Home›Heritage of the Deccan›Crafts›Bidriware
Bidriware is the signature metalcraft of Bidar, made the same way for more than five centuries. A vessel of zinc-and-copper alloy is cast, scored with a steel point, inlaid with hammered silver and brass wire, and then dipped in a paste of soil from the Bidar fort that turns the alloy a deep matte black — leaving the silver inlay untouched and gleaming against it.[1] No other metalwork looks like it.
Black metal inlaid with silver
Casting, scoring, inlay, and the blackening paste unique to Bidar
The craft takes its name from Bidar, the only place it has ever been made. A vessel is cast in an alloy of zinc and copper, its surface scored with a steel point in a pattern, then inlaid with hammered silver and brass wire set into the scored lines. The vessel is finally dipped in a paste made from soil taken from within the Bidar fort itself, which reacts with the alloy to turn it a deep matte black — while leaving the silver, untouched by the reaction, standing out bright against it.[1]
Continuing tradition
Still practised by Bidar's karigars, and protected as a Geographical Indication
Bidriware remains in production in Bidar today, carried on by the same families of karigars who have practised it for generations. It is registered as a Geographical Indication (GI) of India, recognition of a craft that, despite its fame across the Deccan and beyond, has never been successfully replicated anywhere else — the blackening reaction depends on the particular soil of the Bidar fort itself.
Comments