Page 275 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

272 ART AND CRAFTS

alpana, for example – ear of paddy,
jewelry, flower, lotus, owl, plough,
ladder, the pot of vermillion, vines and
leaves, Lakshmi’s footprint and basket,
palanquin, bird, elephant, horse, dhenki
or paddy husking pedal, comb, sun, the
paan or betel leaf, cowry shell, banana
plant, fish, hand print, footprint etc.
These motifs have a special
significance. For example, for Lakshmi
brata Lakshmi’s footprints are drawn 8
(fig. 7.2). For the Yamapukur brata
crocodiles, turtles, fish etc. made of
clay are used. Many other such forms
are made in clay. Digging a small pond
in the ground is also quite common.
Furthermore, materials of the brata
symbolize some aspects of human life,
for example – banana, green coconut and paddy are symbols of fertility. The cowry
shell is symbol of wealth. The betel leaf is the symbol of the female sexual organ. The
fig. 7.3 (top) water filled ghata or water container and the green coconut are symbols of the pregnant
Maghmandal brata, woman and growing mango leaves symbols of blooming life. Thus, we can say that
9
Mitaman, Kishoreganj, the art of brata is a kind of installation art, which is to the person initiated in the culture
photograph Mohammad of brata, an easily understandable ritual. Again, a person completely ignorant of the
Sayeedur, after Sila subject of brata will be filled with wonder by the installation, performance, the
Basak, Banglar richness of its design elements, the beauty and balanced use of the materials and total
Brataparban, (Calcutta aesthetic expression which evinces the age old cumulative sense of aesthetics of
1998)
Bengali society (fig.7.3).
fig. 7.4 (bottom) Shola The women of Bengal have bourne the most ancient art form through brata to the
topar (headgear), present. Moreover, the wife or daughter of the Bengali kumar or potter creates all
courtesy Bangladesh products which do not involve the use of the wheel. They also paint all the products
National Crafts Council that are painted in the potter’s family workshop, i.e., the ghata, sara or pot cover,
dolls etc. In the weavers household the womenfolk do almost all else except work on
the loom. However, women have never been part of the artisan tradition of the
country. They have never been part of a guild. There were never any female
swarnakar (goldsmith), sutradhar (carpenter), takshak (carver). The economic
structure of producer and consumer relationship that is current in the country has
always been male-centristic. Yet the first painter that finds mention in Sanskrit
10
literature is Chitralekha, who had run of the inner chambers of the Bana king of
Prajnajatishpur. The painting skills of the companions of Radha find repeated
mention in Vaishnava literature. 11
The touch of the Bengali woman’s dexterous hands is to be found in all of Bengal’s
folk arts. About the culinary arts, Dineshchandra Sen says that the artistic skills