Contextualizing Grassroot Innovation in the Light of Panchmura Terracotta: a Path-Breaking Creativity

INFOKARA RESEARCH ISSN NO: 1021-9056

CONTEXTUALIZING GRASSROOT INNOVATION IN THE LIGHT OF PANCHMURA TERRACOTTA: A PATH-BREAKING CREATIVITY

Souvik Aich

Ph.D Research Scholar

Women’s Studies Centre, Vidyasagar University, West Bengal

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to look at the grassroot innovation and inventiveness as an emergence of power to think and power to do by negating all the adverse circumstantial situations in the society on behalf of the marginalized people, especially rural men and women-folk of West Bengal. Their inner potentialities and home-made technological approaches without proper and formal education stupefy the world when they are seen to be consciously engrossed in adapting with some unusual innovations which are typically nature-oriented and purely laden with nature-principles. This scene can be traced at Panchmura, a village at a distance of about 40 km from Bishnupur, and 11 km from Taldangra, the police station station of the sub-district within the jurisdiction of Bankura district of West Bengal where the men and women-folk who basically hail from kumbhakars (potters) descendents are involved in doing up the beautiful Terracota and Crafts works from generation after generation at their own sacred will-power. These people create various earthen potteries in different shapes and modules through self-invented dome-shaped chamber (locally popularized as ‘bhati’), a typically earthly-grounded chamber made of soil as primary material. With a tinge of self-motivation leading to collective and participatory approach in every walks, this grass-root innovation has given them the space of social recognition and the potteries produced through processing within the chamber have made them economically sustained to a large extent. In a nutshell, the grass-root innovative invention create a sense of strong workforce among the people without any gender sensitization and identify them as the newly advent distinct figures in the arena of creativity apart from the macro-cosmic world-view.

KEY WORDS: Grassroot, Innovation, Marginalized, Nature-oriented, Recognition, Workforce.

INTRODUCTION

Human beings are distinctively different from all other living species of this world in respect of their intelligibility and creativity. From the time immemorial, they are being engrossed in creativity around multifaceted circumstances by dint of their hard labor leading from their power of self-creativity and this

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could well be traced back from the discovery of fire as well as the emergence of veichels in reality in different forms by applying the usefulness of wheels; the contribution of human beings irrespective of men and women acquires the central fore. The basic foreground of this write-up centers around on the path- breaking unusual self creativity of the men and women who so far live without any social acclamation of being consideration into the creator of some innovative projects for the growth and development of mainstream society. These rural men and women with their notion, concept and applicability regarding various shades of local scientific innovation with limited technological knowledge and education have been becoming the glaring representation of glorifying personhood in the fields of rural grassroot innovation as well as conventional path-breaking path-finders to all other people of under underprivileged section of the society.

Grassroot Innovation , an alternative approach -

Grassroot innovation is an alternative form of innovation. It is not merely contextualized itself to another source of innovation, rather it acknowledges the work needed to open up spaces for doing grassroots innovation differently, to understand and appreciate the wide variety of activities involved in the generation of the grassroot innovations and to support the aims and purposes in grassroots innovation. The grassroot innovation is underpinned by motivations, set of practices, working relations and networks that constitute novel forms for doing innovation. These alternative forms seek to incorporate new or overlooked actors, issues, sites, networks, processes, and purposes. Grassroot innovation covers different combinations of knowledge and relationships, such as abstract engineering knowledge with situated community knowledge.

Methodologies have been developed for helping people to articulate their ideas and experiences and participate in a collective innovation process. Open infrastructure has been created, such as workshops that could give people access to tools, prototypes, networks and platforms for sharing designs and lessons, and arenas for debating development challenges and responses. Different concepts and ideas are advanced and put to work and capabilities have to be developed and shared among others.(Smith :2017)

The cultivation of knowledge, skills, capabilities, working practices and community development was found to be simultaneously an requirement for grassroots innovation and a measure of successful outcomes. Finance, materials, tools, prototyping facilities, even markets, are an important part related to such innovative process as well as values, skills, social relations, which animate these materials and motivate other people to join in and put their ingenuity into grassroot innovation for sustainable development. Even where the focal technologies did not work out, more often than not the efforts nevertheless cultivated capabilities and lessons that had a more enduring value. The incorporation of different ideas

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and negotiations between different viewpoints, and always acknowledging diverse contributions in participatory design, is originally intended to help to democratize design and innovation and cultivate a form of technological citizenship. However, the alternative form of grassroot innovation has also been selectively co-opted for corporate purposes and specific methodologies have been adapted into user- centred product designs for assuring sales, marketing value and customer loyalty. Participatory practices among the different sections of people belonging to various social starta should have to be more opened for assisting grassroots with transformative innovation.(Smith : 2017)

The robustness in this regard derives from social framings motivating people and guiding activity, the material and social spaces for experimentation, the strategies for occupying spaces and securing resources and the ability to build momentum capable of transforming political and economic relations such that truly participatory, collaborative and democratic forms of innovation in the truest sense of grassrootness are possible.

Grassroot Innovation in Indian Context -

India is a third world developing country like all other non-whites countries which were so long under the colonial rule and wrath of power of the Eurocentric whites. The policies and all other enterpreneurships made up by those White-coloured imperialists have been followed up by either the ignorant and not so enlightened Indian people or the persons having an enlightened soul before and after independence of this country. The so-called grassroot movements that the Occidental nations showed on the road and off the road did not entice and influence the Oriental nations like Indian subcontinent ; though in due course of time, this country’s nationalist and internationalist figure, Gandhiji through the exposure of ‘satyagraha’ and by initializing the concept like ‘charka’ and thread in reality by negating the well-knitted devouring planning of the Raj in 1920s to 1930s.

So the innovation at the grassroot level when we look at rural picture and national market had not been so much enchanting. Due to lack of economic crisis, allocation of funds, proper understanding of the village people who live in a very dilapidated situation in day in day out and hang-over of age-old notion of the British policies, the grassroot innovation lies in a state of alienation. The making of most grassroot innovation, thus, faces a question of challenging power. The social, economic and political causes and the vigorous consequences of everyday technological changes have created, somehow, a space of vacuum in grassroot innovative projects ; everyone thinks of rapid technological growth and to live a life having been engrossed in modern city-life comfort and amenities. No one seems to be an inclination towards the cottage-industries that actually are backbone for each and every nation for development. Without having the proper look in the grassroot system, no nation can proceed forward. Besides, the new emergence of

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digitalization in every nooks and corns of society and the hey-day of computer based technological approaches towards every fields are making the grassroots possibilities a far cry.

Henceforth, in order to drastically transform the pathetic and palpable Indian scenario of grassroot innovation into a form of privileged stature, the new governmental policies by incorporating distinctive marketing strategies so that the industries or grassroot product gaining equal excellence at per with the mainstream industrial products at the same time need to be scientifically framed, ‘just because an innovation may emerge from the grassroot level, it does not mean that it is applicable only at the grassroots’ (2016:36) The commitments and ethical involvement on behalf of the people belonging to various social groups should be there at the fulcrum of such inventive grassroot innovation. The instances of evolution of ‘honey bee networks’ and the ‘Shodhyatras’ like ‘meetings like shodh sankal (meetings of experimenting farmers, shodhyatras, village visits/camps, biodiversity contests, women self-help groups, bhajan mandalis ,etc. have helped unravel the creativity and innovation at the grassroot level’(2016:34) show a ray of hope and promise to grassroot innovation projects. To make the grassroot innovation project successful, the educated and intellectuals need to understand and comprehend the essence of understanding and inner potentialities of those distant grassroot people and to translate their inertia knowledge of innovation into a height of technological galvanized creations. And for the sustainability of grassroot innovation design, the convergence of technology applied for the benefits of mankind, institutions of academia intelligentsia and accepted cultures of those belonging to grassroot level need to meet at a pinpoint, ‘ If technology is a word, institutions are like grammar and culture is a thesaurus. We need all three variables for generating sustainable solutions.’(Gupta, 2016).

A Brief Reference to Rural Women-folk regarding Grassroot Innovation -

Grassroot innovation and its reciprocal approach to rural women-folk is an arena of research in social studies. The village women who have to be restricted from their household essentialities to child-bearing and child rearing, are now trying to break the conventional attributes of glass-ceiling by engaging themselves to some handicraft oriented works. These women-folk in the remote villages are seen to collectively make binding of ‘bidi’, making use of ‘saal’ leaves in various ways, using cotton thread to make carpets for household purposes, making small hand-made instrument for squeezing juice of lemons and sugarcane and many more innumerable creations only by them. Without proper education and sequential technological skills that these women-folk show is in a word remarkable. Had they got enough financial support and family back up, these women could be more and more advanced in their involvement in grassroot alternative creation with their power of inventiveness.

Now these days the picture that we are usually associated, is on a changing-swing. The two concepts – grassroot innovation by rural women-folk and empowerment of rural women-folk have gained attention to

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core-discussion. The concept of empowerment of women had its great relevance and application to third world countries like India which is characterized by high levels of poverty and feminization of poverty, low female literacy, invisibility of women and strong patriarchal and community values and ethics. And for all these characteristics practically nothing was expected to evolve on its own as an enabling process from within the poorest, most powerful class being the women. One major issue that surfaced fairly early concerned the appropriate time and space available to poor women for organizational work, tied as they are to their increasing labour obligations with diminishing authority and cultural worth. Several research studies indicate that many efforts at grassroot empowerment was initiated by many NGOS and other government launched schemes like STEP or Social Transformation and Educational prosperity and DWCRA or Development of Women and Children in Rural areas. The sole aim of these governmental and non-governmental approaches was to strengthen the socioeconomic base of rural women through a group approach, awarweness generation and provision of support services. These schemes also lead the way of participatory development and group understanding among grassroot women innovators so that they could have the minimum realization of empowerment and equality to some extent, though a long way to go to achieve the desired status of recognition. The grassroot women-folk are still on their way to reach the goal of attaining special position by constantly involving themselves into various projects of new grassroot innovative schemes. (John : 2008)

History of Terracotta of West Bengal with special emphasis on Panchmura -

Broadly speaking, Bengal clay pottery can be divided into two parts- Bankura Clay Pottery and Krishnanagar Clay Pottery. But, Bankura’s art form in respect of clay pottery is an ancient form than the artistic adventures of Krishnagar. Generally, the clay pottery of Bankura district of West Bengal centers around on the ‘Kumbhakars’ or the potter families of Panchmura, 16 miles away from Bishnupur, who first became the harbinger of the famous creation of terracotta arts and crafts with special reference to the beatific Bankura horses. From the time immemorial, these potter families are involved in performing such creation of artistic excellence which seems to be non-pareil in the arena of creative arts and hand crafts not only in rural Bengal, but the country at large.

As for the ancient historical records are concerned, it is believed that the tradition of making terracotta craft items began from Panchmura region under the rule of “Malla Dynasty”, towards the end of the seventh century started the tradition of terracotta craft. The kings developed inclinations to the art of terracotta and they wholeheartedly patronized the beautiful craftsmanship of the artisans to use this craft in building various structures and temples. In the first period of sixteenth century, Baishnava culture made an impact on art that covers Malla kings of ‘rarh’ or ‘radh’ (rough upland) area in Bishnupur and many other places in Bankura, West Bengal. They utilized fine craftsmanship of terracotta artisans to build unique

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designs and figurine based temples. By and large, Bishnupur emerged as the main centre of terracotta art. (Mondal & Dhak : 2015)

LITERATURE REVIEW

For the purpose of writing –up on this topic, the paper-contributors have vigorously gone through the in- depth study of existing literatures and projected documents in the form of reliable website journals. The first reference being the title, ‘Rejuvenation of traditional pottery-making by applying advanced bio- techniques’, submitted by Dr. A.J.A . Ranjit Singh, Department of Zoology, Sri Paramakalyani College, Tamilnadu and published by ‘Department of Science and Technology, Technology Systems Development Programme Project Progress Report’ focused on the design of earthenware storage system at the low cost- price for kitchen-use and to store vegetables, fruits, pickles, curd, buttermilk and many more without affecting their taste and flavour for domestic usage. For discussion on such system, the paper-contributor has mentioned the typical scientific energy disperative x-ray analysis and he has shown that the mineral compositios like the pond-clay (in local term, achenkulam) and the river-clay (from Karunai river) need to brought at the same place and both items should have to be mixed with cotton-cloth and mud in well- proportionate manner so that a complete earthen-storage system in the form of zero-energy cooling chamber could be built-up. The next reference being the title, ‘ Pottery making tradition among the Prajapati Community of Gujrat, India’, submitted by Mithun Sikdar and Pritish Chaudhury, Anthropological Survey of India, Western Regional Centre, Udaipur, Rajasthan and published in ‘Eurasian Journal of Anthropology’ focused on the raw materials used in pottery-making, techniques used for pottery-making and final product and mercerization. In the paper, the contributors have mentioned about the soil which plays the part of the essential natural resource for preparation of pottery. The soil is collected from the nearby pond and the they use both the black soil and the red soil and dry wood, husks and straw for making the structure of clay-modeling. For the colour which is applied as a coating upon the clay-modeling, the potters either buy color from the local market which is extracted from mines or use chemical colors or oil colors because of its advantages of availability and durability. The tools, the potters use for making the potteries are the wheel which can be the blocked wheel or the spoked wheel, ‘laathi’(bamboo-stick for rotating wheels), ‘jakharia’(tree-branch to lift and carry the bushes), ‘challni’( to remove the lumps and other impurities from the soil) etc. And for the baking purpose of raw clay- modeling, they create a ‘limdhada’(a big baking place) with natural ingredients like soil, mud, bushes, woods. They create base-piling with proper arrangement of pots and fire channels are made to release excess of heat and vapour. The process gets completed after four to five hours a day. The third reference being enamored with the title, ‘Prospect of Traditional Craft in Present Economy : A Study of Earthen Doll in Krishnagar, West Bengal’, written by Kandarpa Kanti Hazra, Research Scholar, Department of Business Administration, Assam University and Dr. Arup Barman, Associate Professor, Department of

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Business Administration, Assam University and published in ‘International Journal of Management’ (IJM) concentrate on the clay doll of ‘ghurni’ of Krishnagar as the replica of sustainable art form as well as used in religious periphery on different occasions. The paper-contributer try to show the marketing strategies while exporting those clay-modellings in the domestic and overseas market and they also refer to the economic growth of entire Krishnagar and Bengal as well for the popularity of clay doll.

OBJECTIVES

As far as the review on the contextualizing grassroot innovation is concerned, none so far delineate the concept with special reference to pottery-making. In most of writings, there are several implications of the adaptation of modern scientific and technological methods in organizing and creating clay-modeling, and no reference to local unscientifically scientifically knowledge on behalf of rural men and women-folk is emphasized. There is also a hint of using chemical color for coating upon the raw-clay modellings as a motif of better marketing-sale, and here application of naturalness in terms of soil and colour is overlooked. Henceforth, acknowledging and addressing lacuna in those writings, the paper-contributers of this article, puts forth some benchmark in objectives which are jotted down in following manner :-

1] To seek for a new kind of invention; an opening space to show alternative form of innovation without proper frame of education and scientific knowledge.

2] To access the knowledge of home-made technologies of the rural people in order to innovate in respect of grassroot products and utilities and to learn a lesson of collective and participatory workforce from them.

3] To understand the ways in which these men and women folk earn their everyday livelihood by gaining marketing value for their products to be sold in the market and thereby, acquiring economically-sustained.

4] To follow the nature and natural ingredients in every attempt of making clay-modeling.

METHODS

The success of such kind of study and writing depend on potential approach of survey. The strength of well-structured questionnaire helps to conduct the study in an unbiased manner. The basic purpose of the article is to explore a particular craft of a specific geographical locale, and to evaluate and contextualize grassroot innovation of the men and women-folk related with the assembling and reassembling of the craft.

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Source-

The source of data collection is primary in nature. The method of the collection of the data is survey. An investigation through close-observation and personal interview with structure questionnaire can be appropriate to collect the necessary information for the study. Data collection from the contemporary clay- modeling makers or potters and uses involves ethnographic technique, such as :-

1. The survey-goers had had direct observation on the scenario after reaching to the ‘kumbhakars-para’ (the name of the potters’ abode) at Panchmura.

2.Involving participation with the other potters at the time of making clay-modeling through spoked-whell on the part of the survey-goers.

3. The survey-goers took interview pragmatically with the potters, namely Badal Kumbhokar and Sumonto Kumbhokar for two to three hours in a semi-structured format.

4. Detecting the soil(alluvial) from which a natural color is extracted, when the soil is submerged in a pot or jar filled with rain-water.

5. Witnessing the dome-shaped chamber and the process within for baking the raw-clay modeling.

PANCHMURA: FIELD SETTING

Panchmura is the name of the village , which is located at a distance of about 40 kms from Bishnupur, a distinct place of historically repute being the capital of Malla kings of Mallabhum for almost a thousand years, and 11 km. from Taldangra, the police-station of the sub district and is known widely for its unbeaten exposure of beautiful and angle-like terracotta horses and other handicrafts. The Panchmura village has 70-80 potter families who do the terracotta works, the crafts works have been continued for many years, and the heredity artifact skill is still flowing in their veins through generations after generations. Only the ‘kumbhokars’ or those potter families of this village practice the craft and they sell their products from their house-holds. Although the village is not well-developed, it acquires a rich tradition in exposure of terracotta works, and even the soil, in most part of that village looks red, similar to terracotta clay.

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Fig 1: Map of India depicting Bankura district in West Bengal

Source: http://www.google.co.in/maps/place/bankura

Fig 2: Map of Panchmura within Bankura district

Source: http://www.google.co.in/maps/place/panchmura

Typical features of Panchmura Terracotta Horses -

The terracotta horses, if closely observed, it will be seen that these horses have more erect neck and ears and look more dynamic. Their jaws are wider, their set of teeth can be seen, eyebrows are drawn and their forehead is decorated with chandmala. As for the religiosity and ritualistic matter are concerned, the people would offer as a replica of their devoted spirit to the Dharma Thakur, Ma Manasa and other local village deities. Such offerings are also made on the tombs of Muslim saints whose worshippers do not necessarily belong to the Muslim community alone. The structure of these terracotta horses has been so fashioned as to symbolically represent a mark of devotion. (Shaw:2012)

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Fig 3: Panchmura Terracotta Horses & other clay-modeling

Source: Picture taken during survey at Panchmura, 2018

Process of clay-modeling-

Now it is well-known fact that Panchmura is famous for its creation of clay-modeling which in due course of time has become synonymous with terracotta and other artistic handicrafts. Though the procedure of works of making clay-modeling is ancient and it is being carried away through generations after generations of those ‘kumbhakars’ or potters families, but still the process of their clay –modeling at the grassroot level instigates an aura of creativity with their limited sense of common science. Not only so, but their usage of three different types of soil for making the primary structure of the clay-modeling proves to be significantly the application of intelligence in an coherent manner. These potters-artisans, at first collect one type of soil which is abundantly found in a place of the village and then that soil is mixed up with sand and water and by and by the desired soil is prepared through the active voluntariness of their legs. Surprisingly to be seen here is that all the steps for making up the primary clay-modelling are being done without any kind of instrumentation- application.

For the purpose of coloring upon those raw potteries and to keep them smooth and glossy, the potters cum artisans use another two types of soil which they have to bring, at their own life-risk from Biborda near Kamardiha and Ramsagar respectively in the dead of the night. For the making of such type of clay- modeling, these types of soil are essentially essential-and here lies innovative inventiveness of those potters-artisans because no one could hardly think of such adaptation of soil before. The potters, now use the soil of Ramsagar by transforming it into liquid form upon the raw clay-modeling so that those potteries become reddish in color and simultaneously, they use the soil of Biborda, Kamardihi to make those items smoothened and glossy. The most interesting episode in this regard is that the potters do not make those soil mentioned above drenched inside simple water, rather they make those soil wet into rain- drops of anytime of a year. But, especially, they hold the rain-drops in some bucket or some utensils in the

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monsoon to use them for making the soil wet and perfectly drenched. After a long period of time when the soil gets loosened in rain-drops, a kind of stiltedness emits and that stiltedness which can be linguistically identified with ‘polimati’ or in English alluvial soil help in the form of exposition of color. Mysteriously enough, the potters themselves, too do not know the proper scientific explanation about the usage of rain- drops in preparing the color from the soil ; but, may be any kind of organic compound or chemical reaction could act as the working-factor behind this process.

Fig 4: Rain-Water Preservation