Page:The Industrial Arts of India.djvu/146

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Saharanpur. in the North-Western Provinces* has also obtained a name for its wood carving* and the town of Harpanhalli, in the Bell ary district of the Madras Presidency. Indeed, wood carving for architectural use is practised with more or less success in almost every village in India, The gods are everywhere carved in wood. Wooden hair combs are also universally carved ; and the manu- facture of combs in black wood is a speciality of the villages of Jeswada and Gangdi in the Dohad district of the Panch Mahals in Gujarat. Wooden bracelets are also universally turned, as will be more properly noticed under Lac-work.

Carved Ivory, Horn, and Tortoiseshell.

Ivory is carved all over India, but chiefly at Amritsar, Patiala, and Delhi, in the Panjab ; at Benares, Behrampore, and Murshed- abad, in Bengal ; at Surat, Abmedabad, Dam am, Balsar, and throughout Southern Gujarat, and at Sattara, in the southern Marat ha country, in the Bombay Presidency ; and at Tra van core, Yizagapatam, and Vizianagram, in Madras. The subjects are generally richly caparisoned elephants, state gondolas in gala trim, tigers, cows, and peacocks, all carved as statuettes ; and hunting, festive, and ceremonial scenes, and my tho logical subjects carved in relief The carved ivory combs [Plate 62] found in every Indian bazaar are also most artistic in form and detail. Sylhet, in the Dacca division of Bengal, is noted for its ivory fans ; and Rati am, in Western India, for its costly ivory bracelets. Recently a colony of ivory turners has settled at K ungram in the Rajshahye division of Bengal. Bison horn is carved into figures and other- wise wrought at Ratnagiri, Sawuntwadi, and elsewhere. Tortoise shell is worked into armlets and bracelets and other ornaments in Gujarat, and in the city of Bombay.