Pottery Magic at Pachdhar Village

'Is it only you who has been making pottery or has it thrived for generations', we asked Laxmi Kant Prajapati. He was quick to respond, 'Yes sir, we have been practicing it for generations'! Laxmi Kant heads one of the 70-odd potter's families living in Pachdhar village off NH-44 near Pench National Park in Madhya Pradesh. This story takes you to Pachdhar village through pictures and videos.

Pachdhar village is shown in blue balloon in the map below. Pench national park is on extreme left in the map.

Who hasn't marvelled seeing a potter's wheel? It creates magic in front of your eyes. And to retain and promote this magic for centuries, the credit goes to the potters living in villages like Pachdhar. They have successfully preserved and promoted India's rich variety of handicrafts. The village is an example of right blend of modernity and tradition. While the pottery is created by hand, the payments are accepted in digital mode. The village has concrete roads and piped water supply. Traditional mud houses are being replaced by cemented structures under a rural housing scheme of the government. Cattle owned by the household are tied in the courtyard. Dung and mud paste is utilised for keeping the floor insect free. Since this village falls in the tribal belt, they are allowed to collect the fallen branches of trees and shrubs for use as fuel. See the video below and notice the wood piled up on the road side. Being close to Pench National Park, the village gets number of tourists as can be seen by the vehicles in the village. Please ignore the background recitation of akhand ramayana (24 hour reading of the Ramayana) in the village temple.

Preserving The Traditional Craft Form

We then met Laxmi Kant Prajapati. He explained that the coarse pottery product is created by the male members of the family. The finer finishing is then done by the ladies. We met her daughter-in-law and asked her how did she pick up the art after marriage. She explained that she also comes from a potter's family in another district and therefore already knew the art. She skillfully packed our purchases in a cardboard carton and even gave a kulhad (earthen ware tumbler) free. No wonder the potters have been able to sustain the traditional art form for centuries. See the video and pictures below.

Here are some more pictures from Laxmi Kant's boutique.

A whole village pursuing the same craft not only for livelihood but also to preserve the knowledge and expertise. This phenomenon is not restricted to Pachdhar village alone. In Odisha, there is a village named Raghurajpur where all 120-odd households practice the art of making Pattachitra paintings. See our video and observe the similarity in the two villages. This video was shot in Nov-22.

As we said in our earlier story titled 'Rural India - Picture of Happiness', Pachdhar village reinforces the point. Do browse the story here, if you haven't.

Since the pottery village is located close to a national Highway as well as the Pench Tiger Reserve, it gets visitors regularly. Influx of wildlife tourists into Pachdhar village reminds Ghumakkad of the Masai Village located close to Serengeti National Park in East Africa. We had visited the village and contributed to its well being besides enjoying a folk dance and purchasing some handicrafts. You may view our story linked below:

The Big Five Live - Takes you to East Africa where wild animals roam in herds of thousands and African Lions can be seen in large prides of as many as 11 lions together!

Pench is a fascinating wildlife destination. The full suite of our stories on Pench is listed below:

Three Masked Men and Four Tigers (coming up)

Jungle Walk at Night - adventure of three 70-year-olds in a jungle in a pitch dark night

Rural India - Picture of Happiness - How the villagers maintain ecological balance while children learn to make handicrafts

Bavanthadi- The picturesque river valley which the Tiger likes (coming up)

Pottery Magic at Pachdhar Village - How the potters sustain centuries-old craft form?

Pench- Where to stay - Camp Gondwana (coming up)

Birds of Pench - Thriving bird life (coming up)

Hope you enjoyed the story and felt empathetic towards our craftsmen from rural India. Do encourage them. Their products are so honestly priced that we didn't have to do any bargaining.

We close with an anonymous quotation which says "Handicrafts are not just crafts, they are our heritage". How true!

Thanks for browsing. More stories of Pench and its surroundings will follow.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with inputs from Animesh and Ashok/ Secunderabad/ 10th Feb 2024

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