Jaipur, Rajasthan, is a major tourist attraction earning much revenue. And there are several reasons behind it. The city is known for its culture, the tradition that it still maintains. For those who visit the place for the various palaces in and across the city can never the miss the color the markets of Jaipur show. A well known fact in all the news in Rajasthan is that among the things that Jaipur craft industry is most known for is Blue Pottery.

Blue pottery originated from Turkey-Persia and came to India via Kashmir. Kashmir was where the Turks entered India from and gradually the art spread to various other parts of India. The states that majorly indulge in this art are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

Of all of Rajasthan, it is in Jaipur where the art is most widely seen.

What gives the name to this art of pottery is the constant color of blue in the art-pieces. Searching for digging through latest news in Rajasthan about Blue Pottery you’d come to known an interesting fact about Blue Pottery that it is the only form of pottery all over the world that does not use clay. The intricate craft of Blue Pottery can be used to create several different traditional things, like surahi, tiles, lamp shades. The artisans, keeping of age, have now started producing Blue Pottery products in contemporary styles as well, which generally includes home-decor accessories, like bowls, boxes, trinkets, vases, ashtrays. In the very traditional manner, the products were mainly in royal blue, light blue or greenish blue colors, however, now there are few more color options added. Latest Rajasthan news informs that there now are products available in yellow, brown, dark blue as well, though these new colors are rare and not much in demand. Whatever the color is given, the product appears semi-translucent.

There are hardly a few people who practice this art, and those who do practice, anywhere in India, come from families who have traditionally been practicing Blue Pottery. The castes of Nat, Kumbars, Bahairva, Khaarwaal are the only few castes which produces artisans practicing this art.

Like the source of latest news in Hindi Rajasthan First India News had earlier here said, no clay is used in Blue Pottery products, here’s what is used:

Glass Ground Quartz stone Maida Katira Gond Fuller’s Earth/Multani Mitti
Saaji Flour Bores/Suhaaga Potassium Nitrate Zinc Oxide Colors (Oxide or Ferro) Boric Acid Water

The no-usage of clay makes the products extremely delicate.

Here’s a bit into the history of Blue Pottery.

It were the Mongols who had first fused Persian pottery technique with the Chinese technology of glazing the product, thus a new art was created. As the Mongols travelled, with them travelled their art. In the early 14th century, came Mongols to India along with the very first of Muslim rulers. News in Hindi Rajasthan would also like to tell you that the art was used to manufacture and design tiles for mosques, tombs and palaces owned by Muslims, thus remaining exclusive to the Muslim community. However, later, Mughals made it their own and started spreading the art of Blue Pottery across their empires. Starting from Kashmir, the art then travelled to the heart of India, Delhi. Along with the advent of Mughals, the art travelled to Jaipur as well by the 17th Century.

Rajasthan news in Hindi has a different version when it comes to history of Blue Pottery. However, it is also said that the art reached Jaipur in 19th century when Sawai Ram Singh II ruled. Believers say that Sawai Ram Singh had sent his artisans to Delhi to get accustomed in the art.

Though there are facts that say that it had reached Jaipur in 17th century.

The art had however waned out later; by the 1950s, Blue Pottery was hardly seen in Jaipur. It was one of the most renowned muralist and painter of Jaipur, Kripal Singh Shekhawat, who brought the art back in the city, with the willing help of Rajmata Gayatri Devi and Kamladevi Chattopadhaya. Latest Rajasthan news in Hindi comes to know that Jaipur city thanks Kripal Singh Shekhawat, Rajmata Gayatri Devi and Kamladevi Chattopadhaya as the industry of Blue Pottery is one of most thriving one, which earns good revenue for the state and also takes good care of the artisans.