Heritage of Handicrafts from All around India

The crafts of India are diverse, rich in history and religion. The craft of each state in India reflects the influence of different empires. Throughout centuries, crafts have been embedded in a culture and tradition with rural communities. In today’s article, we are going to be talking about the various handicrafts in India and the history of it. But before that what does handicraft exactly mean?

Handicraft is an activity involving the making of decorative domestic or other objects by hand, basically the traditional handicrafts of a region. It is sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade. Metal crafts include metal work using zinc, copper, brass, silver, gold. Some of the traditional ancient handicraft styles are bidriware, pembarthi metal craft, dhokra, kamrupi.

For many years, the Indian handicrafts have been hidden behind all the big MNCs. They had no markets except for the tourists in India. But recently the handicraft ecommerce website has given them a market to sell their handicrafts directly to the customers and with prices that they seem fit for their hard work. These sites bring you crafts from different states in India, listed below:

  1. Crafts of Bihar- bringing madhubani and bhagalpuri paintings and the extraordinary delicacy of quilting.
  2. Crafts of Rajasthan- bringing fabrics embellished with mirror embroidery and wooden beading once dyed. Also, tie-dyeing is an example of fashion deep rooted in the heritage of Rajasthan.
  3. Crafts of Gujrat- bordering with Rajasthan, they share similar heritage background. They are known for the textile production. They are best known for their bandhani.
  4. Crafts of Assam- the eastern region of India is also famous for its crafts. Muga silk produced in Assam is very famous.
  5. Crafts of South India- the region has seen rulers of Mughal, Portuguese, Dutch, French and British. Each has had an effect on the traditional crafts of this region. The temple carvings and famous silk of south are something they are most famous for.

The crafts of India have been valued at the time, their existence today proves the efforts put into their preservation. Contemporary designs in our country have always shown designs inspired with traditional crafts. Also, there are educational institutes that include education of traditional crafts in their course curriculum to maintain this culture.

With the help of technology now, theses crafts are not only be preserved but also being made available on the online websites. Now if you wish to buy a south Indian silk or a Rajasthani dupatta, you don’t have to travel all the way along. One could simply look for Indian crafts online and would get many options that one would like to purchase.

These sites have not only made things easily available for the consumers, or saved the Indian heritage, but also saved the thousands of crafts workers whose livelihood depends on their work. These crafts have been in their family for decades. A little of help from the government can help save their futures and also the Indian heritage that we are all so proud of.