Elephant

The craft of basketry pre-dates the craft of weaving and pottery by many thousands of years. Even at the food gathering stage, man used rudimentary articles made of intertwined branches for carrying wood and other things. Making a basket is a time intensive process, yet even today; it is still popular with every tribal and folk community around the world, who weave baskets for their everyday use.

Although, basketry was adopted universally by many communities, yet its uniqueness was expressed at various regions through the locally available materials that were used, like bamboo, cane, palm, grass, twigs, coir, etc. for its creation. The distinctiveness is also seen in the utility and purpose for which it was created. At some places it was used for storage or as a medium for carrying things and at others it took a more ritualistic form. There are also baskets made for specific use like straining rice beer, winnowing food grains or as traps for catching fish.

The craft of basketry also gives the craftsmen flexibility to play with the forms and create works of art by just exploiting the various shades of strips in their weaving pattern. For example, the elephant shaped sikki grass basket from Bihar is a fine example of creativity where the dyed grass is coiled along with the natural coloured grass to make an object distinct to the region and its aesthetics.