Near Jajpur town there is an old potter settlement called Kumbharsahi. It was established even before the Jajpur municipality came into being. Come summer season and the inhabitants here will be found busy day and night making thousands of pitchers, for these clay wares are in high demand in which water is stored to keep it cool.
The mud huts of the Kumbhar colony shelters 60 families. Witnessing the flowing activities of the potter’s wheel turning gently on its axis, the lump of clay wondrously acquiring shape, women kneading clay, children collecting sun-dried pitchers, one forgets for a few magic moments that traditional potters are a dying breed.
Bespectacled, ebony-skinned Ashok Behera (75) is the leader here. Despite his age, he has the ability to turn out more than 50 pitchers a day to meet the huge demand. “Our scope for work is restricted now. We make diyas during Diwali, pitchers in summer, flower-pot jars and sundry items throughout the year. But these sell at dismally low prices, and the sales are generally slack, barring summer time,” said Behera.
For the last three years, we have also been making earthen water coolers and jars. The potters have been working at this village since last March to earn more in the summer season. Even generators are used to make light so that these items can be made at night, said Ranjan Behera (65).
The demand for pitchers remains steady in summer season despite the emergence of refrigerators,” said Saroj Behera (45) a potter of Kumbharsahi. He narrated that making earthen pitchers is a seasonal business for which a large number of youths now-a-days do not prefer to continue their forefathers’ works.
Two decades back, potters used to get good quality of riverside earth. But, now-a-days, the district administration has imposed restriction on the potters and others to lift soil from the riverside areas to prevent soil erosion. As a result, a large number of potters face problem in getting good quality soil to make pitchers and other earthen items, lamented Rajanikanta Behera, a potter of Kumbharsahi.