Just a few steps away from Dubey’s shop, another gem of the Khajuraho Dance Festival that would have surely caught your attention is Prabhat Sisodia’s souvenir shop.
Stone carvings, figurines, fridge magnets and pen stands — all made manually from soft stones or stone dust — definitely ask you to take them home.
“Stone carvings take about three days to be made. I carve Sanchi Stupa, Khajuraho Temples or figures of women on the stones. Soft stone, available in Rajasthan, is used for this work, the reason being it is comparatively easy to carve on these stones. However, some figurines, including those of Buddha, are made using stone dust. The dust is put in a mould and with the help of chemicals is turned into a hard stone-like form,” Sisodia, who has been into this profession for about 15 years now, explains.
The craft, he says, has definitely gone through some major changes in all these years, but what kept his art alive is the ability of reinvent. “The mantra to survive into this field is to be able to reinvent and recreate. You have to come up with newer designs, if not, then at least reinvent the previous designs. A case in point is the calf’s foot that I used to make. I have now given it a new design and have started using kundan work on it. This enhances its appearance and also gives it a fresh look,” he says.
He tells you that he is thankful to MP Tourism Board and Department of Culture, MP for giving artisans like him a platform to showcase their work. “This is my sixth year in Khajuraho Dance Festival. We are grateful to the Tourism Board and Culture Department who organise and promote such fests. These programmes give us a platform to promote our craft and also earn a living,” Sisodia opines.