Case Study
Sandstone Craft of Dhrangadhra village
Drangadhra Case Study research.mp4Our intention on study on dhrangadhra's stone carving craft is directly related to the health of artisan.Dhrangadhra has the great tradition of the sandstone craft. some people has Silicosis disease and some people has affected by kidney stone problem because of the Silica dust goes in body through drinking water and the with inhaling.
Location - Dhrangadhra Village, Surendra Nagar, Gujarat, India
Dhrangadhra
Dhrangadhra is a town and a municipality in Surendranagar district in the state of Gujarat, India. During the period of the British Raj, the city was the capital of Dhrangadhra State, one of the eight first-class princely states (13-gun salute) of the Kathiawar Agency in the Bombay Presidency.
In Sanskrit dhrang means a stone, and dhara means the earth. It is believed that because of the strong and widespread yellow stone bedrock found immediately under the soil of the place, the town is thus named.
Dhrangadhra has a long history starting from Lower Paleolithic Period. The River named Falku is passing from Dhrangadhra town. The evidence comes from the river bed of the Bhadar river which flows along with the Dhrangadhra taluka. Moreover, there are lots of sites spreading over the vast land belonging to Harappan Period. Recent studies in the area suggests that the Dhragadhra and Halvad taluka was the frontier of the so-called sorat Harappans which bifurcates the Sidhi Harrapans of Kutch & Sindh. These are recent studies made by Arun Malik, a PhD scholar of The M.S. University of Baroda and now he is with Archaeological Survey of India.
Dhangadhra today is a modern town with a population of about 100,000, which includes Hindus, Muslims, Zoroastrians, Jains and Christains. (reference.)
Sandstone craft of the Dhrangadhra
Dhrangadhra has the great tradition of the sandstone craft. Unique characteristics of the sandstone of Dhrangadhra famous all over the world for its hardness and it is exceptionally strong and durable than other places' sandstone.
In the tradition of Dhrangadhra stone craft they carved temples, palaces, monuments, garden furniture out of sandstone. The ‘Sompura’ community has built temples, Jain derasars, and Hindu temples around the Gujarat and rollover county. Some of the stone work and the temples done for the UK and other countries by the Dhrangadhra stone craft Industry. Dhrangadhra has many Stone craft industries which give employment to the local artisans as well as migrant artisans from all over the country.
Dhrangadra has good transportation to the capital cities of the Gujarat that's why the transportation sources and the market have good connectivity. Nowadays drangadhra’s stone craft has high demand from the architects and the landscaper. This stone socks the water and provides coolingness ,that's why some residential projects are also built by this sandstone.
Stone craft artisans and all resident people of the Drangadhra affected by the Silica dust. that included in the environment of Dhrangadhra and around. some people has Silicosis disease and some people has affected by kidney stone problem because of the Silica dust goes in body through drinking water and the with inhaling.
About Stakeholder map - stakeholder map of sandstone craft of Dhrangadhra describes about the essential connection of stone carver artisans towards the essential components of society . Below stakeholder map convey the connection of artisans towards the government, hospitals, SAPTI institute, NGO's, stone industry, artisan family, market.
Eco System Map of the Sandstone Craft of Dhrangadhra is describes about the every content which are most prominently connected with the Sandstone craft Of the Dhrangaadhra village. also the roll of the every content their relation and connection between them.
Sandstone of Dhrangadhra has fine grain size and highly porous natural stone, highly water and liquid permeable. History of Dhrangadhra has connected to the Harappan civilization through the sandstone has fine grain size and highly porous natural stone, highly water and liquid permeable, which are used to build traditional temples. Stone adds values to the temple like naturally colored , traditional look, peaceful attribute, cooling ability .
Ahmadabad is a hub for modern design and architecture in India. architecture , landscapers and garden designers have authentic approaches to making temples. Most of the temple trust and followers have strong devotion and respect towards the temple construction. Because Gujarat is one of the strongholds of Jainism. There are thousands of Jain temples, dotting the landscape of Gujarat. Nowadays ,That sandstone is used to make garden products , flooring, and outdoor stone products because they are easy to cut , shaping, long durability sturdy , and weather resistant.
Dhragandhra villagers practice craft today because they have less fields of agriculture, no other employment and only better skill in stone carving. But after the Gujarat government provided good quality and quantity of water to villagers with water dam projects for agriculture , they started cultivating soybean farms because of suitable environmental conditions for this crop. They also get good market and income from this crop.because of connected with better transportation system towards Ahmadabad. Less employment opportunities in other states, most of the artisan from those states migrated To the sandstone industry.
Gujarat government established the sapti institute to emerge as center of excellence in stone craft design and skill development with additional goal of entrepreneurship development.
Also there is a government district hospital and local clinic to give primary checkup for the artisan who suffer from silicosis. There is a research department at district hospital help to find treatment for silicosis. Geologists from the government conduct the studies that locate the rocks that contain important minerals, plan the mines that produce them and geologists give this information to the mining industry . Stone industry gets raw material from the mining industry because of absence of land rights,mining licence. Because of illegal mining, there are dust particles in the air of Dhrangadhra. That causes silicosis and kidney stone to the people of Dhrangadhra.
This map shows the Making Process of the Sandstone Craft from raw material to end product. every step shown through the sketch of act and sequentially connected with other steps.
Sandstone Craft making process Steps
STONE MINING - big stone block are cutting and mining at stone mining place in Dhrangadhra
STONE INDUSTRY - At stone industry place , sandstone gets cut with a cutting machine as per requirement.
Cluster / workshop/ institute -
These people get stone from industry or they work in industry itself.
First they give the rough form to the stone block by cutting manually with hammer and chisel.
After that they make rough marking with pencil scale, compass on stone.
After marking on stone they give a round smooth form to the stone with a grinder and turner.
Get the deep cut with a small drill machine.
After this , doing detains on marking with file.
To get visible fine carve detail , remove excess dust with grass brush.
Smoothing the carved stone with a small piece of the stone.
Stone carved product is ready. Ex. temple pillar , monuments.
The Cognitive map describes the connections and relations between the Sandstone craft and Silicosis disease at the Dhrangadhra village. the connected element of the Silicosis and Sandstone craft how act and react around the Dhrangadhra village.
Silicosis Disease map has explain the journey of silica dust to silicosis disease. How silica dust is harmful for the human body. Sandstone craft produce the silica dust while work on Sandstone and that dust became the cause of lung disease.
