In Bihar, poor Muslim women make clay stoves for Hindu Chhath

The Chhath ‘Mahaparv’, Bihar's most popular Hindu festival, is seen as an occasion of communal harmony.

One significant highlight of that amity is the humble Muslim community’s contribution towards making ‘mitti ka chulhas’ (earthen stoves) that are used by people from the majority community for cooking prasad (sacred food offerings) during the festivity, which is dedicated to the sun god.

The scenario is no different this year.

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Quraisha Khatoon, a poor middle-aged Muslim woman, was found preparing the stoves to sell them ahead of the festival as part of an old tradition of her family. It is not that the venture is monetarily rewarding. What drives her to keep doing it is that she has been engaged in crafting the stoves for nearly three decades now. It is nothing less than an essential duty for her.

Dozens like Quraisha

Her story is not exclusive. There are dozens of Muslim women like her, financially vulnerable, who are busy giving the final touches to the stoves as the four-day festival kicked off on Saturday (October 25).

While walking on major streets in the state capital Patna, such as Beer Chand Patel Path, Daroga Prasad Rai Path, and Bailey Road, one can see their unfinished organic items either being laid out on the pavement for drying or the finished ones kept on display for the customers, Hindu devotees, to pick.

Muslim guardians of Hindu sentiments

They even take full care of the Hindu devotees’ religious sentiments, like giving up eating garlic and onion and avoiding non-vegetarian food while preparing the stoves. They also take a bath before starting the work and ensure that nobody touches the items with their feet, as they are meant for a holy occasion.

From commoners’ places to the high-security VIP areas housing residences of the chief minister and other ministers, judges, and bureaucrats, the sight of the Muslim-made 'mitti ka chulhas' waiting to be a part of a Hindu festival enthrals many, even in a highly polarised pre-election ambience.

Struggle for survival

The poor Muslim women, who engage in the task of making the stoves, mostly belong to the Bakho community, a lower caste under the Pasmanda Muslims. They are socially, educationally, and economically the most backward and face a herculean struggle for survival. The opportunity to sell the chulhas during Chhath is something they eagerly look forward to.

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“We make special earthen stoves for Hindu devotees to prepare prasad for Chhath. Our hand-made earthen stoves are in high demand because they are organic. Nothing except farmland clay, wheat straw, clean water, sunshine, and our hard work gives final shape to these stoves for the Chhath devotees,” said Quraisha, sitting on the pavement of the road near the elitist New Patna Club, with her fully dried earthen stoves on display for sale.

The woman harbours optimism that all her stoves would be sold in the next few days as the state would become busy celebrating the rituals of the festival, including ‘nahai-khai’ (when devotees take a dip in water bodies), ‘kharna’ (when sweet dishes prepared and distributed) and ‘arghya’ (offering water and milk) to both the rising and setting sun to mark the end of the festival.

Growing religious polarisation, hate politics, and rising prices of ingredients such as clay have challenged these Muslim women and their craft but they have so far succeeded in continuing with their age-old tradition of catering to the Chhath devotees.

For people such as Quraisha, the Chhath season brings a joyful feeling, not only because the sale of the stoves earns them some money. It is also fulfilling for them to see Hindu devotees happily buying their products without much bargaining.

According to Quraisha, who has a big family of nine members, including her grandchildren, and lives in a slum in Patna located behind the office of a well-known political party, she makes nearly 200 chulhas and sells them every Chhath. For some, it could be 400.

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Like Quraisha, Mushtaqeema Khatoon, Ashma Ara, Saheena Bano, and Nashreen Bano also wait on the same pavement with their freshly made stoves, looking for takers.

Mushtaqeema said some women devotees visit them to buy one or even more stoves, besides others.

Fear of religious polarisation

However, she said, times have changed much now compared to what it was earlier. The growing religious polarisation and hate politics have left many of these women nervous, and they feel their minority identity could hamper their sales during Chhath.

Maimuna, an elderly woman who herself doesn’t engage in the craft of making the stoves anymore, but accompanies her daughter-in-law on the pavement as the latter takes up the tradition, said it matters little for the Hindu buyers that the chulhas are made and sold by Muslims.

“We have been involved in this for the last five decades. It is purely our dedication towards continuing our elders’ tradition of making the 'mitti ka chulha' for Chhath,” she told The Federal.

Maimuna also said it is not only the women but also the menfolk of the family who chip in to prepare the clay required for giving shape to the stoves, drying them in the sun, and selling them.

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High demand, decent profit

Not far from Quraisha’s location on the pavement, Afsana Bano, a young and unmarried woman, said while giving shape to nearly a dozen earthen stoves that they put up a team work, including herself, her sister, their close relatives and even some neighbours, much ahead of Chhath to make the stoves and get them ready by the time the festival comes. She said they make a decent profit from the sale.

A few metres from Afsana sits Julie Khatoon, mother of four minor daughters. Her husband, Sher Mohammad, extends a helping hand in preparing the stoves in larger numbers to meet what they call a high demand. Julie said they take utmost care in making the earthen items since they are used in the puja, and also that they earn a decent amount of money since the devotee-customers do not bargain much.

Sher Mohammad told this publication they are selling the stoves for Rs 110 to 120 each to wholesale traders, who purchase them in dozens.

An earthen stove is an essential item used during Chhath. Devotees use dry mango wood as fuel to prepare prasad. They also use earthen and brass utensils, baskets made of bamboo, fresh fruits and vegetables, newly harvested rice and fresh sugarcane juice during the festival.

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These women also said that after Chhath, they would shift to other work, like selling steel utensils, to earn a living. They sell things such as old clothes, cheap toys during other times of the year.

Hindu devotees a thankful lot

The Hindu devotees did not hesitate to thank the makers of the stoves.

Shobha Devi, a resident of Patna’s Mitra Mandal Colony and a devotee, said only mango wood is used for cooking the traditional Chhath meal of boiled rice, (kaddu) pumpkin, and sweet dishes in the earthen stove. She has also bought two stoves for the occasion.

Neena Singh, a middle-aged Chhath devotee from Sri Krishna Nagar in the state capital, thanked the makers of the 'mitti ka chulhas' from the minority community.

“For devotees like me, 'mitti ka chulhas' are pure, and it is an age-old tradition to prepare prasad in them for Chhath. We are thankful to the Muslims who work hard under the open sky, ignoring scorching sun and dust to make and sell us these stoves at affordable rates. You won’t get it anywhere, except here,” she said.

Saket Kumar, a local businessman, said such hand-made stoves were rare in urban centres like Patna. “They are available to Hindus during Chhath, thanks to the Muslim families, who have been making and selling on the roadside,” he told The Federal.

The poor Muslim women are also not sparing any effort to earn the customers’ trust.

Challenges galore

There are several challenges that they face in making the earthen stoves, but they face them. Quraisha said those Muslim families who make the stoves buy clay from suppliers who get it from farmers in nearby rural areas at a rate of Rs 3,000-Rs 4,000 per tractor. The preparation for making the chulhas begins soon after Durga Puja, another major festival.

Speaking about the difficulties, she said clay has become costly nowadays. In the late 1980s or 90s, the ingredient was cheap and easily available, as Patna city was not as big then as it is today.

“Now, clay comes from distant rural areas about 30 to 40 kilometres from here,” Quraisha said.

Julie appreciates the praise and affection her products get from devotees who buy them despite them being Muslims and poor, and says it helps their confidence.

Married women observe 36 36-hour fasts during the course of the Chhath festival. Thousands of people, mostly married women, throng the banks of rivers, including the Ganges, Punpun, Gandak and Kosi, as well as big and small water bodies, to have a bath before preparing vegetarian food on the earthen stoves.