The History of Dokra
Dokra is a 4500-year-old metal casting technique with the earliest Dokra artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age from the Indus Valley Civilization. It is still practiced by tribal craftsmen in India today.
The name Dokra comes from the Dokra Damar tribes, who were traditional metal smiths that practiced this craft. Works depict daily scenes from tribal culture such as dancers, musicians, ornaments, animals, birds and jewelry.
The most famous dokra artifact, The Dancing Girl, was excavated from the Indus Valley Civilization and is currently on display at the National Museum in New Delhi, India.
Archaeologist Gregory Possehl described Dancing Girl as "the most captivating piece of art from an Indus site" and states "We may not be certain that she was a dancer, but she was good at what she did and she knew it."
THE DOKRA PROCESS
It takes a tribal artisan 8 days to craft one dokra handle. Dokra is a 4500-year-old metal casting technique still being practiced by tribal craftsmen in India.
Locally Sourced | Sustainable Materials
artisans use bees wax, resin, upcycled brass, river clay, rain prepped mud, sun baked drums and earthen kilns built inside their homes.
No Electricity | Slow & Seasonal
no electricity is used to make dokra handles. It is sun dried and rain prepped. If it rains too much or too little, the mud consistency is incorrect, resulting in air bubbles that show up as defects and blurs in the design. If it is too hot they cannot fire the kiln.
Ancient Technique
artisans still use the same methods their ancestors used 4000 years ago. Dokra is labor intensive; 1 in 4 handles come out damaged or broken at the end of the 8 day process
The Dokra Collection: Season 1
Frequently Asked Questions
Dokra is an ancient tribal metal casting technique from the Indus valley Civilization that is still being practiced in India today.
Designs are first sculpted in beeswax and resin, encased in layers of clay and mud, then fired in a kiln where molten brass replaces the wax to form the final metal piece. The technique produces distinctive textured, organic metalwork that cannot be replicated by a machine.
No electricity is used to make dokra, it's heavily weather dependent and made entirely from locally sourced upcycled materials making it zero waste.
Dokra is at least 4,500 years old. The most famous Dokra artefact, the Dancing Girl sculpture, was excavated from the Indus Valley Civilization and is currently displayed at the National Museum in New Delhi. The craft has been passed down through generations of tribal artisans — the Dokra Damar tribes — without any formal education system, entirely through oral and practical knowledge.
The earliest pieces of Dokra craft were excavated from the Indus Valley Civilization (c.4500 - 1300 BCE) located along the banks of the Indus River which is in modern day India and Pakistan.
Dokra Damar tribes, who practiced this craft at that time, passed down the craft over generations. Dokra is still practiced by tribes in India in the states of Bengal, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
It takes a single artisan 8 days to make one dokra handle for an enarai bag. No electricity is used to create dokra, making it heavily weather dependent. Artisans use bees wax, rain-fed clay, sun baked mud, and locally sourced upcycled brass to hand craft dokra pieces.
Enarai's artisans use entirely locally sourced, sustainable materials
- beeswax and tree resin (for the wax model),
- rain-collected mud and river clay (for the mould casing),
- upcycled brass (for casting), and
- earthen kilns built inside artisan homes
- no synthetic materials are used
This indigenous craft is hyper local and inherently sustainable in nature. Dokra is zero waste — even broken pieces are re-melted into the next cast.
National Museum, New Delhi (India)
The Indian Museum, Kolkata (India)
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (UK)
The British Museum, London (UK)
Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris (France)
Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C. (USA)
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (USA)
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (India)
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai (India)
The State Museum of Ethnography, Leipzig (Germany)
Museum of World Cultures, Gothenburg (Sweden)
Asia Society Museum, New York (USA)
Deccan Heritage Centre, Hyderabad (India)
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST. ENARAI CANNOT GUARANTEE THESE EXHIBITS WILL BE ON DISPLAY WHEN YOU VISIT, PLEASE CHECK WITH THE MUSEUM DIRECTLY SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO PLAN A VISIT TO VIEW DOKRA ART.
Mr. Praphulo, a 6th generation dokra artisan in Orissa, India, made every single enarai handle over the course of an entire year.
National Museum, New Delhi (India)
The Indian Museum, Kolkata (India)
Victoria and Albert Museum, London (UK)
The British Museum, London (UK)
Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Paris (France)
Smithsonian Institution – National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, D.C. (USA)
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (USA)
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi (India)
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, Mumbai (India)
The State Museum of Ethnography, Leipzig (Germany)
Museum of World Cultures, Gothenburg (Sweden)
Asia Society Museum, New York (USA)
Deccan Heritage Centre, Hyderabad (India)
PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST. ENARAI CANNOT GUARANTEE THESE EXHIBITS WILL BE ON DISPLAY WHEN YOU VISIT, PLEASE CHECK WITH THE MUSEUM DIRECTLY SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO PLAN A VISIT TO VIEW DOKRA ART.
enarai supports the enarai foundation. Thank you for being a steward of craftsmanship.
This 4500-year-old craft has been passed down over generations without any formal education. The enarai foundation strives to document, highlight, preserve and incentivize the communities that create these craft forms by including them in the evolution of creative and sustainable craft preservation.
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Objects With Soul
a personal journal by founder Kanika Issar sharing essays on the values, systems and processes behind handmade craft at enarai