Background

Way back in mid eighteenth century, the art of Dokra craftsmanship started in the vicinity of Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh. Basically the Dokra Art is made up of brass. The artisans who have developed this unique form of art were Tribal. Dokra has reached its pinnacle of glory in the mid nineteenth century due to royal patronage. Starting from temple carving to religious idols to exquisite animal figures were very much popular royal artwork. The industry faced its low ebb at the outset of Second World War. After the war there arose a tremendous scarcity of raw materials as well as the patrons of this form of art This led the virtual extinction of the art . They became a mat-less people. They started moving from one place to another. They used to stay a particular area until the demands of their work become saturated and used to move some other places for a greener pasture. In this way they moved to one place to another depending upon the demand of their work. Their only weapon is Dokra to earn their livelihood. In this way somehow they came to West Bengal. 

At first they maintained their livelihood through repairing household utensils by applying their age old skill in welding which was the most critical part of their artwork. By and by they settled themselves by means of odd jobs and ultimately banked upon their age old art work in making small utensils. Gradually they started making their mother items as well as they reflected their daily lives through this form of art.

After independence they drew the attention of West Bengal Government. In the year 1962 West Bengal Government allotted some land (nearly 4 bigha) for them where they built there mud houses and started to live permanently. To build up the houses government donated some money for them.

Raw materials for making Dokra items

  Brass     Wax     Oil     Dhuna    Clay    Small furnace

Steps in making Dokra

  first they make a mould by clay according to the shape of the item to be made
  to make the carving work on the product they prepare a mixture with wax, oil and
   Dhuna. It looks black and is very soft. With this mixture they make designs on the
   base clay mould
  Again they put a outer cover on the base mould made of sand and clay
  Now the entire thing is kept in a pot filled with brass. Then it is put in furnace at a high
   temperature in order to facilitate the molten brass in the mould having a small hole to
   take the desired shape
  Finally the figure is cleaned and polished