Ceramic Ethnography of the Two Eco-Cultural Zones of Rajasthan

The present book is an outcome of my deep interest on traditional knowledge and cultures of Rajasthan. This is an ethnographic study on pottery and terracotta of Rajasthan. The emphasis of the study is on traditional tools of potters, techniques, products, utility, about the community and all other activities that are associated with pottery and terracotta. The book starts with the introductory part about traditional knowledge, importance and objectives of study, methodology applied in the field, work plan and field limitations. It also describe about the villages that is the field areas which were selected for the study. The main objectives of the study are to study the traditional knowledge related to pottery and terracotta; in depth study of various forms of pottery, their tools and techniques of manufacturing pottery and other terracotta objects; to study various forms of rich art and craft of the two eco-cultural zones of Rajasthan which depicts the identity of the community, cultural background and geographical area they belong to. The study focused on the ethnographic study of the contemporary community that is the potters and their products, its utility and distribution on the basis of the ethnographic data and lastly, the socio- economic and ritual significance associated with pottery and terracotta, the intercommunity relationship and the present changes.

Dr. Pritish Chaudhuri was born on 12th February 1987. Completed his M.A. in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology from Dr. Hari Singh Gour University, Sagar and Ph.D degree in Archaeology with specialization in Ethno- archaeology from J.R.N. Rajasthan Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Udaipur. He possesses seven years of research experience in the field of ancient history, archaeology, cultural anthropology and tribal ethnography and carried out intensive field work in different regions of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Meghalaya and the Union Territory at Daman. He is attached with Anthropological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture from 2010 to 2011 as Project Research Assistant; from 2011 to 2015 as Junior Research Fellow and from 2015 to till date as Senior Research Fellow. He has undergone through various orientation courses and training programs from time to time. He also worked under various National Projects like People of India, Cultural Diversity: Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage Exploring Traditional Knowledge; Study on PVTGS and Biocultural Diversity, Environment and Sustainable Development (Village Study). He has published eighteen research papers in various reputed national and international journals and in edited books.

First of all, I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to the Director, Anthropological Survey of India, for providing me this platform to carry out my study in the field of ceramics and for orienting me with new thinking.

I am highly obliged to Dr. A.V. Arakeri (Former Head of office) An.S.I., W.R.C., Udaipur, without whose guidance and official supports it would have been impossible for me to collect and analyse the data in a proper way. Further, I am happy to acknowledge Prof. Lalit Pandey, Dean Faculty of Social Science, B. N. University, Udaipur and Dr. J.S. Kharakwal of Rajasthan Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Udaipur for their co-operation and guidance in the field related collection of data. They all provided me necessary help and suggestion whenever I needed.

My special thanks are also goes to all those potters of Molela and Pokaran, who gave their valuable time to me for the interviews and providing me with rich data. I am very much thankful to all of my colleagues.

Traditional Knowledge has acquired the position of a very important and spacious research opportunity throughout the world for mainly two broad reasons. Firstly, as the developing and third world countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America are dissatisfied with their model and role of development which did not possess the rich traditional and practical knowledge of their own people that mould their civilization and culture from the time unmemorable. They merely were ignoring their heritage. Such kind of knowledge contains everything pertaining to their living in their respective ecological and eco-cultural zones and their set up and resource management. Secondly, traditional knowledge showcases the wide range of cultural diversity that formed the basic funda of human existence.

The job of documentation and collection of data on Traditional Knowledge has been facilitated in recent times by the availability of wide variety of theoretical knowledge which derived from rich ethnography all around the globe.

**Contents and Sample Pages**