Diwali Lamps Bring Hope As Kashmiri Youth Revives The Craft Of Dal Gate Pottery In The Valley

Glazed pottery, also known as Dal Gate pottery, is a traditional craft that has been practised in Kashmir for years. Over 500 families were involved in this craft and used to bring to the market glazed tiles, tablewares, vases, and other artistic products. However, very few people carried it along in the next generations.

Among those few who did, are the graduates Mohammad Umar and Kumar. Apart from keeping the pottery market alive with their products, they have been slowly reviving the industry by teaching the art to the youth of the valley.

Festivities Brings In Demand For The Art

With the Diwali celebrations nearing, a few artisans like Kumar and Umar have been busy with the mass orders for "diyas" (earthen lamps).

Kumar, a 27-year-old commerce graduate from Nishat, says that it is challenging to revive the age-old-craft, but he is looking forward to bringing it back to the valley. With a recent order from a dealer in Kulgam district for about 15,000 lamps for Diwali, his business is slowly looking up. It has brought up hopes of reviving the art form as well as monetise out of it.

While the deadline to have them delivered to the market is short, he has not rushed into creating substandard products and has been taking his time to make sure that every final product has the artistic finish.

Each product reaches the market after a long process of moulding the lamps on the wheels, drying, clay firing, and adding the final touch. A report by the FirstPost quoted him saying, "This is an art. I have to make sure the product is absolutely fine".

Bringing In Families To Revive The Culture

Pottery has been an inevitable part of the Kashmiri culture for a long time, and now has less than 50 families engaged in the craft. Speaking about this, Kumar said, "I am trying my best to involve more families and while I have succeeded in bringing back six of them, it is a tough challenge".

Kumar had made it to the news earlier as well for his efforts to teach the skill to the youth. He himself had learned the art from an octogenarian and is now doing his bit into translating it to the coming generations.

However, he feels that with added support from governmental bodies, the art form could go to much bigger heights and help a community grow. His family has also been a part of the artistic community for years, but they were only able to venture into a wider market after Kumar's efforts to revive the craft.

Now they have been manufacturing a whole lot of items with a glaze that Kumar prepares himself using waste glass, lead in used battery cells and powdered waste copper metal. These items are then sold at their family shop around the Hazratbal area of the city.

Having been involved in the field for quite a while now, Kumar says that there is a growing demand in the market for glazed pottery, but very few people are involved in its crafting. On some days the demand is too huge to be met by the existing artisans as well.

Kumar, however, hopes that once the art form is restored to how it was in the yesteryears, at least one pottery item will grace every house in the Kashmir valley and beyond.

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