Sholapith: Herbal Ivory of Bengal

in Module
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Sreya Mukherjee

Sreya Mukherjee is a Postgraduate student pursuing History at Jadavpur University, Kolkata. She was involved in Green Revolution Global Certification Programme, an initiative by International Center For Culture And Education in 2015. Sreya has a diploma (A1 level) in French awarded by the French Ministry of Education in 2018.

Sholapith, also known as 'herbal ivory', is an exquisite sponge wood craft of West Bengal and is an intrinsic part of it rituals and festivals. This module explores the various facets of this craft: its endangered raw material, the community of craftspeople known as Malakars, the delicate crafting process and its current status in the face of stiff competition from the artificial and environmentally harmful thermocol.