Potters in Uttar Pradesh are all smiles as there is a huge demand for diyas or earthen lamps this Diwali with rough estimates indicating 10 million diyas are likely to be sold this festive season, making a massive comeback vis-a-vis Chinese lights that had nearly driven them out of the market. Spurring the demand for earthen lamps is the Deepotsav celebrations in Ayodhya and in other cities across the state.
“As compared to 2019, this year the sale of diyas has increased by around 50%. In 2020, around 200,000 to 250,000 diyas were sold in Ayodhya and its adjoining regions. This year, the sale has gone up to somewhere between 450,000 to 500,000 diyas,” said Jagat Prajapati, a local potter. For the Deepotsav celebrations at Ram Ki Paidi in Ayodhya, diyas are largely sourced locally through a tender by the Ayodhya administration.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also plans to light 4.5 million diyas to reflect the number of beneficiaries of the Awaas Yojana, the government’s housing scheme apart from the 3 million earthen lamps it plans to light at the houses of party’s booth level workers.
Buoyed by the decline in Covid-19 cases, potters across Uttar Pradesh are now working overtime to meet the increased demand for earthen lamps, considered auspicious for lighting homes on the Hindu festival of Diwali.
Potters at Nandpur, a hamlet known as potters village, located near Chinhat in Lucknow, say they haven’t witnessed such demand for diyas in the past few decades.
“The Covid crisis badly affected all trades and pottery was no exception. In contrast to what was anticipated, the pottery business is doing well as the demand for earthenware, especially designer and wax diyas, is quite high this Diwali,” said Jafar Ali, a traditional potter from Nandpur.
Another potter Afsar Alam, 33, said unlike previous years, when there used to be marginal or even no profit on Diwali, this time Nandpur has been witnessing long queues of retailers since Karva Chauth.
“A majority of bulk buyers placed the orders for designer diyas,” said Alam.
Around 135 km from the state capital, around 40 families of potters in Ayodhya’s Jaisinghpur are also upbeat and racing against time to meet the orders received for supply of earthen lamps.
“Now, people have started buying diyas. This Diwali, the sale of diyas has picked up as compared to last year when festivities were hit by the pandemic,” said Jagat Prajapati, a resident of Jaisinghpur. Another potter claimed that the revival of interest in diyas was helping improve their standard of living. This change is also visible elsewhere in the state and it began five years ago in 2017, when the BJP government started Deepotsav celebrations at Ram Ki Paidi ghat on the banks of the Saryu in Ayodhya on the eve of Diwali.
“There is no doubt that the almost dying traditional pottery industry has got a new lease of life due to Deepotsav celebrations in Ayodhya,” Naresh Kumar, a potter said.
The Mati Kala Board set up by the state government in July 2018 further gave a push to pottery and handcrafted earthenware apart from the “vocal for local” campaign which has given the clay pottery industry in the hinterlands a national stage with one district one product initiative, a state official said.
The state government’s department of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) has again provided space to potters to showcase their talent. The state government has also organised Deepotsav in around 217 districts including 200 Nagar Palikas.
Additional chief secretary for home and religious endowment departments, Awanish Awasthi, said, “UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath first asked us to light 51,000 earthen lamps in 2017. This number has gone up to the lighting of nine lakh plus earthen lamps in 2021. The Deepotsav has given a push to Ayodhya’s economy with the number of pilgrims visiting the temple town going up manifold.”
Increasing demand for earthen lamps has helped the potter (Kumhars) community financially, the senior bureaucrat said. People of all castes and religions, including Muslims, have appreciated the state government’s efforts in Ayodhya, he added.