Gumla Dokra Lost Wax Metal Casting Craft

Gumla district's Ghadwa (brass-smith) tribal community practices Dokra lost-wax brass casting, one of India's oldest metal craft traditions dating to the Harappan period. Craftsmen model figures in clay, coat them with beeswax, add a clay outer mould, and pour molten brass into the cavity after burning out the wax; breaking the outer mould reveals a unique solid figure that cannot be exactly replicated. Gumla's Dokra craftsmen produce tribal deity figures, animal sculptures, and decorative household items that are sold through Jharkhand Handicrafts Development Corporation and exported to craft galleries worldwide. The unique aesthetic of Gumla Dokra — rough-textured, wax-wire decorated surfaces — differentiates it from the smooth Dhokra of Chhattisgarh.