Asharikandi

Asharikandi is a village in Debitola development block in Dhubri district of Assam, India. The village is located at ~14 kilometers distance east of Dhubri town and ~190 kilometers west of the state capital Guwahati and Borjhar Airport. According to 2001 India census, Asharikandi had a population of 1,872 in 305 households. Males constitute ~51% of the population and females ~49%. The village is famous for its traditional crafts, Terracotta and Pottery. It is one of the largest clusters of Terracotta and Pottery in India.Historical background of the village and their craftsIt is said that the name Asharikandi was derived from the combination of two words ASHAR and KANDI. ASHAR or AXAR is the third month in Assamese calendar and KANDI (Assamese term) means 'shedding tears'. During ASHAR, heavy sub-tropical rainfall creates flood in this low-lying area, which causes the dwellers of this place to shed tears out of misery. Especially the potters suffer a lot. Because they cannot make, dry up, burn their products and even cannot store safely their earlier produced items during the rainy season. But they selected the place due to some economically viable factors like the availability of raw materials, cheaper transportation facility, important strategic location, etc. The soil HIRAMATI is the soul of this craft. There are huge reserves of HIRAMATI in surrounding areas and the potters use the cheapest means of transport like boat as the village is just on the bank of the river Gadadhar, a tributary of the mighty Brahmaputra. For the purpose of selling the products, both the surface transport and water transport are availed. The closeness of the village to Brahmaputra has given a great an advantage for shipping network with the major cities.