Caste, Entrepreneurship and the Illusions of Tradition by Geir Heierstad

Author:Geir Heierstad
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: National Book Network International
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Again, previously there was only one type, a statement which all the Kumars I talked to agreed with. Whenever I spent time with them in the workshops and they had made a bangla image they commented upon it: ‘This is the traditional style’; ‘This is how we made them before.’ As mentioned in the previous chapter, the little evidence concerning the style of pre-Gopeshwar murtis corroborates such a view (Robinson 1984, Varma 1970). The similarities were more striking; they had all the same round face with bamboo leaf-eyes and a pointed nose. And Durga, her children and Mahisha were all placed under the same chala, structure. The scriptural prescriptions concerning style were to a large extent reproduced in the murtis of those days (Robinson 1984).

Sundip, one of the oldest Kumars, with his ancestral home in Nadia district, adds to this picture:

Geir:I would also like to know more about the process of making idols and its changes. In which ways has the making of idols changed?

Sundip:Before we made many debi pratimas (goddess images), all with the traditional face. Now we make many works with Ganesh, the size has also changed, many want bigger images now[…]. Earlier it was the traditional face of goddess Durga, and then the concept was changed. The face became human-like, more like people’s, like man, not gods. At present there are again some people who prefer the traditional faces.

Geir:What kind of pratimas do you like?

Sundip:I like the traditional faces best, but I am a professional and must make what the customers want. We are professionals so we have to make what the customers want, but I personally like the traditional face because it is godlier and creates a type of devotion in my heart […] in everybody’s heart and that is not present in the face of today’s god which has a more human-like face.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.