Mahtain (Satna), Madhya Pradesh

Remember your childhood when you would shape animals, birds, figurines… while playing with mud and water? Diwali was a perfect time to also try hands at making diyas (earthen lamps) and clay idols. Imagination would run riot as your tiny fingers squished the mud between them and created different shapes. 

Amal Majhi was no different. He would make horses and elephants with mud as a child. But the 48-year-old’s love for creating endured and today, his handcrafted artefacts are not just well known in the country but have also travelled to Australia, Dubai and the United States of America.

Majhi travelled to several places in Haryana and Rajasthan and also spent time in Kolkata, West Bengal, learning the art forms unique to those places. But has now returned to his native village Mahtain in Satna district, 48 kilometres away from the district headquarters, where he is busy making diyas for Diwali.    

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“I was always dabbling in art and have often been caned in school for doodling instead of studying,” laughed Majhi. “But the love for art never left me and I am still at it,” he told Gaon Connection. 

Majhi’s childhood love and talent for making clay artefacts continued to grow and it was no surprise to anyone that it became his profession and livelihood.  

The journey

“In 1996, after I completed my tenth, I moved to Delhi,” Majhi recalled. There, he honed his skill further and learnt different techniques used in Egyptian art, Mughal art, and so on. “Before that I even made film posters,” the artisan shared. 

“The core of my art was from what I had learnt in my village,” continued Majhi.  “But I had to hone it and add value to it so that I could make it into a source of livelihood,” he added. 

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Majhi spent eight years in Delhi running his art business, but the call of his village and the fact that his parents were ageing, made him return to his roots.  

“I handed over my Delhi business to my younger brother and returned to Mahtain in 2013,” the 48-year-old said.  

The mud for Majhi’s diyas come from the villages surrounding his. He also makes flower pots from the same mud. “The mud which I bring from Masnaha, Pahadiya and Singhpur and other villages, are different in texture from each other. I get about a hundred and twenty quintals of mud at a time,” he said. 

Majhi adds about 1,500 litres of water to the mud and mixes the two in a machine till the mixture is nicely incorporated. After this the mixture is put through a sieve to remove impurities. “It is only after this process that I start to make my creations,” Majhi explained.

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While the demand for his craft is seasonal, Majhi said he made about Rs 300,000 to Rs 400,000 in a year from it. “I don’t worry too much about the money because I know there are some genuine lovers of my craft,” Majhi smiled. 

“Diwali is here and so I am making diyas and I should earn about sixty to seventy thousand rupees from them,” he said.  

The diyas that he is making for the festive season, Majhi said cost Rs 2 per piece. “The designer ones are a little more expensive and sell at Rs 5,” he said. His flower pots are priced at Rs 600 a piece. 

Read the story in Hindi