Paatra Kaam- Utensil Making of Rajasthan

Paatra, the lightweight bowls, are produced for the monks of the Shwetambar Jain and Vaishnava sect. Items such as large wooden plates, utensils for Jain and Vaishnav monks, bowls, boxes, rolling platform and pin, wooden pegs for walls, handles for tools are produced under this craft-form. Distinct community within these two sects needed a particular variety of products—five products were produced for the use of Terapanthi sadhus, monks, and thirteen products were created for sadhavis, Jain nuns. 

Traditionally, paatra was hand-sculpted from Roheda, Safeda, and mango wood. However, the advent of lathes and hand drills has made it much easier to attain the light weight needed for these vessels by wandering monks, and the market for paatra has significantly declined. Thus, in the towns of Pipad and Dpali, the major centres where this art was widely practised, only a few Muslim craftsmen retain their traditional skills. These artisans produce paatra for sale in Jain centres such as Ahmedabad and Palitana in Gujarat.