ISSUE November VERNACULAR FURNITURE OF PUNJAB 201803
Punjab Jammu & Kasmir LEGEND Focus on Pathankot Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Pathankot, Tarn Taran 17 01 - Gunopur 15 - Dehriwal 20 18 Himachal 19 15 21 02 - Dera Baba Nanak 16 - Naushehra Overview 16 Pradesh 05 06 04 03 - Khaasan wali 17 - Simbli Places visited : 28
02 07 01 04 - Behrampur 18 - Haryal Distance travelled : 3230 Pakistan Elements mapped : 453 Gurdaspur 05 - Chitti Pind 19 - Sherpura 11 Scholars approached : 1 03 09 06 - Bahmni 20 - Narot Mahal Amritsar 10 12 Craftspeople approached : 2 13 08 07 - Gurdaspur 21 - Pathankot Hoshiarpur 08 - Hoshiarpur 22 - Tarn Taran 23 14 24 22 27 26 09 - Bunga 23 - Khaara Tarn Taran 25 10 - Hariana 24 - Thathi 11 - Dholbaha 25 - Goindwal 28 Jalandhar 12 - Chauhal 26 - Hansawala Chitti, Gurdaspur Khaara, Fazilka 13 - Saleran 27 - Jhander Ferozepur Moga Ludhiana 14 - Ajnoha 28 - Mehdipur
The third field visit of the ‘Vernacular Furniture of also encountered a few furniture pieces kept by North-West India – Punjab’, scheduled in the month their owners as memoirs of their forefathers. One of November 2018, focused on northern Punjab. It such resident, Karamjeet Singh from Hoshiarpur Ajnoha, Hoshiarpur covered Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran, three city shared, “The sandook is a memory of my Simbli, Pathankot districts of Majha region. Pathankot district has a few forefather and is some 150 years old. Our sandook cultural and linguistic similarities with Jammu-Kashmir is occasionally cleaned by rubbing off the façade and Himachal Pradesh due to its close geographical with sand, lemon and lassi.” proximity. Villages closer to the border in Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran districts have traces of furniture made Soorti Singh, an artisan from Gunopur Saidowal by Muslim artisans who lived in the Indian state of village in Gurdaspur district makes tokra (basket). Punjab before the partition in 1947. While making the tokra, sitting over its base to weave the branches into a basket, he shared, “I The most commonly found furniture pieces like used to assist my father in cutting the shehtoot sandook (cabinet), peti (chest) are made using the (mulberry) branches from its tree as a child and local taali wood (indian rosewood) because of its learned the craft of weaving a tokra from him.” strength. Charkha (spinning wheel) is made using akhrot (walnut) wood as it is comparatively lighter A takhatposh (bench), found in the Thathi and produces less frictional sound. Furniture made village in Tarn Taran district, placed in a gallery of deodar wood was found extensively in the regions adjacent to a Gurudwara is used for communal of Pathankot and Gurdaspur. The wood of deodar gathering. Household objects such as madani tree which grows in high altitudes of Kashmir used (butter churner), chatthu (mortar-pestle), chajj to be transported via downstream of river Ravi (winnowing sieve) etc. also are an integral part of flowing from Kashmir into these regions. The team everyday life. 01
02 03 04
05 06 07
01. Sandook (Cabinet), 02. Sandook (Cabinet), 03. Pidhi (low seat) , 04. Madani (Butter Churner), 05. Chowki (Low Table), 06. Manja (Charpoy), 07. Pakkhi (Hand Fan) A monthly report of field visits conducted as a part of study of Vernacular Furniture of North West India | Phase 3 - Punjab
A collaborative research project by: Design Innovation and Craft Resource Centre (DICRC), CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India | www.dicrc.in
South Asian Decorative Arts and Crafts Collection Trust (SADACC), Norwich, UK | www.southasiandecorativeartsandcrafts.co.uk