Lippan mirror wall
Kutch’s white clay-and-mirror relief on an earthen wall for Dhanteras: Lakshmi in clay, a medallion turning in, and every little mirror catching the lamp as it goes round.
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Lippan kaam is the clay-and-mirror relief work of Kutch, made by women of the Rabari, Mutwa and Meghwal communities on the inner walls of their round bhunga houses. Clay mixed with camel or donkey dung is rolled into thin coils and pressed onto the earthen wall in zigzags, triangles, rings, mango shapes, peacocks and trees, and small mirrors called aabhla are set into the wet clay at the corners and centres of the pattern. The relief is often washed white with lime. By the light of an oil lamp every mirror catches the flame, so a plain mud room glitters at night.
In this film the bhunga wall is lit for Dhanteras: Lakshmi comes forward out of the clay, the aarti lamp circles in front of her and each little mirror catches its flame as it passes, a round medallion spins in like a garba ring, your family photo sits in a lippan niche, and Lakshmi's footprints step in under the details. The artwork is drawn in the lippan style for this film; it is not made by the women artisans of Kutch. Your photo, names and message appear on the same earthen wall.
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