The tradition
Shadu clay idol making
- Based in
- Pen, Maharashtra
- Maker's mark
- Mineral pigments mixed by hand; no synthetic colour ever used.
In her words, our record
Pen has supplied Maharashtra with its festival idols for over a century. Anil grew up among drying racks of half-finished gods, learning to mould before he learned to write. He broke from the workshop tradition of plaster in his twenties, returning to shadu — a soft, pale clay that dissolves without harming the rivers it is immersed in.
His insistence on natural clay and mineral pigment made his work slower and more expensive, and for years it cost him buyers. Today it is exactly why collectors seek him out: an idol that is devotional, beautiful, and gentle on the earth.
He works to a strict seasonal rhythm, releasing only a small number of collector pieces each year outside the festival rush.
Inside the workshop
Where the work is made
Collect her work
