During my 3 months fieldwork in Calcutta and surrounds, I kept a diary to remind myself of what I had seen and done each day and to check for information. These are my diary notes which may provide some insight into the lives of the silpis and their daily routine as well as giving a broader picture of the way their art form impacted on the community around them.
8th September 1980
10am-3.20pm Kumartuli. Met a young potter (33) at the entrance to Kumartuli aea called Pradip Paul. I talked to him for quite a while and he was very hospitable. Besides organising a gang of 6 artists who were busily engaged on standard pratimas, he also did sculpture-first in clay then in plaster of paris. He also worked on small figures/figurines for an exhibition in Shillong. There was a patua there doing a couple of small chal chitras for 2 small (2 feet tall) old fashioned images of Durga and gang. Pradip claimed that he was the last of his kind. He came from Nadia. All or most of the kumars come from Krishnanagar though they are not all called Pal as I thought, some are Chatterjee, Mukherjee (I think) nor do all the Pals belong to the kumar caste. In fact Pradip told me not to call the potters kumars as they preferred to be called silpi (artist). The first kumar came to Calcutta at the request of a Raja (Nabakrishna Deb) directly after the 1757 defeat at Plassey. The raja wanted to celebrate Durga puja and called the kumar from Krishnanagar. Eventually all the 4 or 5 aristocratic families living in the locality got on the band-wagon, the kumar had his hands full, asked for a permanent place to stay to house himself and his young apprentices and so Kumartuli was born. This story was told to me by Prodip.
Kumartuli is all based round a square-shaped block that is not very wide (perhaps 200 yards). I also spoke to a group sitting in a small shrine that housed Siddeshwari Kali which they claimed was clay and was 150 years old. It is repainted with oil paints every year and that is the only form of renovation. It is not the same as Dakshina Kali because instead of Shiva lying below her he lies crosswise below her. Kali carries a large sword and a small head top left and bottom left. She is draped in a kind of poncho that conceals most of her torso. Statues of Govinda (their title) and Radha occupied a small shrine to the left. I also saw 2 Manasa images (Manasa puja is at the end of Sravana usually and September is Bhadra) one painted and not new, the other not painted and in the process of production. With one potter and talked about the Mahavidyas.
In the vicinity of Kumartuli were a few shops producing and selling shola. The art of chal chitra painting ever so nearly died out. Pradip made a differentiation between the commercial scene and the orthodox. He was making a small Durga puja (3 figures only) for a family who he said worshipped Durga very purely and secretly, very traditional. A lot of the new style images which I will not concentrate on. Some traditional images. The new style are very large whereas the traditional are much smaller.
Ask Pradip about uncommon images again. Pradip did not follow Shastras, but rather what his father had taught him. One silpi also owning a small pottery business across from his studio whowed me 2 potters at work on very small cups for marsala. He said there are 3 types of clay-entel mati, doash mati and balu mati. The latter was sandy and the former very sticky.
Pradip said that after the straw core had been made he first layer of clay was the entel mati to give it a chohesiveness. After the balu mati which was not binding and is rather runny is added to make a smooth suface over the whole structure. The entel mati is a very dark grey clay. Balu mati is lighter grey. After that a chalk white paint is added although one set of Biskarma images I saw were covered in bright red paint (as a base?).
Most of the images on production were either Biskarma or Durga. I saw one Ganesh image 2 already-painted Dakshina Kali images and a few unpainted Kalis and the Manasas already mentioned.
Pradip told me that the entel is mixed only with rice husks or sawdust, nothing else.
There was going to be a strike at Kumartuli due to the cost of materials but it has been called off. The artists have a union. They wanted to be financially supported by the government.
9th September 1980 - Kumartuli
10th September 1980 - Victoria Memorial and Calcutta Museum
12th September 1980 - Kumartuli
13th September 1980 - Kalighat and Calcutta Museum
14th September 1980 - Kumartuli
15th September 1980 - Kalighat
16th September 1980 - Kumartuli
19th September 1980 - Ramlal Bazar and Kumartuli
20th September 1980 - Kumartuli, Nimtala and Dum Dum para
21st September 1980 - Rajbari and Kalighat
24th September 1980 - Kumartuli
26th September 1980 - Victoria Memorial
27th September 1980 - Kalighat
29th September 1980 - Kalighat
30th September 1980 - Kumartuli and Kalighat