Lucknow’s famous Chinhat pottery fades into oblivion

Chinhat: Long before Lucknow was known for  its Tundey kebabs and chikan embroidery, it was the Chinhat pottery that was a must on the to-do list of every tourist.

The Chinhat pottery hub, located in the Chinhat village on the outskirts of Lucknow, then, bustled with activity as over 11 units produced glazed terracotta pottery in vibrant colours.  The potters' wheels churned out saucers, bowls, vases, decorative items and people flocked to buy them.

Plates and bowls shaped like fruits and flowers were among the fastest selling items in Chinhat pottery.

Raghu Prajapati, whose four generations have worked to make the pottery, says, ”The Chinhat pottery industry survived on its own and the government did not help us in marketing and sales. The lone government unit, started in 1957, was shut down in 1997 because the officials declared it a loss-making venture. No efforts were made to revive it. The advent of Khurja pottery, known for its blue and white designs, further dented the market. Consumer choices also shifted to melamine ware that was unbreakable.”

Raghu now runs a grocery store in the shop where he once sold Chinhat pottery.

“We still have some pottery left with us and occasionally, some customers come asking for it,” he says.

Incidentally, it was the Chinhat pottery that introduced coffee mugs in the market because Lucknow, till then, was comfortable with traditional cups and saucers.

“Initially, people did not buy mugs but gradually they found it more convenient and this became our largest selling item,” recalls octogenarian Sadhu Singh.

The potters in Chinhat, interestingly, did not receive any training in the craft or design.

“We kept seeing pottery in the market and kept improvising. The women made new designs and helped us with the painting. We also improvised on shapes and designs if the customers gave us inputs.  If the government had provided us support, the industry could have grown by leaps and bounds,” says Ram Kumar, whose family still makes Chinhat pottery though he has taken up the job of a driver.

“My father and uncles are still attached to the craft but we also need a steady income so I and my cousins have taken up regular jobs,” he says.

The village may be on the verge of losing its identity but its people have still not lost hope.

“We have sent a letter to the Prime Minister's Office for reviving the industry under the start-up scheme. The MSME ministry can also help us. We have also asked chief minister Yogi Adityanath to include Chinhat pottery in the 'One district One Product' scheme along with ‘zardozi’,” says Amitabh Banerjee, who was one of the best-known traders in Chinhat potteries.

The people of Chinhat rue the fact that the pottery that gave them an identity has lost its own existence.

“Chinhat used to be a village on the Lucknow-Barabanki road and because of the pottery business, it became world famous. People coming from abroad spent hours checking out our pottery. The shopkeepers treated each customer with care because they knew that these people had traveled out of the city to come here,” reminisces Sarvesh Kumar who still continues with the business at a minimal scale.

With Lucknow expanding at an unbelievable speed, the state capital has grown beyond Chinhat. Caught between highways and flyovers, Chinhat is now an obscure village jostled out of sight by screeching traffic and new shops.