58 year old Ashis Malakar comes from a traditional family of shola artisans, three generations of whom have won national awards. Steeped in the shola crafting tradition since his childhood, and honing his skills under the guidance of his father and grandmother, Ashis received the National award in 1990 at the young age of 22. His father, the late Aditya Malakar and his paternal grandmother, Katyayani Malakar received national awards in 1974 and 1979 respectively.
Shola craft of the Malakar community in the days of yore was limited to ritual needs (primarily in the worship of Manasha in North Bengal), ornaments for worship, such as chandmalas and kadam flowers, headdresses for the bride and groom (topor and mukut) and shola hats popular during the British Raj. Ashis’s father, Aditya, initially used to sell these traditional shola artefacts along with daaker shaj for Durga idols, out of a shop near Kumartuli in Kolkata, set up by the latter’s father, Mrityunjoy. The silver foil that was used to decorate the clay image of Durga, was received by daak (post) from Germany and hence the name. The Daaker Shaaj ornamentation was greatly favoured by royals and the affluent landowning families or rich merchants and traders who had settled in Kolkata. However, once WWII broke out, imports stopped and supplies ran dry, leading to a scarcity of the delicate silver foil. With their sustainability impacted, shola artisans scrambled to find alternatives.
According to Ashis, it was his father who first started crafting shola ornamentation as an indigenous alternative to silver foil. Aditya and his widowed mother experimented with using shola motifs pasted on khadi. His efforts were well received by the prominent families of Kolkata who celebrated Durga Puja lavishly. Other shola artisans followed suit and the easily accessible shola soon became the medium of choice for Durga’s décor. There has been no looking back since for his family, Ashis tells us with pride.
Shola sculptures too were first popularised by his father, claims Ashis. Inspired by an image of the goddess Jagaddhatri he was decorating in Chandanagar, Aditya sculpted a two feet high model of the goddess which went on to win him the national award in 1974.
Ashis’ training began when he was twelve. His famous father who had been recognized as a Shilp-Guru by the government by then, started teaching at training programmes at the behest of the District Industries Centre (DIC) of Bardhaman. Ashis was an apt pupil and thanks to the in-depth training he continued to receive at home and the skills that he had obviously inherited, he became an artist in his own right by the time he was seventeen. He began to work side by side with his father on the innumerable orders and commissions that the latter received. This included a 22 inch replica of the 260 ft Virupaksha temple in South India, complete with carvings of human figures on its facade. This was exhibited at the India Festival. A 9 feet high Singha-Bahini form of Durga followed, again created by father and son. Both these masterpieces have been on display at prominent government centres in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, within a few years of his having received the National Award, Ashis was selected as a master trainer by the Council of Computer Education Research and Training. He travelled across India training thousands of students at CCERT workshops. In his own state and more particularly in his own village, he has trained hundreds of students, including those from traditional shola craft families under programmes spearheaded by the DC Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India. In his village, at least 25 students whom he had trained, continue to uphold the craft.
Ashis has participated in major fairs and exhibitions across India. His outstanding work has also taken him around the globe - to countries like Singapore, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Guyana, Italy, Scotland and Norway. Within his state, he seems to be unstoppable – carving an 18 feet Durga idol for a local puja at Asansol in 2016, and later, a 26 feet’ tall Jagadhhatri for a puja in Chandanagar.
Ashis lost his father in 2012, but thanks to the wealth of experience and superb skills he had attained, he continued to keep the flag flying. His mastery over his craft has ensured the widespread demand for his work. He has also trained his son and his wife, both of whom have received state awards. It is his dearest wish and fervent hope that he should be around to impart his skills to his grandson, who is currently a one-year old toddler.
Work is heaviest before the pujas with all the orders for idol decorations being catered to. Except for this season, when he hires additional artisans to work alongside him, for the rest of the year, it is only he and his family members – his wife, son and daughter in law etc who work together in quiet harmony.
Ashis rues the fact that the rampant destruction of wetlands and deforestation in the name of development is adversely affecting the growth of the plant by destroying its natural habitat. This has led to a huge increase in the price of raw material. Ashis now sources his raw material from the wetlands along the Nadia-Bangladesh border.
Today, Ashis’ craft has evolved and he has successfully used shola on items of home décor – resulting in beautiful table lamps and wall hangings. But his traditional work and his sculptures continue unhindered, alongside. The piece that gives him the greatest joy is a 22”x 26” inch model of Durga and her family, replete with drummers and a priest in the foreground. Truly a magnificent work of art!