Cuttack Silver Filigree (Tarakasi)
Silver drawn to hair-fine wire and coiled into lace you can hold.
Cuttack silver filigree, or tarakasi, is an openwork craft in which very fine silver wire is twisted, flattened and shaped into scrolls, flowers, leaves and geometric mesh, then soldered together to make jewellery, boxes, plates, models of monuments, deities, boats and, most spectacularly, the towering silver backdrops (chandi medha) built for Cuttack's Durga and Kali Puja pandals. The work is light, intricate and almost weightless for its size, and the finest pieces have no solid ground at all — the design is held together only by its own wirework.
Craft at a Glance
Origin
Cuttack, Odisha
Also Known As
Tarakasi, Cuttacki tarakasi, silver filigree of Odisha
Craft Type
Silver filigree metalwork (tarakasi)
Practising Community
Muslim and Hindu silversmith (Roupyakar) families of Cuttack, many working under master ateliers
Materials
Fine silver with a little copper for working strength; borax flux and silver solder; gold for gilded pieces; and a steel draw-plate and small rolling mill for making the wire and ribbon.
Known For
Openwork silver jewellery and objects, and the towering filigree backdrops of Cuttack's Durga Puja
Where It's Made
Cuttack city, Odisha — the workshops of the old town, Balu Bazaar and Nayasarak
Time to Create
Days to months, depending on size and fineness
GI Status
Cuttack Silver Filigree is a registered GI of Odisha
Process Steps
Refining and alloying the silver
Silver is melted and lightly alloyed with copper so the wire will be strong enough to bend and hold a shape.
Drawing the wire
The silver is cast into a rod and pulled through successively smaller holes in a draw-plate until it is hair-fine.
Twisting and flattening
Pairs of wire are twisted together and passed through a rolling mill to make flat, textured ribbon.
Making the frame
Heavier wire is bent into the outline of the piece — a pendant, a leaf, a peacock, a shrine arch — to hold the filling.
Shaping and placing the motifs
The fine ribbon is coiled and bent into spirals, flowers and mesh with tweezers and set inside the frame.
Soldering
The piece is fluxed, sprinkled with solder filings, and heated so every join fuses at once.
Pickling and finishing
The piece is cleaned in acid, rinsed, burnished to a shine, and any gilding is applied.
Technique Glossary
Tarakasi
The Odia name for silver filigree, literally 'wire work'.
Chandi medha
The large silver-filigree backdrop built for Durga and Kali Puja in Cuttack.
Draw-plate
A hardened steel plate with a graded row of holes through which metal is pulled to make wire.
Jali
The openwork mesh filling of a filigree design, made entirely of shaped fine wire.
Flux (borax)
A paste that cleans the metal and lets solder flow into the joints when heated.
Pickling
Soaking a soldered piece in dilute acid to remove firescale and flux residue.
Roupyakar
The silversmith community of Cuttack that carries the filigree tradition.
A Craft Through Time
Medieval
Filigree in Odisha
Wire-work reaches Cuttack through maritime and overland trade and is taken up by local silversmiths.
Pre-modern
Court and temple patronage
Rulers and temples commission filigree jewellery, plates and ritual objects.
19th century
Exhibition craft
Cuttack filigree is shown at colonial-era international exhibitions and collected abroad.
20th century
The Puja spectacle
Cuttack's Durga Puja committees begin commissioning ever-larger silver medhas, sustaining the craft economy.
2023
Geographical Indication
Cuttack Silver Filigree is registered as a GI of Odisha.
Present
Jewellery and festival art
The craft continues through jewellery, giftware and the annual demand for the giant Puja backdrops.
Did You Know?
Some Durga Puja pandals in Cuttack are backed by silver filigree medhas weighing well over a hundred kilograms, built new or added to year after year by the neighbourhood's artisans.
Every craft has a story. Every story begins with tradition.