SARUKHETRI PITAL SARAI CLUSTER: ARTISTIC AND AESTHETIC SENSE OF FOLK ART FORMS ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Folk art and craft comprises art created by indigenous cultures, peasants, and other common individuals. It is frequently learned through rigorous apprenticeships or passed down from generation to generation within families. The patterns, themes, techniques, and materials of folk art and craft must have specific importance and convey a great deal about the culture or civilization to which they belong. In Assamese culture, brass metal articles, silk and bamboo articles are used for various purposes daily household activities, religious ceremonies, marriage gift items, musical instruments, etc. As an anthropological researcher when viewing folk art articles a careless inquiry occasionally pops into the researcher’s mind out of curiosity. The question might be, How did this item come into existence? who are the people who make these craft items, how are they skilled and who trains them? It often focuses on the many concerns surrounding traditions influencing and enhancing their learning process. Using an ethnographic methodology and narrative analysis, it is believed that all of these and many other questions will receive proper answers. Many Assamese tribal and folk cultures' traditional arts and crafts are currently in danger of being extinct. This article is an effort to describe and exhibit the rich artistic and craft traditions of the Barpeta district, Assam, which are currently in danger of extinction. In particular, it focuses on the collection of dying arts and crafts made by the metal craft communities of Assam. This research focuses on brass metal craft groups in the Sarukhteri region of Assam through mapping the structure of craft communities and external bodies between which knowledge exchange occurs. The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of how knowledge has been transferred in Assam's craft communities and to subsequently identify and comprehend some underlying problem areas.