Stone Now

Rajasthan continues to be one of major centers of stone carving in the country. One can see artisans creating marble images of the deities as well as domestic utensils such as bowls for grinding spices and kneading dough. At Ajmer, Udaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner, one comes across some very fine examples of the intricate jali that reflect work done on screens and panels of the royal palaces and temples. The fine quality of marble and sandstone extracted from the numerous quarries in the state had given rise to a tradition of stonemasons and sculptors. The quarries at Makrana are quite famous, for it is from these quarries that the marble used in the Taj Mahal was mined. Also built using marble from Makrana mines were the exquisite Dilwara Jain temples at Mt Abu. Rupbas (near Agra) and Karauli still produce the red sandstone that was used by the Mughals to build their forts and palaces at Agra, Delhi, and Fatehpur Sikri.

In east Rajasthan, Kota produces gray stone for floor making, Barmer produces yellow marble for delicate carvings, and Ajmer produces granites. The soft chromatic stone mined from the quarries of Dungarpur are used by the stone carvers of the state for carving images of the deities. The stone becomes black when oiled. As the subject matter of these images is divine, the sculptors are required to work according to the guidelines laid down in the Shilpa Shastra, an ancient Hindu treatise on sculpture and architecture.

These stones have inspired generations of craftsmanship in Rajasthan. Apart from small iconic stone craft, Rajasthan is popular all over the world for other works of stone craft like staircases, furniture, tableware and artifacts etc. Many a contemporary stone projects have been inspired by the stone craft. Bhainslana marble, it is black in color and has white veins, giving it a strong visual texture. Quarried near Alwar in Rajasthan, it is a preferred stone for sculpture and is popular amongst many artists in India and abroad. Bijolia is a hard and robust sand-stone that is rarely used for carving or other decorative purposes, but it is extensively used in architecture, especially for roofing slabs as well as floors. Bijolia is quarried near Bhilwara in Southern Rajasthan and due to it's strength as well as its availability in fairly large lengths, it is popular in building construction. Quarried near the Karoli belt in Eastern Rajasthan, Karoli is the third stone used and it is a soft sandstone that has a textured surface. Due to its popularity as a traditional material, it enjoys widespread use for decorative purposes. Through the use of this medium, the artist accentuates stone as a basic element of our planet, whose diversity also reflects the richness and variety of Rajasthan, its ancient Aravalis, its desert vistas and its stone based architecture.