India Post Special Covers on GI Tagged Products: 020. Bidriware

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

020. Bidriware

Bidriware is a metal handicraft from the city of Bidar in Karnataka. The 500 year old art is Persian in origin, but bidriware is purely Indian innovation. This art of engraving and inlaying is handed down by generations and is exclusive to Bidar. The contrast between the black-oxidized background and the shiny silver inlay gives glory and glow to Bidriware.

The origin of bidriware is usually attributed to the Bahamani sultans who ruled Bidar in the 14th–15th centuries. It was first brought to India by noted Sufi Khwaja Moinuddin Hasan Chisti in the form of utensils. The art form developed in the kingdom that was a mix of Turkish, Persian and Arabic influences which were intermingled with the local styles and thus a unique style of its own was born.

Bidriware is made from cast white brass (copper-zinc ratio of 1:16). Bidriware undergoes an eight-stage process: moulding, smoothening by file, designing by chisels, engraving by chisel and hammer, pure silver inlaying, smoothening again, buffing and finally oxidising by soil and ammonium chloride. Bidri artisans blacken their wares using soil obtained from a 15th-century fort in Bidar. They say that in some parts of the fort, the soil does not receive sunlight or rain for years on end, and this gives the soil its desired properties.

The motifs introduced were typically from the fort of Bidar. The Bidri Craft follows both traditional and modern designs. Earlier, bidriware was used for hookahs, paan-holders, and vases but now keepsakes, bowls, earrings, trays, ornament boxes, other jewelry and showpiece items are made from it.