see the royal sandooq type box in the picture,its very veautiful box ,made up of fine sheesham wood.usually best type of wood is used in manufacturing of such boxes.fine caving work adds extra charm to the box.intricate inlay work of brass and copper.its shining and strenght is superb.but the karigars(artisans) of these boxes are numbered nowadays because no one bother to give so much karigari to the handicraft pieces due to various reasons.artisans are not available now.many have passed away and a few left.one reason is the pricing factor.if karigar incline to produce a good art piece,he cant get appropriate pricing of his good articles.its why good items are rare in this industry nowadays.one senior karigar told me that real artisans are no more in this industry.so the work that used to be 20 years back is not possible with same artistry.

in Islam animal patterns are not allowed so artisans used floral & geometrical patterns,its why this is a speciality in Islamic art in muslim world.AlHmbra and taj mahal in spain is the master piece of this are.many times the verses of Holy Quran was used in beautiful calligraphical style to decorate the minarets,walls,plates & documents etc.this calligraphical pattern are called as fun-ne-khattati.there are various styles in this writing pattern.these all styles are awesome.see the qutub minar in mehrauli ,new delhi.sir syed ahmad khan in his famous book 'aasar-us-sanadeed'given an awesome picturesque account of qutub minar's calligraphical work,mainly verses from the holy quran and many interesting things in the book.hand works and architectural monuments of muslim era of indian sub continent are the subject of the book.the origin of indian stone and wooden carved handicraft can be traced from these monuments.

in saharanpur electricity availabilty is a major problem to get the orders fulfilled on time.if we use generators to produce electricity then cost of the items go up,naturally we lag behind in competition in international market.we work manually on the items,due to this production is less & costly.our wood e.g.sheesham is very costly.all these facors contribute to a stiff competition.

The human nature has always been to decorate every thing in use. From the beginning of mankind he had started to express his emotions by carving out all his feelings in stones & wood.Thus, it resulted in the beginning of carving craft. Though the carving in the solid surface is everlasting but in the wood it is not as satisfactory due to its comparatively soft tendency. Usually we face cracks, to be damaged by insects, or to suffer from changes in the atmosphere. In spite of all these odds artisans have always been successful in defeating these obstacles by their constant endeavor to produce better. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition, “Of late years carving has gone out of fashion. The work is necessarily slow and requires substantial skill, making the works expensive. Other and cheaper methods of decoration have driven carving from its former place. Machine work has much to answer for, and the endeavor to popularize the craft by means of the village class has not always achieved its own end. The gradual disappearance of the individual artist, elbowed out as he has been, by the contractor, is fatal to the continuance of an art which can never flourish when done at so much a yard”. Since the ages this statement has been proved wrong, not only the survival but more & more pieces of magnificent craftsmanship are continue taking shape by the skilled hands of woodcarvers by this day.

my city was established by muhammad bin tughlaqthe Sultan of Delhi (1325-51), in 1340,the king passed throuh the region & visited the famous sufi saint Hazrat Shah-Haroon,the king was so impressed by the piousness & character of the saint that he orderded to establish a city in the name of the saint as Shah Haroon Pur.it is stated in persian and old urdu literature, also stated in reliable British records (like the Imperial Gazette of India 1901), in the course of the time the word 'shah-haroonpur'became as saharanpur.famous mughal king akbar,the Great was the first ruler to make the region 'Saharanpur-Sarkar', which was a part of the Delhi province. about 2 centuries ago kashmiri artisans of carved wood had come to saharanpur and settled here.started their wood works in this city of western U.P.,it was a famous cultural centre ,rich for its language,traditions & culture.saharanpur is proud of having India's oldest botanical garden,that was established by tughlaqs and now adays named as "saharanpur botanical garden"it is also known as company bagh,now you can do M.Sc. botany too from here(maharaj singh college)

Saharanpur.India.

my city is world famous for its unique hand made wooden carved items.artisans of this handicraft use their centuries old expertise in creating beautiful pieces of art & craft,admired worldwide.