For potters in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, lamps will bring no light this Diwali
BHUBANESWAR: Krushna Muduli has exhausted his entire savings. The 52-year-old potter of Kumbharsahi in Bhubaneswar had not sold a single pot or any other clay product since March-end till he got an order in August.
All his hopes rest on Diwali market but deep inside, he too knows that business would be unlike previous years. For potters like Krushna, the pandemic has come as a huge blow. As markets closed down earlier this year, they failed to make any income, let alone profit.
"I have exhausted all the money that I saved last year to maintain my family of four in the last seven months. Although orders for clay products started coming in from August, the numbers are very less. My first income this year was from a dozen small pots that I sold during Ganesh Puja," the 52-year-old rues.
At Kumbharsahi, near Old Town in Bhubaneswar, there are 21 potter families but only eight of them are practising pottery now. Except Saraswati puja in January, none of the potters sold any wares till June-July when the markets opened up.
Usually, demand for their clay and terracotta products remains steady throughout the year but it is during Diwali that brings them cheer. They begin work two months before Diwali.
On an average, a potter makes 500 mid-size or 1,000 small lamps every day which are procured by wholesalers and individuals with the latter selling them at temporary stalls on roadsides. With the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) banning sale of lamps on roadside to avoid gathering and designating 16 spots, not many are happy.
"Only a few big-time potters will go to these designated sites to sell clay lamps. People like us have no money to hire a vehicle to transport the stock to the site every day and sell them," said Laxmi Behera, a woman potter who sells lamps every year during Diwali near a mall at Vani Vihar Square.
Although the State Handloom and Handicrafts Department is organising Mruttika-2020 at the Exhibition Ground from Friday, the annual exhibition of terracotta products will only see participation of selected 160 potters from across the State. The local small-time potters and vendors feel they will miss out on the opportunity as they are not permitted to sell lamps outside the venue which they did earlier.
At Kumbharsahi near Telenga Bazaar in Cuttack, potters are facing the double trouble of coronavirus restrictions and people’s love for Chinese lights.
Although CMC, unlike its Bhubaneswar counterpart, hasn’t yet announced any restriction on roadside sale of clay lamps, potters are apprehensive that people will choose fancy lights over diyas again. "Since crackers are banned, people will want to at least decorate their houses lavishly and opt for Chinese rice lights," said Bharat Sahoo, a local potter.
Apart from the Kumbharsahis at Cuttack and Bhubaneswar, there are four to five potters’ villages around the State Capital where people have kept the age-old tradition of pottery alive. Both Nuagaon and Basantpur villages on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar are home to 150-odd potters families each.
Diwali apart, temples are a major source but with these places of worship closed for devotees since March, demand for earthen pots (Abadha Kodhua) for cooking and selling 'prasad' by temples in the Twin City has stopped.
Sanjay Muduli, a potter of Old Town, used to earn Rs 20,000 to Rs 35,000 a month by supplying earthen pots to Ananta Basudev temple.
"The demand was five times more during marriages, festive days and Kartika month. This year, though, only a handful of pots have been sold to the temple since the lockdown," said Sanjay. Prior to the lockdown, the temple procured around two mini trucks loads of Abadha Kodhuas every day.