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CENSUS OF INDIA 1981 SERIES-23 WEST BENGAL PART X-D HANDICRAFT SURVEY REPORT CONCHSHELL PRODUCTS Investigation and Draft: DIPANKAR SEN Editing and Guidance: SUKUMAR SINHA HANDICRAFT SURVEY REPORT , CONCHSHELL PRODUCTS Assistance in Investigation and Tabulation: Sri Sanat :Kumar Saba, Assistant Compiler Preparation of Map: Sri Subir Kumar Chatterjee, DraftsmaJi Preparation of Sketches; Sri B. N. Mullick, Senior Artist Photosraphy: Sri Arunabha Dutta, Investigatf,):r FOREWORD The Indian handicrafts are known the world over for their rich variety, grace, elegance and skilled craftsmanship. Nevertheless, a number of handicrafts because of their stiff compe­ tition with factory made products, non-availability of raw materials, exhorbitant increase in the manufacturing cost, lack of proper marketing facilities for finished products or due to a variety of other reasons have either become extinct or have reached the moribund stage. After independence, however, a number of schemes were introduced by different govern­ ment agencies for their growth and development but still this sudden impetus have helped only a few crafts to flourish and thereby becomes spinners of foreign exchange for the country. Despite the unique position being enjoyed by the handicrafts especially in the realm of national economy, the general awareness among the people in the country about our crafts and craftsmen had been deplorably poor. Nothing was practically known about the commodities produced, techniques employed for the manufacture of different" objects, raw materials used, their availability, methods adopted for the sale of finished products, etc. An attempt was therefore made in connection with the 1961 Census to study about 150 crafts from different parts of the country with a view to provide basic information on those crafts which were selected for the study. At the 1971 Census, the study on handicrafts was not taken up but this was again revived in connection with the 1981 Census. There has been, however, some difference between the studies taken up in connection with the Censuses of 1961 and 1981. While the 1961 studies have covered both rural and urban crafts, the 1981 studies have focussed their attention only on traditional rural based crafts. That apart, the 1981 studies besides touching upon those aspects which were covered under the 1961 series, have laid emphasis on matters that are vital for the revival of rural crafts and thereby for the rejuvenation of the economy of the region particularly the villages. This is in consonance with the policy of the government to give due inportance to the rural sector with focus on employment intensive strategy of development in which next to agriculture, the small scale industries and handicrafts playa significant role. The formats required for undertaking the study were formulated by Dr. K. P. Ittaman under the able guidance of Dr. N. G. Nag the then Deputy Registrar General, Social Studies Division. Dr. Tttaman who succeeded Dr. Nag as Deputy Registrar General, Social Studies Division, co-ordinated the study undertaken in different StatesiUnion Territories by the Directorates of Census Operations. The reports received from the Directorates were examined by Shri M. K. Jain, Senior Research Officer with the help of Smt. Suman Prashar, Assistant Director of Census Operations and Shyam Singh, Junior Investigator. I am grateful to all of them for organising this study. The present report is the outcome of a study undertaken on Conchshell Products by the Directorate of Census Operations, West Bengal. I have immense pleasure in acknow· ledging the services rendered by Shri Sukumar Sinha, Joint Director and his colleagues in the Census Directorate for bringing out this publication. New Delhi, v. S. Verma The 1st June, 1988 Registrar General, India PREFACE If the western legend conjures up 'Triton blowing loud his wreathed horn' the Hindu mythology too depicts Lord Vishnu holding the conchsheIl which the symboJic syllable Om (q. v) is inherent 1. The blowing of trumpet in the war-front was extant in the occident for a long time. 'The trumpet's loud clangour, Excites us to arms', writes Dryden 2. The conchshell horns too in olden times struck terror in the hearts of the enemies in battle­ fields. The Kaurava armies in the battle of Kurukshetra were terrorised by the sounds produced by the shell-horns 3. Various myths and legends are current about conchshell and its protective value. The shell of the cowrie is hung on the necks of women, children and cattle, and it is supposed to crack when the -evil eye falls upon it 4. The blowing of the conchshell scares evil spirits from the temple offerings, from the married pair, and from the corpse fi. When the coils of the shell are turned to the right (Dakshina-Varta), it is specially valued 6. Man has at all times been moved with 'concord of sweet sounds' and also with 'music sent up to God'. In Buddist literature among different musical instruments one comes across Sankha which is chank (shell) and a kind of horn '"{. In Bengal the Pauranik has a drum behind him and blows occasionally upon a conchshell 8. Sankha in the Atharvaveda with the epithet Krisana denotes a pearl shell used as an amulet and in the Brihadarayna Upanishad it denotes a shell or conch used for blowing as a wind instrument 9. -Va-tsayallil" -refers to conchshell bangles worn by married women to make themselves attractive. Numerous references in the Puranas and the Shastras to the beliefs and practices connected with the articles of conchshell have been discussed in detail in the monograph. With a glorious tradition rooted in the hoary past dating back to the prehistoric period. the craft of conchshell products once thrived in India along the coastal belt and the use of the products was prevalent among the non·tribals and tribals of India and the adjoining countries like Tibet, Bhutan, etc. The craft once flourished in South India even though its products were exported to Bengat But gradually the centre shifted to Bengal and during the British rule in India the seat of production and trade had been firmly entrenched in Benga1. The British policy in India had made India subservient to the industries of Great Britain and to make the Indian people grow raw produce only, in order to supply material for the looms and manufactories of Great Britain. The British manufactures ... employed the arm of political injustice to keep down and ultimately strangle a competitor with whom he could not have contended on equal terms ; millions of Indian artisans lost their earnings; the population of India lost one great source of their wealth 11. Millions of 'boatmen and boat-builders, cartmen and bullock owners' lost their living Ill. ----- 1 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethic9, Ed. by James Hastings, Edinburg, Vol. IX, pp. 46. • Song for St. Cecilia's Day by John Dryden. iii. • STimadbhaga-vad Gita, 1.19. • James Hastings, op. cit., Vol. III. pp. 443. • ibid. I ibid. 'James Hastings, op. cit., Vol. IX, pp. 15. S ibid., PP. 47. • Vedic Index of Names and Subjects by A. A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith, London, 1912, Vol. II. pp. 350. 10 Ka1lUlJSUtram, VIII, 1.11. 11 The Economic History of India under Early British Rule by Romesh Dutt. London. 1950, pp. vii. uibid., pp. 311. to Census/88-B (x) Fortunately, however, many crafts and artisans had not been hit hard by the British :md if so, it was not because of their benevoJence. The British had advanced into only those realms of commerce, trade and industry in which they had their own finished produCl~ to prcmote. Conchshell products along with many other articles of Indian handicrafts did not appear to them to be competitive. The craft, therefore, continued to prosper in undivided Bengal. If with the Partition, the territory of former East Pakistan (now BangIa Desh) was lost, the influx of displaced persons including both the producers and the consu­ mers of the craft's products did not affect the craft's course. The real problem cropped up with the imposition of ban on the import of conchshells from Sri Lanka. But, even then. the craftsmen did not lose heart but looked forwSlrd to the raw material from Tamil Nadu. The crisis that had appeared in the decade 1960-70 had been tided over by timely inter­ vention of the Government of West Bengal in the matter of collection of raw materials from the Government of Tamil Nadu and their distribution among the craftsmen in different districts. According to the Directorate of Cottage and Small Scale Industries (Handicrafts Section), Government of West Bengal, 12,000 to 12,500 artisans are connected with the cra~t in 38 centres over ] ° districts including Calcutta. There are 40 co-operative societies of craft~mcn functioning in West Bengal. Despite the best efforts of the West Bengal Handicrafts Development Corporation, a Government of West Bengal Undertaking, the craft is facing the problem of inadequate supply of raw material. Against an estimated annual requirement of two million pieces of conchshell the supply of raw material by the West Bengal Handicrafts Development Corporation has been ensured to the extent of one million pieces, supplied by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The annual production of about 10 million pieces of different articles of conchshel1 is worth about Rupees thirty million approximately. Even though the demand of the raw material is met to the extent of only fifty per cent, the craft is not at all moribund. In fact, the state of the craft is more or less the same as that in the 1960's. The association of a large number of artisans with the craft all over the State highlights the potentiality of this craft to dfer employment to the men and women in the rural areas, urban areas not eX'::!l1ded.

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