Dokra, the traditional art : A journey from ‘margin’ to ‘centre’ [A field study of Bikna Shilpadanga, Bankura, West Bengal]

The name 'Dokra' was used to indicate a group of crafts persons of nomadic type scattered over eastern and central India and was identified by their beautifully shaped and decorated metal products which are characterized by its primitive simplicity, charming folk motifs, rustic beauty and imaginative designs and patterns. It is one of the earliest known methods of non-ferous metal casting known to human civilization as the „lost wax casting (cire oerdue) process. But despite a high demand of the products of Dokra for its medieval simplicity, enhancing folk motifs and vitality of form in the local and the global market where fashion and luxury industries take maximum share in trading market, it seems difficult for sustenance of Dokra art and craft and the artisans at Bikna Shilpadanga, Bankura have been undergoing many hardships in carrying on with this traditional & age old craft of India. The present paper is, therefore, a modest attempt to provide an account of dokra craft of Bikna with an objective of highlighting the current socio economic status of „Dokra‟ and its artisans and also the benevolent measures already taken up for the upliftment of the craft and the people attached to it.