Kondagaon Bastar Dhokra Lost Wax Bronze Chhattisgarh

Kondagaon town in Bastar division, Chhattisgarh, is the main centre for Dhokra bell-metal casting, a five-thousand-year-old lost-wax bronze-casting tradition practised by Ghasia and Ojha tribal artisan communities. Artisans construct a clay core in the shape of the figurine, coat it with beeswax, carve fine details into the wax surface, then encase in an outer clay mould with wax-wicking channels. Brass alloy is melted in a small clay crucible over charcoal, poured through the channel, and allowed to cool before the outer mould is broken to reveal the finished piece. Dhokra figurines depicting tribal deities, horses, elephants, and musicians are sold through Bastar Crafts cooperative and Chhattisgarh Hastshilp Vikas Board. Each family guards its own mould designs as ancestral knowledge.