The mould is broken open

South India has a multitude of beautiful things to buy. The region produces fabulous textiles including the famous Kanchipuram silk. It’s also known for woodcarving, especially sandalwood, and various forms of metalwork. Fort Cochin in Kerala has one of India’s foremost antique bazaars. Orissa has a wide selection of handicrafts. Some of the best devotional kitsch in the world is available from the bazaars.

Every town has a bazaar, and big cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai have many bazaars that seem to merge into each other. Bazaars are like a world apart, with specialist areas set aside for particular goods (shoes, saris, jewellery etc).

For the traveller, bazaars are more about looking than shopping. Here you’ll see acres of unbelievable plastic kitsch alongside fine silks and cottons as well as mountains of cooking implements. In many towns Tibetans have set up their temporary bazaars of woollen clothing. These are especially popular around the hill stations. In all the tourist centres, Kashmiri traders sell nearly identical wares of carpets, sandalwood elephants and lurid batik and tie-dyed cloth. Much of it is mass-produced and tacky, but if you persist they often have better stuff stored away. Pilgrimage towns have shops selling religious bric-a-brac to Indian tourists, including beads, statues, ash paste and mindblowing bright posters. The food stalls present an olfactory as well as a visual delight.

Government emporiums can be found in major cities and usually stock a large range of local crafts. Prices are fixed and are a little higher than you would pay in the bazaar, but for novices who don’t know the going rates for crafts or who are inexperienced in judging quality, the emporiums are a reasonably safe bet.

Be careful when buying items that include delivery to Australia. You may be told that the price includes home delivery and all customs and handling charges. Inevitably this is not the case, and you may find yourself having to collect the item yourself from your main port or airport, pay customs charges (which could be as much as 20% of the item’s value) as well as handling charges levied by the airline or shipping company (up to 10% of the value). If you can’t collect the item promptly, or get someone to do it on your behalf, exorbitant storage charges may also apply.

Metalwork
Bidriware is a craft named after the town of Bidri in northern Karnataka where silver is inlaid into gunmetal. Hookah pipes, lamp bases and jewellery boxes are made in this manner. Bidri employs the technique of sand-casting. Skilled artisans make a mould from sand, resin and oil and then pour in the molten metal.

Small bronze figures of various deities are available in Tamil Nadu, especially in and around major temple towns. The bronze makers still employ the centuries’ old lost-wax method of casting, a legacy of the Chola period when bronze sculpture reached its apex in skill and beauty.

A wax figure is made, a injection mould is formed around it and the wax is melted and poured out. The molten metal is poured in and when it’s solidified the mould is broken open. Figures of Shiva as Lord of the Dance, Nataraja, are among the most popular. Small copper bowls, cigarette boxes and paan containers are still handmade in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh), Bell metal lamps are a good buy in Thrissur (Kerala).

Jewellery
South India’s most important jewellery-making centres are Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and Thanjavur. Hyderabad is a major centre for cultured pearls. Cuttack in Orissa is a centre for delicate silver filigree jewellery andornaments. Tirunelveli in southern Tamil Nadu is a centre for many types of jewellery, particularly large chunky pieces. South Indian jewellery is generally distinguished from that made in the north by its use of motifs inspired by nature -lotus buds, flowers, grass stalks and in Kerala. birds.

Woodwork
Mysore (Karnataka) is South India’s main centre of sandalwood carving, and while sandalwood was once reserved for carving likenesses of Gods, nowadays all manner of things are made, from solid pieces of furniture to keyrings and ornate fans. Rosewood is used for making furniture and carving animals. Carved elephants are a speciality of Kerala.