While modern Odisha is scaling new heights in the field of steel production, its traditional ironsmiths are fighting a losing battle for their survival. These traditional skilled artisans are now grappling with extreme poverty.“Kamara Shalas” (workshop of ironsmiths) which were a common sight in villages are dying out rapidly. Decades of persistent administrative apathy pushed ironsmiths to the margins, it appears.
From antiquity to the early-colonial days, ironsmiths had remained an integral part of India’s economic glory. Correspondingly, Odisha also had a very rich tradition of extracting iron from iron ores. They had mastered the art of making war materials, medical instruments, agricultural and household utensils from iron. Iron beams lying at the majestic Konark temple speak volumes about the technical prowess of Odisha’s traditional ironsmiths.
Nevertheless, after years of arduous struggle, artisans are finally succumbing to the course of the transition of our society. Traditional India is transforming rather rapidly to a mechanized one. Widely scattered ironsmiths in villages, like other traditional artisans, are the worst hit by the transition. Introduction of machines into agriculture has limited their role.
From early days, ironsmiths were the manufacturers of agricultural tools. Similarly, the replacement of traditional bullock carts as medium of transportation in rural areas has also curtailed their income. Ironsmiths earlier used to make various iron instruments for the bullock carts.
Furthermore, clamps, nails, chainlets and bolts used in the construction of traditional thatched houses have become almost obsolete. Indigenous kitchen utensils made of iron like Paniki, hemadasta, kadei, chimta, etc are mostly manufactured by the ironsmiths. Of late, industries made products are starting to take over the traditional kitchen wares.
Babaji Ojha, a resident of Kansa village in Jagatsinghpur district, laments, “My father used to make agricultural tools, kitchen wares, door hardware and traditional construction materials. But now-a-days, industry made cheap, stylish and modern tools have virtually ruined our business.”
Very few ironsmiths in rural areas are selling iron tools made by them to the nearby hardware shops. A village ironsmith is earning monthly around Rs 5,000 which is less than what a daily labourer is getting in a month. Today, their job is confined only to sharpen up agricultural and kitchen tools. As a result, many of these young kamara youths are falling in the trap of bonded labour.
However, ironsmiths are slightly better off in the urban areas. They are normally getting orders for various indigenous kitchen and agricultural tools from the local hardware wholesalers. Thus, they are earning relatively more than their counterparts in the rural areas.
It’s not that ironsmiths in urban areas have remained untouched by the transition of the society. Shagadia Sahi of Ranihat region in Cuttack town, well-known for the ironsmiths, has witnessed a sharp decline in the number of smithies (workshops) in the recent decades.
“During my childhood days there were about 35 shalas operating here, out of which only five exist today,” informed BadalOjha, who owns a smithy at Sagadia Sahi. He also made it clear that he wouldn’t let his only son to enter this profession which has turned completely unprofitable.
Moreover, Government institutions like Khadi and Village Industries= Board (KVIs) and National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) are providing skill development opportunities and bank finance for the establishment of smithies. Unfortunately, due to poor propagation and dissemination, these schemes mostly remained on papers only.