Still in Demand: Meet the 'Mandap Wallahs' of Jhansi
Jhansi: Rajesh of Ghas Mandi, Jhansi, says his family has been making mandaps since before the time of the Rani of Jhansi. ‘This is a profession passed down over generations, not just something we started doing now," he says. His marketing skills appear to be as proficient as his skill to make his vibrant wares.
If you haven’t attended a wedding in southeastern Uttar Pradesh lately, late May to early June is the right time to don your new choli, learn the latest DJ mixes, and starve yourself all day to accommodate the best of Bundelkhand’s shaadi fare on offer.
Despite the heat, the colours and the tamasha, as well as the variety of the hair and make up of the bridal parties, will make you instantly forget the summer sweat.
If it doesn’t, the mood-lifting hand-painted mandaps strewn across the baraat, swaying to the irregular beat of a cracked DJ’s speaker, definitely will. These mandaps are a well-known part of the creative economy of weddings in Bundelkhand, and Khabar Lahariya went door-to-door in Jhansi to speak to some of the artisans who have continued to carry the flag for local wedding arts and craft in the face of modernisation.
We found Rajesh’s neighbour Rani, sitting against a distracting mural outside her house, hard at work, demonstrating some striking yellows and reds on the mandap she is painting. If her smile wasn't so endearing, one would think she was showing off a little. "It takes four colours, plastic, cellophane and several of these little windows to make one mandap," she says.
Bhaggo Devi, who in reality ought to be retired happily, and relaxing on a charpai, says she can make 10-20 mandaps in a day, if the season demands it. Each mandap sells for Rs 150.
But like everything else, these colourful markers of wedding processions in Bundelkhand have a short shelf life. "Weddings used to happen at people’s homes, and a lot of time was spent painting the walls and dressing up the house. Now, people spend money on wedding halls and baraat ghars, so there is no decoration of the house. Soon enough, the mandaps that people from far and wide come to get in Bundelkhand, will also disappear," says Rajesh.
But mandap-less weddings are still a while away. On a hot May afternoon, Avdesh Kumar has come all the way from Lalitpur, 95 km away, to buy mandaps for a summer wedding in his family. "There’s no wedding without them," he says.
Khabar Lahariya is a rural, video-first digital news organisation with an all-women network of reporters in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh.
The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
