While the craft is predominant in Bengal, states such as Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh too are centres of the craft. Dokra craft is over 5000-years-old art, and its earliest signs were seen in the sculpture of a dancing girl found in the ruins of Mohenjo Daro. Dokra artists use a very interesting method to cast metal into the craft, a technique that is known as ‘Cire Perdue’. The craft mainly involves creating sculptures of owls, horses, elephants, peacocks, religious images, measuring bowls and lamp caskets etc.

Dokra art may be scattered all over India but the number of artisans working on it is diminishing with time. A recent study by the Handicraft and Handloom Export Corporation of India observes that there are only 57 families in the country who are actively participating in the contribution of Dokra art.

It is unfortunate that this beautiful artwork is facing an obvious decline. The steady increase in the cost of the raw material makes the end products way too expensive to attract enough buyers. Doing our bit in the revival of this beautiful craft, Nirantharaa brings to you one of its finest handcrafted pieces. Beautiful, simple lines of wood from southern India, fabrics from the west and Dhokra figurines handcrafted by craftsmen from the interiors of eastern India, this is a rectangular box-shaped lamp, inspired from the simple life of Indian tribes.