Art on the highway

India is known for its handicrafts and villages, and they usually go hand in hand. So exclusive and distinctive are they in their technique that these villages usually lend their name to the craft, irrespective of the form they take. Nirmal is just such an Indian Artisan Village in the Adilabad district of Telangana.

A two-hour drive from Hyderabad takes you to Nirmal, a town where all the artists have got together to create a co-operative society, and setup a store to sustain the traditional art form

Practised by the Naqash artists of the 14th century, The Nirmal Art Form is an ancient tradition that has today, translated into making of toys and paintings from the locally available variety of softwood, known as 'Poniki Chekka'.

Although slowly fading out with each passing generation of the artisans losing interest; it originally flourished in the area, as the then rulers were great patrons of this art.

As all the artists are registered with the cooperative society and work within its framework, they do not have to adhere to a strict work schedule. Every artist is given a single toy to make, which s/he makes in number and takes around 20 days to a month to complete.

Made from tender wood, put together with a mixture of saw dust in tamarind seed paste and finished with a coat of brilliant paint, typical also of the Nirmal Paintings, these handmade toys are very light.

The most common toys among them are animal and bird figures. But you will just as easily find something to your taste from little key chains to a whole scene straight out of an Indian village, complete with the villagers and the cattle.

You can tell a Nirmal Painting from its characteristic streaks of gold, always against a black background. The human form is graceful in its expression and is eloquent in its influence of the Mughal Miniaturist Art and the Ajanta and Kangra styles of painting.

Besides its cultural legacy, historically too this small town had an important place, for it was once the stronghold of the French, and standing testimony to it, albeit in ruins is the Shamgarh Fort, also known as the Nirmal Fort.

There is a board right at the entrance to the town welcoming you to the Tourism Department’s Haritha Resort at this fort. But the only other evidence that there were once plans of developing it into a tourist destination are the big, wide canopy umbrellas dotting the landscape here and there.

Today, it is just an arid and barren area popular with the locals looking for some alone time! Nevertheless, it is a good spot to explore, if you are someone who is interested in heritage monuments and architecture.

By:Neeharika Satyavada