A

ritualistic mask connects the

deity, spirit, or supernatural

power represented and the

believer. This medium of disguise

characterizes the selected power.

If the power does not converge in the medium, the

rituals remain ineffective. These hard holy cultural

objects are economical and reusable unlike make-

up. Himalayas follows the multi-purpose timeless

global tradition of the masks for awareness and

entertainment. Every local mountain community

adds a personal touch to the tradition.

Popular mask dance dramas of Ladakh and not-

so popular mask theatre of Nanda Cycle of Lata in

Chamoli illustrated the localization of varied aspects

of the tradition. The latter

used small number of masks

in dark color scheme unlike

bright bold color scheme of

the former. Lata employed

dark brown, blue, and black

colors for all the masks

barring light pinkish mask of Laata. The Ladakhi

craftsmen applied bright blue, green, maroon,

red, white, yellow colors... to the masks. A careful

inspection of the bright masks helped in spotting

the eyes of many performers. The performers’ eyes

were visible from the open mouths of some masks,

whereas from the holes in the eyes of other masks.

The similar visual scanning of the masks from

Lata did not reveal the eyes of all the mask drama

performers. Rice and turmeric patterns added

exclusiveness to the latter masks.

The masks ensured a consistent countenance

throughout both the performances. Masks were

generally bigger than the performer’s face. Masks

slowed down the typical simple body movements.

The masks rested on layers of clothes. Another

similarity was use of funny masks to lighten the

intense religious atmosphere. The fun was not clean

in either place: cheap in the former and rude in the

latter.

I met one of the mask craftsmen in his native village

Urgam in Uttarakhand, a well-known center for

mask making. Dharmlal proudly showed his artisan

identity card issued by Office of Development

Commissioner (Handicrafts), Ministry of Textiles,

Govt. of India. He practices bamboo-, cane-, and

wood-craft. He won the Uttarakhand State Shilp

Ratan Award 2015 and received Gram Shree Award

from Urgam Village Panchayat two years later.

Dharmlal learnt the

skill from his father.

He takes four days

to craft a mask. A

day is spent in the

forest to collect raw

material and the

remaining days in designing and making. He buys

taxable raw material from the local forest. The price

of a mask (₹1,500-1,600) is not high given the time

and effort involved.

The raw material includes pangar (Indian Horse

Chestnut) wood, red color from utish (Indian alder),

pink color from rose, yellow color from piyauli

(Yellow Flex) flowers or root and kilmoda (Indian

barberry or tree turmeric) root, and white drawing

color. Soot is collected from the burnt pine to make

black color. A wood varnish provides base for the

feature detailing.

I saw the mask models in his house and the real ones

I could touch and photograph the

models. But, a common person like

me cannot touch the real masks.

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