Dhokra and terracotta

Dhokra is bronze cast by the lost-wax method (cire perdue) in Bastar (Chhattisgarh), parts of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Midnapore. Bastar's metal craftsmen are the ghadwas. They once made utensils, jewellery, deities and votive animals; now they also make decorative objects.

How a Dhokra figure is made:

• A core is shaped from riverbank soil and rice husk, and coated with clay and cow dung.
• Resin from the saal tree, boiled with mustard oil, is drawn into soft threads, which are wound over the core to model the form and its fine details.
• This is covered with layers of fine clay, clay with cow dung, and anthill clay with husk, with a channel to a sealed cup holding the metal.
• In a furnace fed with saal wood, air is blown for 2 to 3 hours until the metal melts. The mould is turned over, the metal flows into the space left by the melted resin, and when it cools, the clay is broken away.

Terracotta, made by potters from local clay and baked to make it last, is found everywhere in India, from Manipur and Assam to Kutch and Tamil Nadu: votive gods and goddesses, animals, birds and even insects.