Asia > India > Delhi > Delhi > Arts and crafts > Articles > The Surajkund Craft Mela

Fifty minutes' drive from Delhi is the town of Surajkund. For the last ten years this small community on the borders of Rajasthan and Haryana has hosted an annual craft fair, or Mela, a celebration of India's finest handicrafts. In a landscaped park, beneath a canopy of kekar shade trees, craftsmen from all over India gather to show their wares.

A small stream runs through the park and on its gently sloping banks the wood carvers and weavers, the potters and painters lay out their work in the dappled sunshine. Here are pashmina shawls from the highlands of Kashmir, exquisite lacquerware from Gujarat, wide-eyed puppet dolls from Maharashtra, giant embroidered umbrellas from Orissa, metalware from Sikkim, swathes of sari silk from Assam and intricately-carved woodwork from the Punjab.

The Surajkund Mela takes place in the first two weeks of February when the sky is clear and blue and the temperature comfortably cool. For the crowds who gather here it is a great day out, the paths that wind between the huts and stalls packed with families in their Sunday best.

And where there are crowds in India, there are always entertainers: strolling drummers from Himachal Pradesh, heavily-jewelled dancers from Orissa and Rajasthan, acrobats and contortionists, high-wire artists, jugglers and stilt-walkers. And for a few rupees the delicate tracing of the henna artists will bring you good fortune in the year ahead.

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