Terracotta plaques with hand-moulded, hollow relief imagery have been made by hereditary potters in Molela, a village in Rajasthan in northwestern India, since perhaps the seventeenth century. Featuring Hindu and folk deities or everyday scenes, Molela terracotta plaques serve as votives, religious icons, and decorative wall panels.

Background

Molela’s terracotta artisans belong to the Kumhar (‘potter’) caste and trace their ancestry to Nadol in Pali district to the north, and further back to Abu near the present-day Gujarat border. They are thought to have lived and worked, making everyday earthenware items, in nearby Bagol until the seventeenth century. According to local legend a blind potter received divine instruction from the tribal deity Dharmaraja to shape an icon using clay dug from Molela, and regained his vision after doing so. This is believed to have prompted the potters to move to Molela, in the present-day district of Rajsamand, and begin making the plaques; Dharmaraja astride a horse and holding a spear and a lotus continues to be a popular Molela clay icon. 

Historically various communities of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat — particularly the Bhil — as well as the Gujjar of northwest India, have purchased Molela plaques as votives. This is done at specific times of the year, with the help of bhopa or priests who advise buyers on matters such as the auspicious time and choice of deity. For votive plaques, the artisans were traditionally paid in kind with items such as grains or clothing; they have historically practised agriculture during other times of the year to sustain themselves. Today Molela terracotta plaques are also sold to urban clientele as decorative wall hangings, and have been commissioned for public spaces, such as the Udaipur railway station.

Iconography

The deities on the plaques range from widely worshipped Hindu deities, such as Chamunda, Kali, Durga, and Ganesha, to more regional cult divinities, such as Nagadeva. As in the region’s Phad scroll painting tradition, folk heroes from local legends also feature prominently, such as Devnarayan, Tejaji, Pabuji, Gora Bhairav, Kala Bhairav, and Panchmukhi. More contemporary Molela imagery also includes scenes from rural life, wedding processions, and other secular themes that have broadened the appeal of the craft and provided artisans with more opportunities besides the seasonal demand for ritual plaques.

Materials and process

The clay used for Molela terracotta products is a mix of the coarse black nada clay and the finer grey alu clay found in the bed of the nearby Banas River and local ponds, from where it is typically collected during the monsoon when it is most abundant. The fine sifted clay is then mixed with vegetable gum, wheat or maize chaff, and donkey dung — the latter lends strength and helps disperse heat during the firing. This mixture is kneaded into a smooth, homogenous paste using the hands and feet, and spread flat on the floor using a heavy stone implement called pindi, to make the base of the plaque — about 1.5 centimetres thick — known as thaal. This is smoothened with a club-like wooden tool called patiya and cut to a square or rectangle of the right size using a chisel-like metal tool called bhaladi. More clay is rolled into lengths and applied as a tubular raised border, called doli, along the edges of the thaal. Plaques vary widely in size; they range from 10 to 75 centimetres tall, and sometimes larger.

Within this frame, the figures and motifs are built up in high relief using additional layers of clay that are hand-shaped using various techniques and applied to the base — keeping one hand under to ensure that the forms are hollow. Besides reducing the weight of the piece, this allows for even heat distribution during firing, minimising cracking. Between the addition of layers, the piece is allowed to dry partially to prevent the forms from collapsing. When creating deities, the torso is created before the face and limbs. Details are added later by applying small pieces of shaped and stamped clay, as well as by making incised patterns and holes using the pointed back of the bhaladi. The finished piece is sun-dried for up to a week or a fortnight, depending on the weather. The moulding is usually done in the monsoon, when the humidity in the air helps reduce cracking in the clay. 

The dried plaques are fired in a circular brick wood-fire kiln called awara, often shared by the community. The plaques are stacked in the kiln over cow dung cakes and firewood — typically babool (Acacia nilotica) — on specially built terracotta supports called gher. Gher are made using the rougher clay, by throwing on the wheel and then beating into the appropriate shape. The plaques are fired at about 900º C for four hours, with the artisans visually estimating the temperature by the height of the flame, and maintaining it with a regular input of firewood and wood shavings. After the kiln cools the plaques are removed and any cracks repaired — glue and water is used for the finer cracks, and a paste of powdered terracotta and glue is used to fill larger gaps. Finally a coat of powdered terracotta mixed with water is applied over the entire surface. 

The plaques are either sold with this terracotta finish or painted according to the buyer’s preference. Paints are traditionally made from plant and mineral sources in a medium of gum arabic — red, green, yellow, blue, white and black are generally used — and applied with a donkey-hair brush. The final step involves applying a coat of jala, a specially made lacquer of vegetable gum and either ghee or linseed oil, that imparts a protective sheen to the surface. While the lacquer is still wet, thin silver foil may be applied to embellish parts of the plaque. 

Contemporary context

Besides the seasonal demand for their products, Molela artisans are heavily reliant on exhibitions, fairs and middlemen to sell their products, often resulting in low returns and inconsistent income; the demand has also declined significantly in recent years. In particular, the terracottas face competition from cement and plaster imitations. Additionally, competition and mistrust among artisans is thought to have hindered the formation of a unified commercial association that could protect and lobby for their collective interests. While the government has offered Artisan Identity Cards, concessional loan schemes, and a proposal to establish Common Facility Centres, implementation has been hampered by bureaucratic hurdles, lack of awareness among artisans, and the lack of an organised body of stakeholders. Molela terracotta was awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2008; however, the benefit to the artisans appears to have been little so far, owing to the prevalent challenges. 

The 2012 Padma Shri awardee master artisan Mohanlal Chaturbhuj Kumar, along with his sons Rajendra and Dinesh, founded the Mohan Terracotta Art Research & Development Centre in Molela to train young artisans and guide innovation within the craft. He, along with Jamnalal Kumhar, was commissioned to make the large Molela terracotta mural that covers a facade of the Udaipur railway station.