A Dhokra figure cannot be reproduced. Not "is rarely reproduced" — cannot, as a matter of physics. The mould is broken to get the casting out, and the model it was made from no longer exists, because it was wax and it was melted away.
That is what "lost wax" means, and it is the reason the Ministry of Culture's release of 7 October 2026 is worth more than a line.
What is in the collection
Sixteen mementos from Chhattisgarh form the 8th edition of PM Mementos, and the auction is live and extended to 31 October 2026, with proceeds supporting the Namami Gange programme.
| Group | Items |
|---|---|
| Dhokra metal casting | Elephant Head Nandi, Standing Nandi, Madia-Madin Tribal Couple Bust |
| Tribal material culture | Ceremonial headgear with a peacock-feather cluster, cowrie shells, metallic discs and brass bells |
| Devotional | A Ramnami Samaj chanting stole, covered with repeated inscriptions of "Ram Ram" |
| Landmarks | Hatkeshwar Mahadev, Budeshwar Mahadev, Jai Maa Kudargadi, Madheshwar Mahadev |
| Contemporary | A woodcut panel depicting Mahtari Vandan Yojana; a memento marking the Rajat Jayanti of the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha; models of institutions in Nava Raipur |
How lost-wax casting actually works
The technique is called cire perdue in French and lost wax in English, and the sequence explains everything about the object it produces.
A clay core is shaped roughly to the form intended. Over it the artisan builds the detail in beeswax — and in Dhokra specifically, the wax is drawn out into fine threads and wound around the core, which is why Dhokra pieces carry that distinctive ribbed, coiled surface instead of a smooth skin. The wax model is then encased in clay, with a channel left open and a crucible of metal attached. The whole assembly is heated: the wax runs out through the channel, leaving a cavity that is an exact negative of the wax, and molten brass or bronze flows in to take its place. When it cools, the clay is broken open to release the casting.
Two consequences follow, and they are the examinable ones.
Every piece is unique. The wax original is gone and the mould is destroyed, so there is no way to produce a second identical casting. A Dhokra workshop has no editions, no reproductions and no economies of scale — each object is a one-off, which is both its artistic value and its commercial problem.
The casting is hollow. Because the metal occupies only the space the wax did, over a clay core, the object uses far less metal than a solid cast of the same size. For a craft practised for millennia with expensive non-ferrous metal, that was not an aesthetic choice but an economic necessity.
Where the 4,000 years comes from
The release describes Dhokra as having "a history of more than 4,000 years in India." That figure is checkable, and it is worth knowing precisely what it refers to.
The Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro — the small bronze figurine excavated in 1926 — was made by lost-wax casting, and Mohenjo-daro dates to around 2500 BCE. So the technique is attested in the subcontinent from the Harappan period, which makes it one of the oldest continuously practised non-ferrous casting traditions anywhere.
The claim is about the method, not about an unbroken lineage of the Bastar workshops themselves. A student who can make that distinction is doing better than most of the writing on the subject.
The GI, and why a craft needs one
Bastar Dhokra is a registered Geographical Indication: applied for in 2007, certified in 2008, with a separate GI logo registration in 2014. It is practised by the Ghadawa community of Bastar, casting in brass and bronze.
A GI does something narrower and more useful than a trademark. It protects the indication — only producers within the defined area, following the defined method, may use the name. For Dhokra that protection is existential rather than symbolic, because the craft's own popularity is the threat: machine-cast and resin imitations with a ribbed surface are cheap to produce and are sold as "Dhokra" to buyers who cannot tell the difference. Where every genuine piece is unique and slow, and every imitation is identical and fast, the name is the only thing the artisan owns. That is the same logic that governs GI protection across Indian products, from agricultural indications to handloom textiles.
The stole, and what it is protesting
PIB gives the Ramnami item one sentence. It is the most remarkable object in the collection.
The Ramnami Samaj was founded in the 1890s by Sant Parasuram — by the account most often given, Parsuram Bhardwaj, the son of a low-caste sharecropper, born at Charpara village in the Janjgir-Champa region of present-day Chhattisgarh. Denied entry to a temple on account of his caste, he tattooed the name of Ram on his own body.
The theology is the protest, and it is elegant. If the deity cannot be approached in the temple because a priest controls the door, then the devotee carries the deity's name on his skin, where no gatekeeper has jurisdiction. Devotion is relocated from a place to a person. Adherents wear a shawl printed over and over with "Ram", peacock-feather headgear, and in the fullest observance tattoo the name across the body.
So a "chanting stole covered with repeated inscriptions of Ram Ram" is a garment of a movement that has, for more than a century, conducted a peaceful argument against untouchability by means of ink and cloth. It belongs to the same category of living tradition that India catalogues and seeks recognition for under intangible cultural heritage — practices whose value is in their continued performance rather than in any object.
Read the collection again with that in mind. A Nandi, a feathered headgear and a Ramnami stole are not three decorative items. They are Shaiva devotion, tribal material culture, and an anti-caste devotional movement — three distinct religious and social histories, placed side by side and described as one state's "cultural story". The landmarks reinforce it: three Mahadev shrines and a Devi shrine, Hatkeshwar, Budeshwar, Madheshwar and Jai Maa Kudargadi.
The mechanism, and the self-portrait
Gifts and mementos received in the Prime Minister's office are state property rather than personal possessions. They are catalogued and periodically offered through a public e-auction, with the proceeds assigned to a designated cause — in this case the Namami Gange programme for the Ganga, whose river-management and urban-river work the National Mission for Clean Ganga runs. That this is the 8th edition tells you it is a settled, recurring process rather than an occasional event.
The design is the interesting part: an auction converts protocol gifts into programme funding, and it does so transparently, with a public portal and published catalogues by state.
Finally, notice the contemporary items, because a gift collection is a state's self-portrait. A woodcut panel depicting a welfare scheme. A memento for the silver jubilee of the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha — the State was formed in 2000, so its legislature's twenty-fifth year falls now. Models of institutions in Nava Raipur, the new capital.
What a state chooses to render in a 4,000-year-old casting technique is a statement about how it wants to be seen: ancient in method, contemporary in subject. The release calls the collection's central message one of continuity, and on that it is right — though the continuity is in the hands and the wax, not in the subject matter.
🔑 Revision block
- Event, 7 October 2026: the Ministry of Culture announced 16 mementos from Chhattisgarh in the 8th edition of PM Mementos. Auction live, extended to 31 October 2026; proceeds support Namami Gange; portal pmmementos.gov.in.
- Dhokra items: Elephant Head Nandi, Standing Nandi, Madia-Madin Tribal Couple Bust. Other items — ceremonial headgear (peacock-feather cluster, cowrie shells, metallic discs, brass bells); a Ramnami Samaj chanting stole; landmarks Hatkeshwar Mahadev, Budeshwar Mahadev, Jai Maa Kudargadi, Madheshwar Mahadev; a woodcut of Mahtari Vandan Yojana; a Rajat Jayanti memento for the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha; models of institutions at Nava Raipur.
- Lost-wax (cire perdue) sequence: clay core → beeswax detail, in Dhokra drawn into threads and wound over the core (hence the ribbed surface) → encased in clay with a channel → heated so the wax runs out → molten brass or bronze poured into the cavity → clay broken open.
- Two consequences: the wax is gone and the mould destroyed, so every piece is unique — no editions, no reproductions; and the casting is hollow over a clay core, so it uses far less metal.
- The 4,000-year claim: rests on the Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro, a lost-wax bronze excavated in 1926, from a city dating to about 2500 BCE. The claim is about the technique, not an unbroken lineage of Bastar workshops.
- Bastar Dhokra GI: applied 2007, certified 2008, separate GI logo registration 2014. Practised by the Ghadawa community of Bastar, in brass and bronze.
- Why the GI matters: a GI protects the indication — only producers in the defined area using the defined method may use the name. Machine-cast and resin imitations with a ribbed finish are the real threat, because genuine pieces are unique and slow while imitations are identical and fast.
- Ramnami Samaj: founded in the 1890s by Sant Parasuram (Parsuram Bhardwaj), son of a low-caste sharecropper, of Charpara, Janjgir-Champa, present-day Chhattisgarh. Denied temple entry on caste grounds, he tattooed the name of Ram on his body. Adherents wear a shawl printed with "Ram", peacock-feather headgear, and tattoo the name. A century-old peaceful protest against untouchability.
- The theological point: if a priest controls the temple door, the devotee carries the deity's name on the skin, where no gatekeeper has jurisdiction — devotion relocated from a place to a person.
- What the collection actually spans: Shaiva devotion (the Nandis and Mahadev shrines), tribal material culture (the headgear), and an anti-caste devotional movement (the stole).
- PM Mementos mechanism: gifts to the Prime Minister's office are state property, catalogued and offered by public e-auction, with proceeds assigned to a designated cause — here Namami Gange. The 8th edition indicates a settled recurring process.
- Derived date: Chhattisgarh was formed in 2000, so the Rajat Jayanti (silver jubilee) of its Vidhan Sabha falls in its twenty-fifth year.
🎯 Practice MCQs
Q1. In the lost-wax casting technique used in Dhokra, the wax model is: (a) Retained and reused for subsequent castings (b) Coated in metal leaf and sold as the finished piece (c) Melted and drained out, leaving a cavity into which molten metal is poured (d) Pressed into a reusable metal die
→ (c) Hence cire perdue, "lost wax". The mould is then broken open to release the casting, which is why no two pieces can be identical.
Q2. The reason a Dhokra object cannot be reproduced identically is that: (a) Both the wax original and the clay mould are destroyed in the process (b) The Geographical Indication prohibits reproduction (c) Each artisan family uses a secret alloy (d) The casting is hollow and cannot be copied
→ (a) No original and no mould survive, so there is no basis for a second casting — a craft with no editions and no economies of scale.
Q3. The claim that Dhokra's technique has a history of more than 4,000 years in India rests principally on: (a) Inscriptional evidence from the Mauryan period (b) The lost-wax bronze Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-daro (c) Ashokan rock edicts in Chhattisgarh (d) Chalcolithic pottery from Bastar
→ (b) Excavated in 1926, from a city dating to about 2500 BCE, and made by lost-wax casting — which attests the method, not an unbroken lineage of present-day workshops.
Q4. Bastar Dhokra is practised principally by the: (a) Madia community (b) Gond community (c) Baiga community (d) Ghadawa community
→ (d) The Ghadawa of Bastar, casting in brass and bronze. "Madia-Madin" in the collection refers to the subject of a bust, not to the community of makers.
Q5. A Geographical Indication protects a craft principally by: (a) Restricting use of the name to producers in the defined area following the defined method (b) Granting the artisan a patent over the casting technique (c) Fixing a minimum price for the product (d) Prohibiting export of the product
→ (a) It protects the indication, not the technique — which is the protection that matters when imitations are cheap, identical and sold under the genuine name.
Q6. The Ramnami Samaj originated as a response to: (a) Colonial land revenue settlement in central India (b) A famine in the Chhattisgarh plains (c) Denial of temple entry on grounds of caste (d) Forced religious conversion
→ (c) Its founder, denied entry on caste grounds in the 1890s, tattooed the name of Ram on his body — relocating devotion from a controlled place to the devotee's own person.
Q7. Members of the Ramnami Samaj are identified by which of the following? (a) Saffron robes and a wooden staff (b) A shawl printed with "Ram", peacock-feather headgear, and tattoos of the name (c) A shaven head and iron bangle (d) A conch shell and vermilion mark
→ (b) The odhni covered in "Ram", the peacock-feather crown and, in the fullest observance, the name tattooed across the body.
Q8. Proceeds from the PM Mementos e-auction are directed to: (a) The Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (b) The Consolidated Fund of India (c) The National Culture Fund (d) The Namami Gange programme
→ (d) Gifts to the office are state property, catalogued and auctioned publicly, with the proceeds assigned to Namami Gange — the design feature worth noting is the named destination.
Q9. A Dhokra casting is hollow rather than solid principally because: (a) Hollow castings resonate when struck, which is required ritually (b) The metal occupies only the space the wax did, over a clay core, which greatly reduces metal use (c) Solid casting is prohibited under the GI specification (d) Hollow pieces are lighter to transport
→ (b) An economic necessity rather than an aesthetic choice, in a craft working for millennia with expensive non-ferrous metal.
Q10. The Rajat Jayanti of the Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha, marked in the collection, follows from the State's formation in: (a) 1956 (b) 1987 (c) 2000 (d) 2014
→ (c) Chhattisgarh was formed in 2000, so its legislature's silver jubilee falls in its twenty-fifth year. Telangana, formed in 2014, is the State most often confused with it in such questions.
📋 How this gets asked (PYQ pattern)
Crafts and traditions are examined in four recognisable ways, and only one of them is about aesthetics.
The first is craft-to-state-to-community mapping. Dhokra with Bastar, Chhattisgarh and the Ghadawa; Bidri with Bidar; Pattachitra with Odisha and Bengal; Thangka with the Himalayan belt. Three columns, and the paper will move one.
The second is the GI register. Which products hold GIs, from which States, and what a GI legally protects — the indication, not the technique or the design. Candidates routinely describe a GI as a patent or a trademark; it is neither.
The third is technique vocabulary. Lost wax / cire perdue for Dhokra and Harappan bronzes; inlay for Bidri; block printing for Bagh and Ajrakh; tie-and-dye for Bandhani and Patola. A question describing a process and asking for the craft is standard.
The fourth, and the one that produces the better written answer, is the social history behind an object. A Ramnami stole is a document of an anti-caste movement; a tribal headgear is material evidence of an exchange network, given that cowrie shells reach central India from the sea. Treating a craft only as decoration leaves most of the available marks on the table.
Preparing for CDS/OTA? With any craft, learn the technique before the ornament — the method explains the object's cost, its uniqueness and why it needs legal protection. And when a release names a community or a sect in passing, that is usually where the real history is. Build the base with our CDS/OTA study material, follow the daily CDS current affairs, and prepare with our faculty in the upcoming Cavalier courses in Delhi.
✍️ Written by The Cavalier — Faculty desk at The Cavalier. Reviewed by the Cavalier Faculty Desk.