Clothing and ornaments
These may be made entirely of clay and referred to as matir saja (saja, decoration, matir, of clay). Clothing is modelled over the entire figure using a rough mixture of straw and clay to provide the necessary volume. The folds of the cloth are modelled using a bamboo splint and balu mati which is added to give it a smooth finish. The ornaments are made from moulds using doams mati and are attached to the limbs by wetting the area with water while the layer of balu mati is drying. The headdress or mukut is built up of clay using small pieces of sliced bamboo covered in moulded pieces of clay. Clay implements placed in the hands of deities can also be made in this way. Most of the ornamentation is based on jewellery worn on classical sculptures as well as popular religious prints and calendar art. Ornaments include earrings, bracelets, armbands, necklaces, anklets and headdresses. It is probable that ornamentation and clothing was originally done with clay, but in the modern period alternative materials came into use in urban centres, although the village tradition still uses clay.
Female deities wear saris and male deities wear dhotis, shawls and pointed nagar shoes . The hands and feet of deities are decorated with red paint as a mark of beauty and many have vermilion tilak marks and sectarian markings on their foreheads. Most shakta deities have a tilak mark above which is a crescent moon and a third eye on the forehead.
Headdress (mukut)
Images facing directly outwards are aligned using a groove incised in the chest as a guideline. The chest groove is aligned with a similar groove cut in the hat or ridge of clay modelled on the top of the head which later accommodates the mukut.
The two grooves are aligned to ensure that the head and the mukut are not out of line with the rest of the body. Two main types of decoration that are popular are solar saj (decoration in sola or pith) and daker saj (decoration using tinsel, old bits of newspaper and wire). The artists who make these kinds of ornaments are called malis and their workshops are close to those of the kumars. These ornaments are tacked or glued on to the figures using a commercial glue after the paint has dried. The style of decoration remains the same in both mediums. The mukut is shaped in floral and leaf designs and is accompanied by a long breastplate attached to the neck of the figure and allowed to hang down the font of the body. The mukut and breastplate are common on female figures but not on male figures who wear less elaborate headdresses. The artists who make these kinds of ornaments are called malis and their workshops are close to those of the kumars.
Daker saj is made of old bits of newspaper (dak), tinsel and wire. It is difficult to say when daker saj became popular but it is likely that it was during the British period (18th-19th c). The malis who make daker saj had their traditional centres in Calcutta (Kumartuli and Bhowanipur) as well as Krishnanagar in the Nadia district and Dacca in Bangladesh. Solar saj made of pith is white pith taken from the centre of buoyant water reed which is cut into strips and glued together. This is the same pith as used in pith helmets during the British raj. Occasionally entire images are made from sola.
Decorations on the chali and simhasan
The chali and simhasan may be decorated with clay, daker saj or solar saj or painted paper decorations. If clay decorations are used, the they are made from moulds and can take a variety of forms, the most common being a repeated lotus shape around the border of the chali. Painted paper is used to represent lotus petals for those deities shown on a lotus. The simhasan is decorated with a variety of designs. Some artists place their names on a piece of paper on the simhasan as a means of advertising, especially on the larger images used for communal or sarvojanin worship. During festivals the name of the deity is sometimes written on paper and stuck onto the simhasan. The painted backdrop or chalchitra is done by the patua (painter) also known as chitrakar (one who makes paintings). The art of painting the chalchitra is the sole preserve of the patua rather than the kumar. This photograph shows the standard semi-circular frame known as ekchala (ek, one, chala, roof) with paintings of the main gods of the Hindu pantheon and scenes from the epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Central to the frame is the god Shiva, consort of Durga and father to her children.In the case of larger images, chalis are often detachable to allow them to be manoeuvered in and out of buildings more easily. more
Hair
Below: Hair made of jute dyed black is modelled onto the head using strands of waved jute or jute wrapped around a stick to produce ringlets. Female deities have long hair flowing over their shoulders while male deities have shoulder-length wavy hair. The jute hair is either tacked or glued on.
Right: Finished modern style image of the goddess Lakshmi with shola (pith) headdress. The hair is carefully positioned under the headdress so that it flows loose over her shoulders. The wire and tinsel ornamentation is made by the malis who are based in Kumartuli and Krishnanagar as well as other centres thoughout West Bengal. Originally malis would have just made garlands but their art form was adapted with the arrival of new materials during the British period, especially in the 19th c. This became a hereditary occupation of the malakaras or garland makers.