Kondagaon Bastar Dhokra Lost Wax Casting Chhattisgarh

Kondagaon in Bastar district Chhattisgarh is the principal centre of Dhokra (lost-wax) metal casting in central India, where Ghadwa artisan families produce brass and bell-metal figures of tribal deities, animals, tribal women, and abstract sculptures using the cire perdue (lost-wax) method over a clay-dung core. The process involves modelling clay core, wrapping with beeswax and resin threads to form details, encasing in clay mould, firing to melt wax and create cavity, and pouring molten brass alloy to fill the space. Kondagaon Cooperative Dhokra Artisans supplies to Crafts Museum New Delhi, Fab India, and export buyers in Europe and Japan. The Kondagaon style is distinctive for bold, large figurines with elongated forms compared to the finer figurines of Bankura WB tradition. Nationally-awarded Dhokra artists from Kondagaon have demonstrated the craft at international trade fairs in Germany and France.