S for Sholapith Craft

India is a land of many festivals, and these festivals have many rituals that are integral to the cultural ethos of those places. Sholapith craft is a beautiful example of how beautifully in the cultural threads of these festivals the modern concept of sustainability is woven.Have you visited a Durga Pandal in Bengal? The devi is often adorned with a beautiful, intricately carved white head gear and ornaments. Those milky white spongy ornaments are made out of ‘shola’.Shola is an annual aquatic herb which grows in the wild, in marshy waterlogged areas. It is hence ecofriendly, bio- degradable, durable and a renewable resource. Since the attire and ornaments and other decor items of idols are made using this very versatile sholapith, even if local customs require them to immerse the shola products in water, they do not pollute the water.The shola plant is Aeschynomene Aspera of the family Leguminosae. There are two breeds of shola: Bhat shola (Aeschynomene aspera) and Kath shola (Aeschynomene indica). Kath shola is rather rigid and adamantine while bhat shola is light in weight.Shola is cultivated as a cash crop in June–July and harvested in September–October. The material is soft and lightweight and hence makes for those beautiful headgear worn in traditional Hindu Bengali weddings too. In the Southern part of West Bengal, toys, decorative items including flower bouquets and finely crafted miniature statues are also created. Shola is also used by the puppeteers of Muragaccha Colony and Borboria village in Nadia district to make traditional string puppets..The shola plant is lithe and flimsy, so working with it takes out-and-out concentration and training on the part of the artisan. Inside the coarse woody outer cover of the plant lies the soft white inner core. This covered white material can only be used once the woody cloak is shaved off. This is the primary step in the making of any shola product. This white pulp inside is then sliced into rolls, cubes, dices depending on the product it is going to be used for. The cuts vary as the artisan's imagination takes hold of what is being carved out. The tools that make such exquisite arts are not complicated at all. On the contrary, they are simple ones with distinct functions to their name. Generally, two kinds of tools are used. One is the kat, which is a fine, steel cutter used to make different shola crafts like duma (a sleek shola sheet), sheuli (primary material used in making chandmala, duma), dhari (shola material used to make malas), etc. This is primarily a knife that has around five to six versions with myriad specialised cuts that are required throughout the process. There is generally a fine edge as well as a blunt side. Different types of scissors called kanchi play a pivotal role in both making intricate designs as well as polishing and refining the end product. All this is assisted with regular handy tools like needles, papers, measuring tapes, wire cutter, etc. But the most important and crucial tools in the sholapith are the trained fingers of the highly skilled artisans. To make the simple regular tools perform such wonders requires an expert and sophisticated hand that chisels the plant into intricate crafts.While in the Indian subcontinent the plant is native to the states of West Bengal, Orissa and Assam, it is also found in parts of South Asia..In Bengal, it is more than just a plant, it is part of Bengal's cultural journey. Bengal has explored the sholapith craft very extensively—you will find a wide range of utilitarian and decorative items and is also considered very auspicious.According to one of the many beliefs that circulate in the Malakar community, which is involved with making the crafts, Lord Krishna's sudden darshan (appearance) had left Sudama bewildered, and the Brahmins too were caught off-guard as to what can be offered to the Lord as a mark of obeisance. They, finding nothing, made a garland out of shola which was then offered to Lord Krishna, who wrapped it around his waist as 'janeyu', which to this day is revered highly in the Malakar community.In recent years, competition from industries and mass-produced alternatives has left the younger generation feeling like the occupation isn’t financially lucrative to hold on to. Moreover, with wetlands in rural areas steadily declining, the plant supply has also significantly dwindled.This soft spongy substance can easily replace thermocol. The end use of this one product is much more than it just being a decorative craft. At Indian Craft Hunt, we highly recommend the Biswa Bangla store, which is the Bengal State Craft Emporium to pick up these beautiful sholapith products. They have done beautiful design interventions which allows us to bring these beautiful crafted products home in the form of fairy lights and other home decor items. Sholapith flowers are another good substitute to artificial flowers that are a common decor in Indian Homes.As always, Indian crafts have always been more than decor, they have always had high utility value. We do hope that the shola plant is cultivated consciously and eventually replaces its doppelganger - thermocol!

S for Sholapith Craft

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