📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
For Jalaluddeen, 55, bone carving is not just an art but a family legacy he has carried forward for nearly five decades. Based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, Jalaluddeen and his family are among the last artisans practicing this traditional craft using discarded buffalo bones from slaughterhouses. They transform these into exquisite handicrafts, home decor, and office items.
In a candid conversation with indianexpress.com, Jalaluddeen and his son Akhil Akhtar traced their craft’s origins back to the kings and kingdoms’ era, when bone carving involved ivory tusks. “Mughals brought nakashi (mirror work) and spices to India. During that time, craftsmen used ivory for their craft. When ivory was banned, artisans switched to camel or buffalo bones sourced from slaughterhouses after the meat was sold,” Jalaluddeen said.
Inspired by the Nawabi era, bone carving involves multiple labour-intensive steps, including cutting, cleaning, and bleaching, before the materials can be crafted into products like jewellery boxes, lamps, frames, pens, and paperweights.
However, sourcing bones is not always easy. “Sometimes, we don’t get bones for months. That’s why we stockpile seven to eight months’ worth of raw material, costing around Rs 1 lakh,” Akhtar said.
Jalaluddeen and Akhtar said that while the demand for these handcrafted items exists, the painstaking nature of the work makes it less appealing to younger generations. “We are doing our best to preserve this legacy. We train people, but our capacity is limited,” Jalaluddeen said.
In 2009, Jalaluddeen received the National Award from former President Dr Pranab Mukherjee, a recognition he still cherishes. His home doubles as a workshop where he trains aspiring artisans, works on his creations using delicate knives and chisels, and meets customers who come to admire and purchase his work.
Despite the new-found attention (and opposition), the family remains focused on their craft and hopes for broader support. “It would be wonderful if NGOs could help train more people in this 400-year-old art. This way, we can keep it alive,” Jalaluddeen and Akhil said.
Recently, content creator Shenaz Treasurywala introduced the family’s work to a wider audience via Instagram.
“I met this bone carver in Lucknow – such a humble man – he has traveled all over the world with his bone carving art. He’s been to places I’ve never been, like Brazil and Korea too. He’s won many National Awards. He sends packages across the globe – one going to Brazil today. I know what you’re thinking – is this ethical? Is this PETA Friendly? I was thinking that, too. But they assured me that these bones are when the animal is already dead – it’s just using the bones that would otherwise be buried,” she wrote in a post.
According to the nonprofit organisation, carving on animal bones—whether from buffalo, cattle, or other animals and the use of animal remains in art and artifacts is “disrespectful and unnecessary.” “The demand for bone products, whether for bone char, bone china, or artefacts, surpasses the incidental use of animals killed for beef, fueling the targeted slaughter of animals for their very bones and treating them as commodities, each body part adding to the incentive to make profit from slaughter,” Dr Kiran Ahuja (B.P.Th, DNHE), manager of Vegan Projects, PETA India, told indianexpress.com.
