This Diwali, many earthen diyas would light the houses of some artisans who are now learning the art of new-designing the traditional diyas-known as the quintessence of the festival of light-to blend them a modern touch. Artistically coloured, decorated, packed in attractive boxes, these diyas being made by the artisans from Imlikheda village near Roorkee have started getting orders from the corporate houses under SIIDCUL Haridwar.

Inspired by Uttarakhand art Aipan, the officers of the district industries centre have empowered some poor women of the village by teaching them the art of designing, packaging and marketing. Now, the Diwali approaching, the village women are engaged in giving shape to aesthetically beautiful earthen diyas.

Dwelling on the initiative undertaken under Uttarakhand handloom handicraft development council, a senior SIIDCUL officer said that it would not just empower the poor village women financially but would revive the traditional item of Diwali now getting lost under the flood of electric lights and the like. “If presented in a new, attractive and modern form, the diyas can have a good market not just in Uttarakhand but in other parts of the country. The tradition continuing through ages should be kept alive and this initiative of ours is a step in the direction,” the officer said.

One of the village women who are now busy churning out such diyas in their huts said that aside from helping them to eke out a living, it was giving them a kind of religious satisfaction. “Diyas are becoming extinct and the people, particularly in the towns, hardly use such diyas to light their houses. But the newly designed diyas would, definitely, boost the demand of the traditional decor of the Diwali.

If it fetches money for us other women in the village and other villages would be inspired to take up the same in future. It would not just fetch financial gains but also save the traditional diyas from being exterminated by the flood of electric lights,” she added.