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Kumartuli, the nerve centre of the clay idol-makers of West Bengal, is home and workshop to more than one hundred and fifty families of clay model-makers. Criss-crossed by a maze of narrow gullies men, women, children and images of gods and goddesses, alike, have to find their way out through these dingy lanes.

Kumartuli the clay model-makers haven, is older than Calcutta, which grew out of three little villages, viz., Gobindapore, Kalikutta and Sutanooti way back in 1690. The history of the Kumartuli potter can be traced back to Krishnanagar in South Bengal. To begin with, near about the middle of the seventeenth century, potters in search of better livelihood came from Krishnanagar to Gobindapore, a prosperous village on the banks of the river Bhagirathi (now the River Hooghly), to eke out a living by making earthen ware pots, clay toys and cooking utensils for household use. When the land at Gobindapore was required by the British East India company for building Fort William, the inhabitants migrated further up the river to Sutanooti. The potters moved in to their new destination, colonized a vast area and named it Kumartuli, the term "Kumar" meaning a potter and "tuli" a locality. The Bengal Consultations, a journal of 1707 AD, gives an account of the presence of Kumars who occupied 75 acres of land in Sutanooti, which is a constituent part of present day north Calcutta.

The Durga Puja festival in autumn was an annual event in the homes of wealthy aristocrats. Potters came all the way from Krishnanagar, braving the perils of a river voyage, to mould the images of the gods and goddesses for the Durga Puja festival. By about the end of the eighteenth century, as the ways of the rich inspired the commoner, the annual worship of goddess Durga gained popularity. In 1790, as recorded in the Friend of India (now The Statesman), a dozen Brahmins formed the first ever committee to celebrate Durga Puja in Calcutta. They collected money in the form of a punitive tax (subscription), had the image of the deity made at Kumartuli and organized the first ever community Durga Puja festival. As the trend caught on, making images of gods and goddesses became a lucrative livelihood for the potter-turned-artisan.

Just where history ends and legend begins no one is quite sure. Kumartuli's clay model-makers claim their descent from people who made images of Durga for Maharaja Krishna Chandra of Krishnanagar. However, many historians are of the opinion that the ancestors of the artisans were potters who had drifted in during the days of the Raj but the power of legend still overwhelms the ordinary visitor.

Kumartuli, densely populated, is a hive of activity from June to the end of January as artisans get busy making scores of images for the annual autumnal festival. A potters colony ever since its inception and a model-makers haven now, it is the home of the finest clay-artisans in India.

Nearly eighty per cent of the community puja images in Calcutta are made at Kumartuli by lesser known artisans, who strive to make something new and innovative in their sphere of endeavour.
Making an image of a deity is a routine affair for an artisan at Kumartuli and they seldom use tools. To begin with, a skeleton of the figure is made first with small wooden planks and strips of bamboo. It stands on a wooden pedestal. The deity is roughly shaped with straw and tied with jute strands. It is one of the most significant steps in the art of clay model-making, as the final shape of the image depends on how well the straw dummy is conceived. A thick coating of blackish clay, mixed with rice husk is applied over the dummy. It is left to dry for a couple of days in the sun. A compound of sand-clay and jute fibre is smeared over the first coating and the surface is smoothed with a piece of wet cloth.

source :India profile

 Inside an artisans Studio | Kumortuli

http://www.flickr.com/photos/anirbanbrahma/3729175249/

The neighbourhood of Kumartuli is well known for its traditional image-makers and potters (kumors). Kolkata celebrates the Durga Puja over a period of four to five days when the city is inundated with crowds of merry-makers out to visit the different places where the Puja festivals are held. The potters, who are traditionally skilled at making earthenware and clay images, are commissioned with the largest amount of orders for making the clay idols of goddess Durga slaying the demon, Mahisasura, a battle representing the triumph of good over evil, and her four children.

The scene at Kumartoli a month before the Pujas in September or October, is that of a huge studio with people busy in making the larger than life clay images. Fascinated by this annual event engaging an entire neighbourhood of skilled artisans, many photographers often visit the area to record the event. At various stages of image-making, one can observe how clay is used over bamboo and hay structures supporting the body of a statue, how they are then left to solidify and in the end coloured with layers of white paint, followed by more natural colours, and finally dressed in real clothes to look like the gods and goddesses they are supposed to represent.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sudipmolekule/2878404553/

Goddess Durga

In Hinduism, Durga (Sanskrit: "the inaccessible" or "the invincible") or Maa Durga (Mother Durga) is a form of Devi, the supreme goddess. Goddess Durga is considered by Hindus to be the mother of Ganesha, and Kartikeya. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Shiva's wife, goddess Parvati.

Durga is depicted as a warrior aspect of Devi Parvati with 10 arms who rides a lion or a tiger, carries weapons and assumes mudras, or symbolic hand gestures. This form of the Goddess is the embodiment of feminine and creative energy (Shakti).

কুমোরটুলী) is a traditionally potters’ quarter in northern Kolkata (previously known as Calcutta), the capital of the east Indian state of West Bengal. By virtue of their artistic productions these potters have moved from obscurity to prominence. This Kolkata neighbourhood, not only supplies clay idols of Hindu gods and goddesses to barowari pujas in Kolkata and its neighbourhoods, but a number of idols are exported.

Ramayana, Hanuman, Durga, Vishnu, Brahma, Shiva, Kali, Ram, Sita, Lakshmi, Saraswati.

Ramayana-- 羅摩衍那，這是印度最重要的兩部史詩之一，內容在講王子羅摩與魔王之間的打鬥。

Hanuman-- 哈奴曼，這是印度的猴神，也出現在羅摩衍那史詩中，哈奴曼神通廣大，最後幫助羅摩王子打敗魔王，聽說中國的孫武空的由來與哈奴曼有關。

Durga-- 杜爾嘉，印度重要的女神，外貌非常恐怖，手上拿著標槍、三叉戟，也是濕婆神的太太之一。

Vishnu-- 昆婆奴，印度三大主神之一，是保護宇宙之神，有十個化身，主要的工作就是保護宇宙不要被人類破壞。

Brahma-- 梵天，印度三大主神之一，是宇宙創造之神

Shiva-- 濕婆，印度三大主神之一，是宇宙破壞之神

Kali-- 卡莉，印度重要的女神，是濕婆的太太，在印度受到很大的歡迎，但祂的外貌也是非常可怖。

Ram(？)-- 應該是Rama吧，rama是羅摩衍那裡的主角羅摩王子，他與太太弟弟在森林裡放逐的時候，太太被魔王捉走，最後得到哈奴曼的幫忙救回太太西達。

Sita-- 西達，羅摩王子的太太，她被魔王捉走，才引起羅摩與魔王之間的戰鬥

Lakshmi-- 昆濕奴的太太，在印度教裡代表慈悲、繁榮、美麗等的印度女神。

Saraswati-- 在印度教裡代表創造、藝術、音樂、知識的女神，聽說禮拜這位女神可以幫助學生考試通過，所以有點像我們的文昌帝君。