Benares brass is the term used for brassware from Benares (also known as Varanasi, Varenisi or Kaasi) in India.
Benares is a pilgrimage site in India, as it is considered home to Shiva or Visweswara, in Utash Pradesh (Uttar Pradesh State). Benares is particularly famous for its Benares Ware - decorative brass ware and the related popular tourist destination is the Benares Brass Bazaar. Benares is located in an area naturally rich in copper- a requisite ingredient of brass. Benares Brass is highly decorated by engraving, and highly sought after as an antique. Still produced, and available today are new and reproduction wares which may be any combination of embossed, engraved, enameled or burnished brass vessels and brass items.
In ancient India, brass oil lamps decorated with Sanskrit inscriptions, Hindu icons, women, and swans, were in early usage in Hindu temples, and households. Guilds were established in the various trades overseen by Karkhanadars: similar to the journeyman and apprentice of trades of European trades and artisans. Karkhanadars were required to train within the caste, or be subject to being outcasts themselves. The apprentice would need to develop his work for 6 years before achieving full wage and becoming a Karkhandadar. A school has been established in Benares to teach brassware and inevitably the timeless practices of the guilds are being replaced, to keep pace with modern societal demands.
Famous quotes containing the word brass:
“Thee for my recitative,
Thee in the driving storm even as now, the snow, the winter-day
declining,
Thee in thy panoply, thy measur’d dual throbbing and thy beat
convulsive,
Thy black cylindric body, golden brass and silvery steel,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)