Bora- The block makers village

The experience recounted by Swagata Ghosh -

“One early morning, Chitra and I set off to the block makers’ village near Serampore. Sushanto Maity of Hastashilpa was our guide for this journey. Serampore is about 25 kms from Kolkata to the North, on the west bank of the Hooghly and is one of the few places in India that was colonized by Denmark from 1756 to 1845 and was earlier known as Fredericknagore which was subsequently sold to the British. The town shot into fame with the educational activities of the English Missionaries William Carey, Joshua Marshman and William Ward. Serampore College was founded by Carey where the first bengali newspaper “Samachar Darpan" was published and on the display of the museum attached to the College are copies of various bibles and Bengali books translated by Carey and printed here. Also on the display is the Royal Charter from Denmark of 1827 that granted university status to the College long before the University of Calcutta was established.
Serampore has developed into a major business and trade centre in the Hoogly district.

We had wanted to develop some new block designs for quite some time now. Above all, our aim was to revive some of the old traditional ones as well as some designs picked up at Varanasi.  Nabagram in Serampore has a well established block/screen printing cottage industry and I was sure of finding one or two good block cutters there. Although I was introduced to some of them, I was not entirely satisfied with the quality of their work and then it was Sushanto who mentioned about the block cutters’ village named Bora to us.

Bylanes of Bora
Bora is about 15 kms from Serampore, off GT Road. At first it appeared to be like any other typical Bengal village, not quite awake after a hot and humid night. As we walked down the brick road after Sushanto, curious eyes of the women doing their household chores followed us and one of them could not help ask as to whose house we were visiting.
We stopped at one of the clay and tiled houses and were warmly welcomed by the lady of the house although we had arrived without any warning.

Akhbar Da
Akhbar Da, the master craftsman was busy in the cowshed and arrived in a little while. Akhbar is in his early seventies, though he looks older with his weathered and wrinkled face. He owns some land that where he does a bit of farming but has been cutting blocks for as long as he can remember. He learned the craft from his father. However, Akhbar is a little disappointed that his own son has never shown any interest in block making. He is a graduate and now takes care of the farming. Akhbar insisted that we come inside the house and sit down for a chat.

The Onion Ceiling
Little did we know what a surprise was in store for us! As we stepped into the small clay room, our eyes were attracted by the ceiling, which was entirely made up of onions!! I had never seen something like this and neither had Chitra.
It was explained to us, that this year there was a bumper crop of onions and they had no place to store them. Therefore, they had removed the false ceiling in the rooms and hung up the onions after tying them up in bunches. Here it will be allowed to dry and as onions do not attract insects or rodents, there was no problem and as it absorbs heat, it’s a natural cooler for the room!!

The selection of design for the block
After a while, we got down to actual work. We showed him the drawings (the designs to be etched on the blocks) and he discussed each one of them. There was one which had very small flowers in it. He pointed out that this would be difficult to develop as the design will not be ‘born’- “janmabe na” were the words he used.  So he would have to make certain changes to ensure that the design takes proper form and we would have to accept these changes. Akhbar discussed in detail about the end look that we required as well as the fabric that we planned to use since the cutting of the block will depend on this information. He explained to us the technicalities related to why we should not use a block meant for fine silk to print cotton and vice versa. He realized that for commercial purpose no one followed this rules, but then the end result is often not perfect. He also rued the fact that most block makers in his village and elsewhere made the blocks without following the rules and worked with only commercial interest. Most of them could not  even match repeats perfectly.

Akhbar Da’s work space
When we requested to visit his workshop we were directed to go around the house and come in through the cowshed entrance. Here in a little 3x3ft space, sitting close to his beloved cows, Akhbar da sat with his pieces of wood and his chisels, cutting out the most beautiful blocks with immense care and patience.  
Tools for block making

He explained to us how the design is transferred on to the wood, how each colour has to be aligned and how each repeat has to be matched.
When we got to the business aspect of our conversation about deliveries and payments, he gave us an approximate date and told us that we will have to pay cash when we collect the blocks. He refused to accept a purchase order or put his signature on any paper. Nor were we to follow him up every other day as he did not use a mobile or a phone. We accepted his terms and conditions and took our leave, promising to check back with him after 2 weeks.

The Green & White Mosque
As we walked back to the main road, we passed a lovely green and white mosque, with carved wood doors. My mind went back to the beautiful carved wood cornices, friezes as well as the pillars and door fames that can be seen even today in some of the village homes in Hooghly and Birbhum. There is an excellent example of this woodcarving in a durga dalan in Antpur. We came across some exquisite examples of carved wood cornices and beams in a village called Kuchut Doltala in Hooghly district:

Gurusaday Dutt says in his article on wood sculpture-

This wood sculpture is the work of the carpenters or sutradhars of rural Bengal, whose craftsmanship was widely utilized through countless centuries and formed an important cultural asset to the province. The disorganization of village economy, the vulgarization of taste in matters of art that accompanies the development of industrialism, the replacement of wood by brick as building material as well as motives of economy have put a discount on the use of their services, and as a result the old race of the master wood sculptors of Bengal is rapidly becoming extinct. Due to climactic conditions, most of the woodworks of Bengal have been destroyed or have fallen into decay. The only extant pieces are found in the rathas, thrones (simhasanas), door-jambs and in the various wooden objects attached to thatched cottages. The sutradhars generally use the wood of the sal, teak, or jack-fruit trees for their purpose. Although the motifs in the woodworks are drawn both from the animal and vegetable worlds and are mostly of a secular character, mythological subjects are generally represented in door jambs.”

‘Crafts of Bengal’: The collected Papers by Gurusaday Dutt.

As the printing of textiles in Bengal is quite recent, starting around the mid 20th century, wood block makers like Akhbar must have had their ancestors in the sutradhars of yore. Who carved these friezes and ceilings? Akhbar the block maker is perhaps that last of his generation to “give birth” to designs in wood.