Silver Filigree Bhubaneswar
Of
all
the handicrafts of Orissa the most unique and the
finest, in fact the queen among them, is silver
filigree, locally called tarakasi. The
craft is localised at Cuttack town and a few
villages in Cuttack district. The process consists
of drawing silver through a series of consecutively
smaller holes to produce fine strands of wire. These
wires are then made into various shapes by deft
hands of the craftsmen by bending them into
different designs and soldering them with pincer and
scissors.Silver used by the artisans is usually of
high purity often exceeding ninety per cent.
Items
manufactured cover a wide range though they can be
broadly divided into a few categories. First, we
have the ornaments for the ladies which include
necklaces, brooches, ear pendants, anklets, hair
pins, decorative key rings and bangles etc. We also
have a few ornamental items for men like tie pins
and cufflinks. Next we have the decorative items
like boats or boita, replicas of temples,
horses, elephants and other animals and chariots
besides a variety of other items. Lastly, we have
utility items like plates, cups, bowls, glasses
mascara containers, indigenous spoon called
belas for feeding milk to young children,
incense containers, vermilion containers and ladies
handbags. Though the above lists are fairly
comprehensive they do not indicate the myriad
varieties one can find for each item.
The
silver filigree and other silver items have, like
other handicrafts, a very important socio-cultural
function. The child's first solid food, usually a
sweet dish of rice, kheer, is served in a silver
bowl and the elder specially grand-parents take
pride in presenting the silver bowl for this
function known as anna prasana. Like brass and bell
metal items the bride is also usually presented a
set of silver dishes which is reserved for offering
food to the deities during religious festivals. Many
temples have a set of silver ornaments for the
presiding deities including silver crowns which are
used on ceremonial occasions. Silver filigree has
been an important export items of Orissa from
ancient times and has been a symbol of the dizzy
heights of excellence reached by Orissa's craftsmen.