User talk:Bal Jog

Jaipur Blue.

One of the purposes of my visit to Rajasthan was to learn about Jaipur Blue. I had made inquiries from the knowledgeable persons in Pune as to how I should go about it. I had also informed my travel agent about this particular interest of mine and he had promised to help me arrange something. We spent one night at Dundlod Fort Heritage resort where I chanced to meet a very charming and fascinating person in Mr. Ranvir Singh. When I mentiond to him about my interest in ceramics and Jaipur Blue he advised me to meet Shri Kripal Singh in Jaipur. In Jaipur where we were going to spend only 3 days, I happened to visit the Friends of the Museum pavilion at the City Palace Museum. From them I got the address of Shri Kripal Singh. They also advised me to visit someone at DDRC who I was told could give me relevant information. By a stroke of luck I could not meet anyone at DDRC,. I call it a stroke of luck because if I had met anyone over there I would have for ever lost the opportunity of meeting with Mr. Kripal Singh and missed out on this most fabulous story which was to be unraveled to me subsequently. On not meeting anyone at DDRC I went to see Shri. Kripal Singh(whom I am going to refer to as “Papajee” hereinafter). I had heard that he was very old between 85 and 90. On arrival at his Shiv Road residence – cum – everything I was received by this erect, active enthusiastic ‘young’ old man in his late 70s. On revealing to him the purpose of my visit he promised to spare as much time as I wanted. I asked for 3 – 4 hours, which he promised to spare the next morning. He said “While discussing  with you I could learn something of ceramics/pottery.” I promised to teach him some dermatology (which is my true profession) instead ! I really had no inkling of what was in store for me the next morning. I arrived at his place promptly at 0930 hrs. Pappaji was ready and greeted me with the finest cup of tea I had in whole of Rajasthan during my 17 days stay there. He asked me how a Naval Medical officer like me got interested in this field. On telling him about my humble background in Ceramics Pappaji remarked “ You know I am also not a Potter by training or profession”. “ I got into this field by mere accident. My first love has always been and is even today painting”. He was trained in the forties in arts at Shantiniketan. “What is the clay body composition you use in Jaipur Blue” I asked Pappaji naively. “We use no clay in Jaipur Blue” was Pappajee’s stunning reply. Pottery without clay? “We use powdered glass, and pule ka gum and silica” “What is that glue?Is it gum arabica”. “No,no” he said. I realised it must be gum tragacanth and Pappajee confirmed that. Then started his narration of the story of Jaipur Blue and the part he has played in its development. I reproduce it here as much as I recollect it. Subsequently I have requested Pappaji to remove any inaccuracies as well as add any essential facets, which I could not recollect. From ancient times sea or land routes have imported Chinese porcelain to Europe either. In the realm of Shah Abbas II  the Persians on this land trade route thought,”Why not we replace the Chinese imports”. They invited some workers from China.However their efforts at making Porcelain failed miserably, as they had no necessary natural resources. They however were expert in making glass. From the glass manufacture they developed a process whereby they were successful in fashioning articles similar to present Jaipur blue.. They knew the use of a mineral containing Cobalt to make their distinct blues and also other chemicals like copper, manganese and iron etc to impart colours to their ware. (Incidentally the Chinese were not to know the use of cobalt in their glazes for quite sometime till they accidentally discovered their own source of cobalt in the river streams) The wares the Persians made had a distinct blue colour. They used to call their ware nenge meaning hard like (?) stone. These wares especially the tiles were introduced in the Mogul architecture in India. By the time of the rule of Badshah Zafar the Indian potters in Moghul court learnt to fashion articles similar to the Persian ones. After 1857,perhaps when the Iranian craftsmen left, the tradition continued. The noted potter of the time Bhola Kumhar was quite famous at the time. He and his followers continued the tradition for quite a while. The erstwhile Maharana of Jaipur Raja Ram Singhjee was a patron of Arts and Crafts. He thought of introducing this art in his court. He was on the lookout for suitable candidates. At annual kite flying competition he spotted two vagrants Kalu Ram and his colleague Chura Mani who had won the contest. On making inquiries Maharana discovered that these youths belonged to the Potter community (kumhars) Maharana’s offer to send them for training at the Moghul court to learn this art. was gladly accepted by the youthsthe. On their return to Jaipur both these artisans began to fashion articles, which by now came to be known as Jaipur Blue.Their descendants continued to pursue the art. And true to the tradition of the time Kalu Ram and his ilk had ensured that the process was a very closely and jalously guarded secret. This coupled with sloth and disinterest forced this tradition out of Jaipur court and it became near extinct. Come Independence to India by which time Jaipur had two sets of institutions one for pure arts and the other one for crafts including Pottery. Both these were amalgamated into a school of Arts from which eventually the crafts section was omitted altogether. This was known as Sawai Ram Singh Shilpa kala mandir In 1963 Pappajee was appointed as the head of the arts school. About that time Maharani Gayatri Devi of Jaipur while travelling met Ms KamalaDevi Chattopadhyay. They discussed the possibility of reviving the art of Jaipur Blue.Maharani GayatriDevi felt that the only person who could be trusted with this job was Pappajee. But Pappajee was most reluctant to assume this responsibility as he had no inclination nor was he technically equipped to undertake the task. However his friends persuaded him to accept this sinecure and convinced him that after all the head of a project need not be a specialist. Pappajee thus embarked on his mission including that of finding out how this kind of pottry is made. In the Mogul archives he came across a formula unearthed by Lord Baden Powell for making this kind of a ceramic. Predictably this led him on a wrong trail as the author deliberately mentioned the main ingredient as powdered marble. Experiments with this material led to a total failure. He then set upon the descendants of Bhola Ram and kalu Ram which led him to a budhia (Old woman). She knew the ‘secret’ and as there was some dushmani(enmity) between her and Bhola Ram Kalu Ram clan she let out the secret of the main ingredient being a particular kind of a stone, which she used to grind on ordinary grinding stone. She let Pappajee have a sample of the ‘stone’ Papaajee got this material analyzed and was amazed to discover that this was glass! He then set on a trail for the glass that led him to (?) Faiz(a)… bad(pur) from where the budhia used to get her supply of ‘stone’. Budhia obviously did not know the source of the material as a middleman was involved. When Papaajee went to this source he discovered that the glass was actually manufactured elsewhere .The material was bought at a throwaway price and sold at Jaipur at an exorbitant rate. The material and its source thus not only remained a closely guarded secret but also the merchants reaped enormous profits. It eventually transpired that this material was available in truckloads as a waste product of glass making industry at throwaway prices. Today this material is mainly used to make fiberglass. The next in line of the search was the stains mainly blue (and green). The search for the original material led Pappajee’s mission on a visit to Persia. The stains used in Persia were known as sangine for blue and …….for  green. To his amazement he found that Persians extracted these from a mineral similar to the one used in Rajasthan where  the Rajashthani potters for centuries have been using this mineral to decorate the ware with black designs. Further it was discovered that in the employment of the Persian court were a specialist class of artisans known as Al khemiz. They were chemists whose job it was to isolate the components of the mineral to give pure ingredients. Little wonder then at their discovery that the mineral used to give the black effect by Rajasthani potters contained cobalt, iron and manganese which we all know gives us blue, brown and purple effect on oxidation and when combined to give the black. On showing pure cobalt salts the budhia could not make it out as she was not used to see it in this form ! The story of other stain known to Rajasthan potters, as ‘tambda’ is equally fascinating. Pappajee discovered that tambda was obtained from thatheras (coppersmiths). But prima facae he could not make out as to how thatheras made their ‘tambda’. As usual they set up a false trail which led him to the dealers of copper scrap. Back to square one and he discovered that ‘tambda’ was copper oxide recovered from the process of pot making, which was dumped as worthless waste but sold as costly raw material to the artisans! “Tambda’ is the source of green stain After this amazing story of the discovery of the main ingredients the rest of the story of rediscovery of Jaipu r Blue is history. There were a few minor discoveries of other stains accidentally discovered from painter’s palettes or a chance scrap of a stone ground and yielding fascinating stains. Rediscovery of Jaipur Blue was thus a persuit of a reluctant potter. That shows the genius of a man and goes to prove that single-minded purpose can surmount any hurdles. Papajee was awarded the State Award for excellence in Pottery. In 1974 he was conferred Padma Shree by the Govt of India.for his contribution to Art in general and pottery in particular. In 2002 he was conferred the title Shilp Guru by the Govet of India.He has trained a large number of artists in this revived art form and still continues to do so. Originally the term Jaipur Blue was given particularly to the turquoise blue shaded articles. Now it is used, as a generic term to articles made from powdered glass wasteand pule ka gum - tragacanth ( a kind of vegetable glue) and the colour is immaterial – they are basically stains. However the art form has not spread beyond Jaipur; may be perhaps to Jodhpur. The masses of cheap ceramic articles sold on the roadsides all over India as Rajasthan pottery is not manufactured in Rajasthan at all. It is a cheap imitation of Jaipur Blue from cheap materials and manufactured in Khurja in UP.

Materials used in Jaipur Blue Body Waste glass(scraped from walls of glass making furnaces)         150 mesh   100kg Silica                                                                                                                10kg Tragacanth                                                                                                        1kg Sodium sulphate or Papad Khar or Multani Matti                                           ¼ kg

This is used to fashion articles by hand and from press moulds. After drying they are coated with a slip. Slip White glass (inferior glass) ground                                             250 mesh   2.75kg Silica                                                                                                                “ Wheat floor(boiled and sieved)                                                                       “ Glaze Borax                                                                                                             25kg Red lead                                                                                                         25kg White glass (powdered cheap glasses as used in Dhabas)                            50kg Decration with overglaze tints Firing to 850 C in 4 hours – both bisque and glazing.

(Originally written in 1999. Inputs from memory,notes taken during conversation and internet download APNA RAJASTHAN)

Bal Jog (talk) 11:23, 10 September 2010 (UTC)