Uttarakhand Tamta Product are basically hand beaten copper utensils and other products made from three major districts Almora, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh. Indeed, the word Tamta means Copper as a metal and the products are well-known for their medicinal and curative properties. Several items of everyday use are thus still traditionally fashioned out of Tamta and are used prolifically in the villages and urban areas in whole Uttarakhand since generations.
Five hundred years ago, the Tamtas (artisans who are making these Tamta products in Uttarakhand) were coin makers for the royal treasury of the Chand dynasty in Kumaon. After the Chand dynasty’s reign, which began declining in 1744 and ended in 1816, the Tamtas started making Tamta utensils and decorative items at Tamta mohalla (colony) in Almora.
Water – if kept for some time like overnight in Tamta vessels is supposed to absorb the medicinal properties of the Tamta. Tamta surahis (traditional, jug-like vessels, with spouted mouths), glasses, and flat-bottomed traditional water containers called lotas are common products.
Plates and bowls for everyday use are also made of Tamta. Vessels in which the metal has a low gauge are used for cooking – most frequently, they are used to cook those foods that require sustained low heat. Storage jars, vases, and diyas (lamps) are also made by the Tamtas
Image credit: nabard.org
The utensils and traditional products are beautifully embellished with embossed work. The motifs include zig-zag patterns, leaf, flower and straight line patterns. Heavy elaborated work depicting flowers, petals, curved stems creepers and images of deities.
Few traditional motifs like small circular dots are made on the outer surface of the product by beating with hammer, the beating also helps to make base of the product strong. The dot pattern products are well known traditional products right from ancient days all over India and still continued.
The basic raw materials used are sheets of Tamta (copper) or patches made from melted scrap. The sheets are of varying thickness, with thickness being measured in gauges; the higher the number of the gauge, the thicker the sheet.
The process is basically that of beaten metal-work, in which the metal is beaten into the required shape. A wooden hammer is used while shaping the metal and a much heavier iron hammer is used for processes that involve sizing, like increasing the size of a strip.
A lot of the items, especially the smaller ones are worked from a single piece of the metal. Jointing, however, makes the work simpler. The sheer time and craftsmanship required in making a single-piece item makes the end product very expensive.
The joint is made with a combination of brass and zinc, which is melted in an earth-kiln fire and is then mixed with Suhaga – a white, grainy powder that is bought in the market, and is commonly used by goldsmiths. The joint can be taken apart by craftsperson’s only by heating the metal at the joint and then beating it.
The design element is introduced using a Sunni or Iron rod, on which force is applied with a Hammer. The finished product after jointing is washed with acid or placed in heated grain heaps; the hot piece is covered with chaff. When the object is removed from the slowly cooling chaff, the metal is seen to have acquired luster. Besides specific motifs, a pattern of small squares is impressed all over the piece by hand-beating using a hammer.
Tamta products are also used as ritual objects during festive and ceremonial occasions. The traditional objects like idols of deities, Kalash (holy pot), Ghagars (pitchers), Diyas (Tamta lamps), vases, and spoons are made for worshipping purposes.
GI Tag Registration Date : 14 September 2021
GI Tag Number : 653
Certificate Number : 392
Geographical Area : Uttarakhand
Special Cover Release Date : 28 November 2021
Cancellation : Dehradun 248 001
Type : GI Tag Cover
Cover Identification Number : UK/09/2021-2022
Enlarged View of Illustration
Enlarged View of Cancellation
Back Side Scan
No comments:
Post a Comment