Pottery

Worked by the kumhar (potter) community using a foot- or hand-spun wheel, traditional pottery ranges from plain unglazed water pots (matka) that cool water through evaporation, to painted and glazed wares like Delhi's blue pottery, made from a quartz-based dough rather than clay, and the black pottery of Nizamabad and Manipur's Longpi.

Clay vessels remain central to ritual life covered throughout this site — a kalash at nearly every puja, diyas lit by the thousand at Diwali, and images of deities themselves modeled in clay for immersion festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Durga Puja.