Into Bidar

A rickety bus ride from Hyderabad dropped us off at the historic town of Bidar. Perched close to the border of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Bidar today is a bustling town. Having served as the capital of the Bahamani dynasty in the past, it is steeped in history. Sadly its impressive fort ruins and history remain rather forgotten, while it’s precious age old craft – Bidri, is now its major claim to fame.

At first glance, Bidar seems like any other noisy, dusty little Indian town. People and buses whiz by and vehicles honk away noisily. It’s only later that we notice the fort walls in the backdrop, standing stoic, with the town settled all around it. It stirs up a weird sense of the future mingling with the past (surely the Sultans wouldn’t approve of its present state!).

Little stores flaunting gigantic Bidriware greet us all around. We visit a workshop situated along the periphery of the crumbling fort walls. We can’t get enough of the old ruins though, and stand glued…gasping in marvel, while the artisans chisel away nonchalantly. Forcing our eyes off the ancient walls, we walk into the workshop that gleams with its silver and black merchandise. 

 

Once inside, the rhythmic hammering of the silver slowly drowns all other noise. The artisans with their heads bent over, are completely engrossed in etching and chiseling magic into their wares. After a  full tour of the workshop, we feel  ‘all educated’ about  Bidri craft and its process.

The casting of alloy, carving and chiseling of designs, the hammering of silver in the tiny grooves, are all a tedious process. And then there’s the fascinating black soil ingredient from the Bidar Fort that has special chemical properties. Being away from sunlight and rain for hundreds of years, it is used as an oxidizing agent in the craft process. Chatting with the craftsmen, we gather a little trivia on the soil. Each goes with a different theory though. "No one really knows what makes this soil unique”. One suggests, “Back in the days of the Sultanate, copper coins were made in a section of the Fort. Powdered metal seeped down to the soil, giving it its oxidizing property over time”. Another claims it’s because ‘weapons were stored underground in the fort’.

We also found that there is no mass production of Bidriware, for the Bidar Fort soil is limited. Once this soil is depleted, the gleam of the silver and the rhythm of the chisel and file too will die.

Soon our short trip draws to an end and we realize that the town of Bidar, with its enormous Fort, the Rangin Mahal, Bahamani tombs, Mohamad Gawan Madarsa and the Chowbara  is an absolute must see. With not enough time to spare, we grudgingly board our bus back. We know we’ll return soon enough though… all that splendid 15^th century heritage is just too much to resist!