As old clocks are emptied of their time, many Crafts have died their own death. But in Jaipur - the city of crafts - the pendulum still swings in their favour.

The founder of Jaipur Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II wished to make Jaipur –a craft capital and a big center of commerce by personally inviting noted merchants & craft men from across India by offering them tax concession & gifts of land to come & settle in Jaipur.

In order to actively encourage and stream line their activities, the young Maharaja used vernacular terms and set up thirty six state department or karkhanas in the Mughal mode with in the palace complex. The objective of establishing the karkhanas was to provide state patronage to scholars, poets, writers, musicians, dancers and crafts people of various description, train them in their respective vocations and ensure a steady output of utility items, arts & crafts.

The silver-mint or the Chandi ki Taksaal was one of the 36 karkhanas set up by the founder ruler of Jaipur. Few exceptionally notable products of this state department were the 2 gigantic silver urns made of sterling silver and weighing over 1.75 tonnes each as well as the silver doorway of Shila Mata temple at Amber. The Guinness Book of World Records lists these large urns as the largest silver objects in the world.

But with the formation of Independent India and abolishment of privy purses, the worst blow was faced by the state departments or karkhanas. These craftsmen now lacked their original patrons to commission exclusive creations. Thus with the passage of time and age their skills & techniques began to fade away. Vacuum created by instability, lack of patronage and de-recognisation of these artists, forced their next generation to simply change their jobs. Their tools & manuals all were sold as garbage. This black period ranging for nearly 3 decades after independence was the worst blow for fading away Princely India's rich artistic and technical heritage. Chordia's silver ware & objects d'art is an attempt to revive the age-old techniques of master craftsmanship. This may never become the substitute for the thriving patron - craft man relationship of the past, but it can atleast ensure that a dying craft of Rajasthan can remain alive.