Every family member in Basod community is assigned a specific task which in the end contributes to a making of a beautiful craft piece. Each family member, thus, contributes to the traditional art and adds to earning of the family.
Mahasamund: From the last 150 years, hands of people from a small community in the State have been skinning, cutting and joining pieces of bamboo together. The craft items are then sold in and out of the State where they become objects of utility and decoration in thousands of households. Not more than a dozen ‘Basod’ families, settled in village Ansula in Pithora, have been working as traditional bamboo craftsmen for generations. Craftsmen from the same community also reside in village Sonpur, Barpani, Charbhata, Bijepur, Haribanpur, Kalmidadar, Kastibahar, Maldamar and Chandan, informed in an official statement issued here on Tuesday.
As the State produces bamboo in abundance, both finished and unfinished products are sent to other parts of the country too. From containers, carpets, ‘soopa’, baskets to ladders, furniture and swings, the bamboo craftsmen of Ansula are adroit in making eye-catching objects from bamboo trees.
To support and preserve the community, every family gets a ‘Basod card’ from the State Government which entitles them to get 1,500 bamboos every year from the Government on subsidised rates. Apart from cheap raw material, the Government also provides the Basod community with 35 kg rice at the cost of Re 1 per kilogram.
“Besides bamboo and rice, the State Government has also helped the Basods by building a community hall for us,” said Dhananjay, resident of Ansula, from the community of bamboo craftsmen. “I have passed the first year examination of BA as a private student. I wish to continue my studies alongside the traditional bamboo craftwork. It is important that people from my community keep this art alive,” said Tularam Nagesh of the community.