The Potter- The Prime Mover
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The Prime Mover: the one who creates from out of swirling mass; the moulder of being out of the earth; a most basic and creative of all activities performed by the hands of humankind-this is the potter and his craft. In India, soil varies from region to region, changing from deep red to steely black, pale clay delves, and kneading, moulding and polishing the hundreds of forms that created out of mere dust.
The creation of clay objects has existed in India for well over 10,000 years, and may have travelled from here to Egypt, Mesopotamia and Babylon. Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, and clay objects found at the sites at the Indus Valley Civilization, demonstrate the high quality of skill and technology that created the burnt bricks, statues, storing pots and seals made at that time. The laws of Manu, dating back to the sixth and ninth century BC, and the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, refer to the
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use of pottery.
Legend, of course, is always more romantic. It is said that when elephants by the riverside, clay dried in the hollow part, leaving a cup shaped object, which man found possible to use as a storage vessel. The head of the elephant is called kumbha, so the subsequent maker of such clay vessels came to be known as the kumbhar.
In the religious mythology of Hinduism, Brahma is the creator of the universe. It is said that he made the image of man out of clay, and then breathed life into it. This creator of man was also called prajapati, which till today is the caste name of the artisan community of potters.
The symbolic importance of potter’s wheel is acknowledged in India, particularly during wedding rites. The potter’s wheel, when related to the movement of the cosmos, lends to the potter a special significance.
At the level of reality, the traditional potter and his family form an intrinsic part of the rural Indian community. They have, for thousands of years, regularly followed the pattern of the seasons and festivals to produce pots and pans for essential community and household needs, and terracotta figures as objects for ritual and celebration.
The attitude towards the traditional products of mother earth is therefore, a mixture of reverence and casualness. Their fragility and impermanence give them the notion of cyclical, renewable objects that are both created from, and returned to the earth. The potter sees his own culture, technology and creativity, with hardly any distinction being made between the three. Today, over one million potters all over the country produce both common and distinctive objects, in the most traditional of techniques, yet decorating and shaping them to reflect the social and cultural needs of each area.
The traditional potter, therefore, continues to produce utility and ritual objects, ranging from the delicate single wick oil lamp to terracotta storage jars for grain, oil, pickles and butter, cooking pots for rice, milk and vegetable; griddles for thick and thin varieties of wheat bread; and votive figures, like ornamental horses and elephants; well panels; ceremonial lamps and even entire temples.
Image sourced from Google Search Engine with the word 'Potter' |
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