Travels of the Newar Potters: A History
A Short Project Description
This research project is about the history of seasonal migration of the Newar potters in Bhaktapur and Thimi to the Tarai and to the Mountains in Nepal. Till recently, these potters carried with them a shoulder-load of household utensils, travelled on foot to the different settlements, sold the pots, and, if feasible, made them on the spot and fulfilled the local demand and then moved to a different place.
The Newar potters are, by and large, agriculturists. Their knowledge on techniques and materials of pottery-making is highly specialised. Their craft is well-embedded in the local urban socio-economic relations. Nevertheless, the seasonal travel (gaamay vaanegu ‘to go to the village’ ~ taaplan vaanegu ‘ to go far’) also has a long past. The pattern and rules regarding the annual visit is well developed: little short of the jajmani system but far more routinised than a search of an individual potter for better commercial prospects for his goods. Till 1960s, Thimi saw such migration en masse. The custom, however, is in decline.
This project will reconstruct the potters’ itinerary for the period c. 1930s – 1960s through their reminiscences and documentary evidence. The aim of this project is to use the potters’ itinerant behaviour to engage with three key issues. The first is about the political, social and cultural aspects of the milieu in which such behaviour assumes the form of a periodic economic activity. The second is related to the contribution these journeys made in the circulation of labour, commodities and technical ideas in the study period. The third question this project will attempt to answer is whether the case of the Newar potters can shed critical light on more recent attempts of the Nepal Government and of several development agencies to help improve the lives and livelihood in rural Nepal by technology transfer and dissemination.
The research undertaken in the one-year period, starting from November 1, 2011, will result into a book and a public lecture by the end of the tenure.