Devraj Khastagir: Nature's Gift - Gourd Art
Richard Marcus
28 October 2007, 08:31Sometimes being the editor of an Arts and Culture magazine has rewards far exceeding what you’d expect. One of those happened the other day when I received an email from Devraj Khastagir, the artist whose work is displayed below.
Perhaps unlike other readers I’m very familiar with the art of carving gourds and utilizing them for decorative functions. In North America, we celebrate Halloween, October 31st, a non religious version of All Saints Day, by taking a large gourd-like vegetable known as a pumpkin, a bright orange generally round squash/gourd, and hollowing it out. This involves cutting a wide enough hole in the top so that a hand can be reached inside and all the seeds and loose flesh can be removed.
We then carve a face on the front and set a candle on the inside to illuminate the visage at night and hopefully scare small children. No effort is made to dry the gourd in advance so it these creations are not preserved and end up occasionally being used as rather revolting footballs. As these are a very healthy and tasty food item, it is actually quite a wasteful practice, as there are usually large numbers of pumpkins grown each year that don’t get eaten or utilized in anyway and simply rot on the vine.
Perhaps somebody in North America will see the wonderful work of Devraj and get the idea that the gourd’s can be preserved and that maybe making a permanent Jack-O-Lantern one year might not be such a bad idea. If you get bored with it, you could always make a new each year and create a collection.
For now I’ll turn you over to our artist and let Devraj Khastagir describe the process involved in gourd art creation.
DEVRAJ KHASTAGIR
One day I saw an old man carrying some broken tanpuras on his shoulder, and I purchased some of them for experimenting and I was successful. Gourds are truly ‘nature’s pottery’ as they are of different shapes & sizes. I consider Gourds to be one of nature’s greatest gifts to mankind.
With the help of a farmer, I cultivated nearly 200 gourds for nearly six months, out of which many were destroyed due to untimely heavy rainfall. Drying gourds, which takes months in some cases, causes the internal contents (seeds and fruit matter) to dry out completely. The shell of the gourd, once dried, has a wooden appearance. Gourd ‘wood’ is essentially cellulose that has no grain, varying in thickness from paper-thin to well over an inch.
The process of cleaning a gourd, which involves soaking, scrubbing, and cutting, then cleaning the inside of pulp and seeds, involves many hours of preparation before embellishments are added. When dried and cleaned, each one will have its own natural blemishes and scars, which serve to enhance their natural beauty. They are also surprisingly light and fragile. Gourds are most commonly used for storing supplies, hauling water, making cooking and eating utensils, & musical instruments. With the help of knives, I have created some artwork with dried gourd shells.
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A Depiction Of Krishna On An Ornamental Gourd
Carved And Painted Gourd “Save The Earth” (Blue Hands – Couldn’t Be Rama Could It?)
Lamp Shades: Carved And Decorated Gourds
Unfinished Ganesh Carving: I Thought This Was A Good Way To See The Process
Not Only Is It Decorative, Its Practical. Gourd Bag With Zipper And Strap
If you would like to get in touch with the artist either contact Epic India (editor@epicindia.com) and we will pass your message along, or leave a comment for Devraj
