Wizard of the silver thread
CUTTACK: Age has made his fingers weak but when it comes to drawing silver threads and meshing them together to design Cuttack’s famous Chandi Medha (silver tableau), there is no stopping Biswanath Dey. The 70-year-old filigree artist has designed the 22 ft tall and 13 ft wide Kafla Bazaar Chandi Medha, one among the four new tableaus in the Millennium City this year.
At his workshop in one of the narrow lanes of Khatbin Sahi, Dey and his team of 10 filigree artisans including his sons Ajay and Bijay have worked for seven months to create the backdrop and jewellery for Goddesses Durga, Saraswati and Laxmi, Lord Ganesh, Kartikeswar and Mahisasura at Kafla Bazaar. The tableau, he says, has many traditional designs including ‘phula patti’, ‘singha’, ‘amba’ and ‘kalika. The entire work is handmade.
Despite his age and failing health, the septuagenarian continues to get orders for creating silver tableau and jewellery owing to his expertise and mastery over the white metal craft. Cuttack has 32 Chandi Medhas now and of them, Dey has not just created the tableau for Kafla Bazaar but also Shaikh Bazaar, Choudhury Bazaar, Alisha Bazaar, College Square, Kali Gali, Kathgada Sahi. Besides, he is the only artist to have created golden filigree crowns and jewellery for the Mother Goddess at Ranihat, Khan Nagar, Chauliaganj, Choudhury Bazaar, College Chhak, Shaikh Bazaar and Mangalabag. He has also created a tableau for Jhaduapada in Sambalpur for Sital Sasthi and one for Kali Puja in Bhadrak.
“It is Cuttack’s tradition of designing Chandi Medha for the Mother Goddess during Dussehra that has kept this craft of Tarakasi (silver filigree) alive and is providing craftsmen like us livelihood. On my part, I am just helping the new generation learn it,” says Biswanath who is a Bengali by origin. Trained in the craft under the guidance of his brother-in-law Atal Chandra Dey who used to do filigree work at Choudhury Bazaar, he started learning the craft at the age of 12. Not only Chandi Medha but Biswanth is also credited to have created large replicas of the Konark Sun temple and the Taj Mahal with silver threads.
At a time when the craft is fast vanishing, he trains at least 10 to 15 young artists at his workshop every year to build a steady workforce in silver filigree. “I must have trained at least 50 to 60 people in filigree work in the last five decades. My workshop is open for anyone who wants to learn the craft,” he says.
But Biswanath fears the craft will eventually die out. “Today, filigree work from West Bengal and Karimnagar are brought to showrooms in Cuttack and sold as Cuttack’s silver filigree. We hardly have 1,000 artisans here and the younger generation is not keen on learning,” he says. The master craftsman adds that he will continue to train as many youngsters in filigree work till his health permits.