From Kumbharwada to Kandil Galli, here’s how Mumbaikars preserve Diwali’s traditional art

Diwali, celebrated across India, is just a week away but the streets of Mumbai are already aglow with colourful decorations, lights, lanterns, crackers, and traditional lamps (diyas).

This coming weekend, the Mumbai markets will see a massive crowd of people shopping for the festival. While the Dadar and Crawford markets are famous for buying decorative items and flowers for the festival, a few bylanes in Mumbai have their own specialty. One of them is Dharavi's Kumbharwada.

The Kumbhar (pottery) community, located in the bylanes of Dharavi, works 365 days a year to make various pottery items and sell their products at wholesale prices across India. But, just a month before Diwali, the potters' primary focus is on making a variety of lamps in different shapes and sizes as per the trend in the market.

While the very basic mud diya is sold at Rs 10 in pairs, the price ranges from Rs 10 to Rs 200 depending on the shape, size, and artwork used for making the diya. Visiting the bylanes in Dharavi, one can see the potters making traditional Diwali lamps on the power wheel, painting them, or packing them after giving them the final touches.

Speaking about the lamp business, 74-year-old Bhanuben Solanki, who puts up a stall on the footpath of Dharavi to sell the lamps, said, "Many wholesalers come to pre-order and buy the lamps in larger quantities. Most of the wholesalers are from outside Maharashtra, especially from Gujarat."

Just a week before Diwali, the footpath near Matunga's Shoba hotel, also called the famous ‘Kandil Galli of Mumbai', transforms into a colourful street with lanterns all across the footpath. Most lanterns are made at Matunga's Kandil Galli, a tiny bylane leading off the street. Every household on the street is involved in either commercial or political lantern-making.

Jagjit Singh, a 59-year-old resident of Kandil Galli, has been making lanterns for political parties for many years. According to him, he has been making lanterns during the Diwali festival since he was a teenager. Speaking about how the Kandil Galli moulds the art of lantern making into business, Singh said, "For many decades, almost all the families in this bylane have been into making lanterns and selling them during the festival season. Today, there is a new generation that goes to jobs in the private and government sectors but also focuses on making lanterns during the festival, just to preserve the traditional culture of the bylane."

Shifting his focus from commercial small-scale lantern making to only making political party lanterns, Singh has seen new trends and demands in the market. Expressing how the lanterns of political parties have changed from hand painted lanterns to printed ones, Singh added, "Earlier, the political parties purchased big-sized handmade cloth lanterns to install on streets and colonies. We showed our calligraphy creativity in those lanterns by hand painting them. But now, everything is going digital. The new trend in political parties' lanterns is printing photos and content on flex and shaping them in lantern form."

The political parties' lanterns made in Kandil Galli, are not restricted only to demands in Mumbai but across Maharashtra. Singh makes at least 30 to 40 big-size political parties' lanterns, which are transported outside Mumbai.

Another resident of Kandil Galli, Nandini Vaidya, started getting the hang of the lantern-making art after seeing her in-laws. After her marriage, she started helping her husband and in-laws make the lanterns. "It is only after my marriage that I learned the art of lantern-making. After the Dussehra festival, our whole family starts preparation. Depending on the pre-orders and the demand, we make over 2,000 lanterns every year."

Besides the political and fancy lanterns in the market, there has been a trend of making traditional lanterns out of paper and old saree clothes, especially Paithani sarees.

One of the residents of Lalbaug, specialising in crafting traditional lanterns from Paithani sarees, has been engaged in this business for six years. The venture, known as 'HarshAbhi Creations,' was initiated by a husband-wife duo.

Dr Abhishek Satam, a zoologist, has been crafting homemade traditional lanterns alongside his partner. He fondly recalls learning the art of lantern-making in his childhood, with his father being his first teacher. Over time, he expanded his lantern-making hobby to cater to the specific needs of others. After getting married, he and his wife joined forces to transform their creative hobby into a small-scale commercial business.

Despite both of them being engaged in professional careers, they prioritise dedicating time to creating traditional lanterns before Diwali. This practice nurtures their artistic creativity.

Dr Harshada Koli Satam, a college professor, shared, "In our initial year, we crafted lanterns using Zari sarees. Subsequently, we shifted our focus to making lanterns predominantly from Paithani sarees. This idea received much admiration and attracted numerous buyers. Every year, we accept around 20-30 pre-orders for these handcrafted lanterns. Due to the intricate work involved, we deliberately limit the number of orders we take."

In their commitment to preserving tradition, several Marathi celebrities have chosen to purchase lanterns from this talented duo. Notably, they recently sent their first lantern to the USA. In the past, they had the honour of sending a lantern to the renowned Indian sportsman, Sachin Tendulkar.