के छापा कारीगर: कोनहा मं परे गुजारत जिनगी

কাগজ-ক্ষীণ মুনাফা নিয়ে লড়ে যাচ্ছেন বিহারের ছাপা কারিগরেরা

বিলুপ্তিৰ দিশে বিহাৰৰ ছাপা শিল্প

बिहार के छापा कारीगर: हाशिए पर बसर होती ज़िंदगी

बिहार के छापा कारीगर: जियल खाईल महंग भईल

Patna

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Bihar’s chhapa artisans: wafer-thin margins

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