The petrichor hangs heavy in the air after a fresh round of showers. A dense smoke emerges from a corner of the grounds of the Belgadia Palace in Mayurbhanj, Odisha, as two men squat uncomfortably close to the source – a small pit dug in the ground. One of them holds up a skewer of sorts with a clay-like mass at its end over the flames emanating from the pit. “The temperature is 800 degrees celsius,” says Gopal Sahu, as he swiftly takes the mass in his hand, kneads it in between his palm and fingers before putting it back on the fire. Sahu is a dhokra artist from Kuliana, a village in Mayurbhanj, Odisha’s largest district, which houses over 30 artisan families of the artform. He, however, is among the last few who continue to practise it as their primary source of livelihood. Gopal Sahu demonstrating Dhokra casting (Image: Anik Dutta) The clay-like mass is beeswax. Sahu mixes the now-malleable dough with mustard oil, then shapes it into a small cylinder, and puts it …