Kolkata :

A quiet revolution is unfolding in Mamata Banerjee’s backyard, courtesy her own MSME department.

The department’s retail body, Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation, has started reviving a vanishing craft that is delightfully British, tracing the last of the Raj-era silversmiths — Maheswar Dutta — at Kansaripara.

TOI found Bengal’s only surviving “Sheffield craftsman” inside a crumbling edifice, down a backstreet of the CM’s Kalighat residence. These days, Kansaripara Lane — the cradle of Bengal’s traditional silversmithy — is no more than a place with decrepit houses that once belonged to Hindu sub-caste Kangshabaniks or Kansaris (bell metal workers) who settled here in the mid-18th century.

Squeezed between Sambhunath Pandit Street and Russa Road, this place is home to artisans who are still visited by leading jewellers for their outstanding craftsmanship. Dutta (63) is the last heir of a tradition extending back to Charnock’s Calcutta. His forefathers spearheaded a resurgence in heritage silver craft of the 8th century Pala dynasty.

“We were displaced from the nearby Gobindopur village, that constituted Calcutta 250 years ago when Robert Clive cleared the swamps to build Fort William,” said Dutta.

Some of the exquisite pieces Dutta and his apprentices, Alok Patra (38) and Biswanath Bodak (28), have forged will shortly travel to London for a Biswa-Bangla exhibition. The idea is to bring these intricate inlay work in dainty velvety boxes back to shoppers’ lists and eventually apply for the GI tag for the “nakshakari” work.

Only the other day, until Biswa Bangla’s chief consultant Partho P Kar tracked the roots of Bengal’s silversmithy, Dutta was a worried man. Now, they are the busiest stakeholders of the heritage craft revival project.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Kolkata News / by Ajanta Chakraborty / TNN / May 01st, 2017