Makrana. The name is familiar to most Indians, who, otherwise, may have no knowledge or any connection with the stone industry, even as a consumer. Makrana, located in the state of Rajasthan (India), after all, is the site of the white marble quarries with which the iconic Taj Mahal was built in Agra during the years 1631 to 1648 by the then Emperor, Shah Jehan, in memory of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal.
Extraction of the white marble must have been going on before the Taj Mahal was built, and a tradition of craftsmanship would also have existed then, that is why the Emperor probably chose this marble.
QUARRIES
Four centuries later, Makrana marble is still being quarried today. Over the centuries, the hereditary rights to quarrying have passed on from generation to generation, therefore the quarries have been divided among different sons. Perhaps 15 to 20 generations of divisions has led to a situation where many quarries are now so small that some of the individual quarry sizes must be among the smallest in the world anywhere. One consequence is that mechanized quarrying is impossible in most of them
How many quarries of Makrana Marble are currently active, that number is impossible to know with exactness. But locals mention the figure of 800 to 900. With average quarry size now very small, production per quarry also is very small.
With quarrying going on continuously over centuries, the depth at which the marble is extracted has reached around 70 metres. The local businessmen say there is still enough marble left for centuries ahead. The depth of the quarries also means that when there is rainfall about 80% of the quarries are closed down.
VARIETIES & CHARACTERISTICS
What makes Makrana marble special is one of the varieties is of the purest white colour (98% calcium carbonate). No further treatment of this marble is needed. It is estimated that around 25% of the stone quarried is pure white. Epoxy is not used for this material, natural polish is obtained. Other varieties that are extracted can have brown, pink, albetta or adanga tones. The industry parlance has divided them into different categories:
1. Chausira. White colour and considered the premium product.
2. Nahar. Also white.
3. Saabwali (white and brown).
4. Dungri. (Adenga)
5. Pahad Kuwa (Albeta and Adanga)
6. Ulodi (Albeta and Adanga)
7.Gulabi .(Pink).
8.Mathabhar(Adanga Brown)
9.Kumari (Kumari)
10. Devi (White).
WHAT MAKES MAKRANA DIFFERENT
What makes Makrana different from other stone areas today is not just the white marble quarries but the tradition of carving which has a history going back several centuries. The biggest application today of the pure white Makrana marble is in the building of Hindu temples. The temples where Makrana marble is used are not only in India but all over the world. As an example, representatives of Seth Bhuaddin Marble (P) Ltd , a fourth generation company, says they are currently doing 35 temple projects where Makrana marble is being used.
Makrana white is also used in the building of mosques, churches and gurudwaras. Another common application is in the residential and commercial segments where other varieties are normally used.
There are an estimated 100 to 150 processing units in Makrana, some big, others small. However, Makrana has lost its positioning as a processing and trading hub. That privilege belongs to Kishengarh, just 60 km away from Makrana. Kishengarh is considered to be the biggest MANDI, or trading hub of stone, in India. That is where the biggest processing units, warehouses and showrooms of Rajasthan, are located and where stone from all over India and also imported blocks, are processed and commercialized.
ICONIC MARBLE ART INTL.
How many people are employed in the Makrana marble related industry, is a number that is very hard to pin down. The numbers quoted vary so widely that they are, at best, an educated guess, since, apparently, no official record exists. People involved in carvings could be 100000, in mining, perhaps there are 30000, according to the locals. But these numbers would also be including workers from the surrounding villages since, according to the latest Rajasthan census available, going back to 2011, the population of Makrana then was around 61000 people and the town has not changed much since then.
Whatever be the numbers, the long history, the indelible connection with the Taj Mahal, the centuries old tradition of craftsmanship, which is the DNA of Makrana , these skills continue to be highly valued and provide gainful employment for a very large number of people. The name Makrana, everyone thinks, will remain strongly interlinked with marble, not just as something from the past, but also in the future.
NOTE: Our thanks to Furkan Ahmed, Shoaib Gajdhar, Mohsin Gazdhar, Ramzan Seth, Shoaib Rander, Mukul Rastogi, for the information provided for this article.
