By Porter Lang
Start with the sand. Before there is a lamp or a bowl, there is a hollow pressed into river sand, and the metal goes in hot.
The casting
The government craft portal for handicrafts says scrap copper, zinc and lead are melted with flux and poured into iron moulds to form brass strips. A People’s Archive of Rural India reporter in the city describes the local casting trade, called dhalayi ka kaam. Workers fill mould containers with sand to create hollowed cavities, pour in molten brass, then cool and collect the metal. It says primary casters handle the pouring and moulding and assistants manage the furnace and load the coal. Further workers finish the pieces by removing excess brass and polishing. It lists coal, sand, wooden planks, iron rods, pliers and tongs as essential tools, and says about 300 grams of coal melts one kilogram of brass.
A geographical indication application filed on behalf of the Uttar Pradesh government says the sand-casting uses sand from the Ram Ganga river, with 80 to 95 per cent sand in the mix. We have not seen how that figure was measured.
The finishing
The portal says the craft includes engraving, enamelling, appliqué, which it describes as soldering, chasing and repoussé, which it describes as hammering from the reverse side. It says the engraving draws on nature and Mughal art. The craft body All India Artisans and Craftworkers Association says the work uses brass, lacquer, enamel and lac colours, with nature themes of trees, flowers, birds and animals alongside geometric patterns from Mughal and Persian-Turkish styles. It says pieces show a golden-yellow brass tone with lacquer-filled engravings in reds, greens and blues. The GI application adds electroplating in nickel, copper and silver, and quotes George Watt in 1903 calling Moradabad the original and chief centre of lac-coloured metal craft.
How many hands
The craft association says five to seven specialised artisans contribute across stages, depending on the size and complexity of each piece. That is the association’s statement, and we have no second source.
Where the story starts
The sources give three different beginnings. The portal says the tradition started in the seventeenth century under Mughal rule, when Kashmiri artisans moved there, and that by the nineteenth century the city exported brass and copper goods to Europe. The craft association says the craft emerged in the late seventeenth century during the Mughal period, when skilled artisans began producing metalware for royal households. The GI application says the craft dates to the Mughal period, with documented evidence from a Delhi exhibition in 1902, and says exports began in the 1950s. The reporter quotes a worker who says his family has been casting for almost 200 years. We show each and have not tried to reconcile the nineteenth-century export claim with the 1950s one.
Two dates for the tag
The reporter says the craft received a geographical indication tag in 2014 and is part of the government’s One District One Product scheme. The craft association says the GI was granted in 2023. The GI application in our sources was filed on 28 January 2019. Three different years cannot all be right, and we show them without choosing.
What it makes
The portal lists bells, lamps, incense holders, door handles, decorative pieces, figurines, bowls and planters. The reporter lists prayer bowls, lamps, Om symbols and temple furnishings. The GI application adds jewellery, trophies and household goods and says the range has widened to iron, aluminium, nickel and silver wares.
How big it is
The craft association says Moradabad accounts for about 40 per cent of India’s brass handicraft exports and ships to over 100 countries. The GI application says there are about 5,250 registered small-scale units, with about 26,800 direct artisans and 22,500 indirect workers, and lists the UK, US, Canada and the Gulf among the main export markets. All of these are undated or from an application, and we do not treat them as current counts. We left out the value figures.
A buyer’s test
The craft association says genuine brass is non-magnetic, resists rust and has substantial weight. We have not tested these, and a magnet only shows that something is not iron.
Dates in order
The sources give these dates. The seventeenth century, or the late seventeenth, for the start under Mughal rule. The nineteenth century, for exports to Europe, according to the portal. The year 1902, for the Delhi exhibition evidence. The year 1903, for the quotation from Watt. The 1950s, for the start of exports, according to the GI application. The year 2014 or 2023 for the GI tag, and 28 January 2019 for the application. Each date sits with one source, and we have not found a second for any of them.
What kind of sources these are
The portal and the GI application are official. The reporter’s piece is journalism, and its quotes come from workers it does not name in the summary we read. The craft association is a trade-support body. We name no workshop or maker.
What the sources do not say
None explains how a mould is made before the sand goes in, how pieces are checked, or who owns the units. We have not filled those gaps. We also left out the report’s account of the workforce and its pay.
What it means for a buyer
Our view is that the best questions are plain. Was the piece sand-cast, and where? Is the colour in the engraving lac or lacquer or enamel? Is it brass throughout, or plated? The sources describe all of these methods in Moradabad, so the answer tells you more than the city name does.
Where sources differ, we show each: the start of the craft, the year of the GI tag and the export history. We list them in the check file.
Roam first. Shop later.