Les Bijanis - From the sowing to the candle holder

Bijanis are at the origin of agricultural tools traditionally used to sow fields in India, a technique widely spread in the 20th century. Hand-cut in solid wood, most of the time teak, they are made up of a funnel above and several outings from the bottom to allow several rows to sow both. The outputs were connected to the pipes which sent the seeds to the ground.

Sowing a field is a team job! One person is in charge of the plow drawn by the oxen, while the other takes care of pouring the seeds in the Bijani, which is fixed on the plow (see photo below). This made it possible in particular to avoid having to bend down to deposit the seeds in the trench. 

Photographer: Gene Graham. Photo taken at Madhya Pradesh in 1966. Source: bronzesofindia.com. 

Seaming scene carved on a Bijani.

Bijani, moreover, takes its name from beej, which means seed in Hindi. 

As with Indians many everyday objects are worked as works of art, and wood work is one of their many talents, large number of bijanis are entirely carved. Geometric patterns, gods and goddesses or animals such as elephants or sacred cows. Each piece is unique!

Today, the Bijanis make perfect vintage decorative items. They can be found as is or transformed into candlesticks. Some use them as candlesticks, in this case the Bijani is returned in order to position a long candle in each outing. But most of the time, a metal cup is fixed in the funnel, which allows you to place your candle there. Whether in light wood or dark wood, are perfect objects to decorate your shelf or even your niche. 

You can see our whole collection of bijanis here.