Bijanis - from planter to candle holder

Bijanis are at the origin of agricultural tools traditionally used to sow fields in India, a technique widely used in the 20th century. Hand-carved from solid wood, mostly teak, they consist of a funnel at the top and several outlets at the bottom to allow several rows to be sown at once. Pipes were connected to the outlets which carried the seeds into the earth.

Sowing a field is teamwork! One person is in charge of the plow pulled by the oxen, while the other takes care of pouring the seeds into the bijani, which is fixed on the plow (see photo below). This made it possible to avoid having to bend down to place the seeds in the trench. 

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

Bijani, by the way, takes its name from beej, which means seed in Hindi. 

As among the Indians many everyday objects are worked as objects of art, and woodworking is one of their many talents, a large number of bijanis are entirely sculpted. Geometric patterns, gods and goddesses or animals like elephants or sacred cows. Each piece is unique!

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

You can see our entire collection of bijanis here.