Elemental Beauty

ANDRETTA—I HEARD this name first while watching a random travel show on television. It described an “artist village” in Himachal Pradesh, known for its studio pottery, a haven for lovers of this craft. I made a mental note and decided to visit as soon as possible. But it would take me around a decade and much planning to finally arrive.

Located amidst the Dhauladhar mountain range in the Kangra region, Andretta turned out to be as breathtak­ingly scenic as any other Himalayan village with its distant snow peaks and rolling hills. But it was only once I got to know this place that it started revealing its magic. Art was suffused all over—in the murals on walls, the pretty corner pot­tery shops, the galleries, and the famous Andretta Pottery. Every nook and corner was embedded with its stories and history.

The transformation of the village can be traced to a single individual. Irish actress and theatre personality Norah Richards (1876-1971) changed the face of this place from a mofussil village to an internationally renowned art village. She journeyed here on horseback in 1924 and never went back. Chameli Niwas, which Richards built using local material such as mud and a thatch roof, still stands and narrates the place’s his­tory. It was here that people from differ­ent walks of life came and shared their dreams and desires through art. This house was the central point of Andretta as it was part of an art evolution, even before India’s independence in 1947, and Richards was instrumental in it.

Norah made a career on stage early in her life. However, when she married Philip Ernest Richards, an Eng­lish teacher, they shifted to Lahore (part of undivided India) in 1908 as he got a job teaching English literature at Dyal Singh College. This stint exposed her to Punjabi culture and theatre. She translat­ed several Punjabi works to English and directed a few plays. However, in 1920, after her husband’s death, she returned to England. But in 1924 she came back to India and settled in Andretta.

At first her plays pegged on social issues brought people to the village. These plays helped build Andretta’s cultural identity even though it was in the remote mountains. Even today the small am­phitheatre on the campus seems to echo voices from those plays and theatre workshops. Later, many of her plays were translated to Punjabi. Due to these efforts, she came to be known as the “grandmoth­er of Punjabi theatre”. Now this campus is part of the Punjabi University, Patiala, and every year on Richards’ birthday, October 29, there are plays performed here in her memory.

At its peak Andretta buzzed with likeminded people and artists, such as actor Balraj Sahni and theatre stalwart Prithviraj Kapoor. It is believed that Kapoor spent his summers in Andretta. I found a statue of Kapoor still standing at the Sobha Singh Art Gallery & Museum in his honour. This gallery is dedicated to the renowned 20th-century artist Sardar Sobha Singh. He settled here in Andretta in 1947, soon after Partition and is known for portraits of Sikh gurus and prophets, and national heroes. His iconic paintings include a portrait of Guru Nanak and Sohni Mahiwal that depicts a classic Punjabi love story. Singh, who was known as a saint-philosopher, spent around four decades in this village surrounded by trees and bird song. In the summers, he was visited by Kapoor, and whenever Singh visited Bombay to get his paint­ings printed, he stayed with his friend at his cottage Prithvi Jhonpra (which is now the Prithvi Theatre). The sculpture of Kapoor at the entrance of Sobha Singh Art Gallery & Museum is a symbol of their friendship.

Sobha Singh Art Gallery & Museum is the original residence of Singh. Thus, you get a chance to see some of the original works of this artist. His room, his belongings, and his books are now all on display, which give you a fair idea of his muses and his saintly life. This small museum is now managed by his daughter, Bibi Gurcharan Kaur, and her son, Hirday Paul Singh.An interesting aspect of this place, I found, was its signboard that says ‘Grow More Good’, a simple but profound message that mirrors a feeling of being in a nurturing space for purpose and mean­ing. A few miles from this gallery, I come across an­other message on a mural that said, “You must centre your mind before you centre your clay. This makes the activity akin to meditation,” by Sardar Gurcharan Singh. Singh, considered the father of studio pottery in India, was invited to Andretta by Richards to create a small pottery studio for summer. In the 1980s, Singh’s son, Mansimran Singh, shifted here and in 1985 he started the Andretta Pottery and Craft Society, which is now being managed by him and his wife, Mary Singh.

Through this initia­tive they promoted local pottery and hosted exhibitions in various cities. Thus be­coming ‘Andretta pottery’ we now know so well. In 2019, Singh retired, and it is now managed by Shubham Sankhyan, an aeronautical engineering dropout and son of the potter Jugal Sankhyan.

“I was two years old when my father started doing pottery here. It was all around me,” Sankhyan told me while talking about his journey as a ceramic artist. He is now the face of Andretta Pot­tery and is promoting it through social media to create awareness about this art form, as it is not the traditional pottery.

In case you are keen to learn pottery they offer a three-month course twice a year. The first one is from April to June, and the second course is from September to No­vember. It is a studio art pottery where they use local material, local clay, with their very own special slip designing technique. This is an immersive experi­ence as you not only learn about pottery but also about the place, its history, its biodiversity, etc. If you are on a day visit and just want to learn the basics of pottery or just want to get your hands dirty, you can attend a short session of 15 minutes and if you have more time in hand, you can try its 45-minute session. This includes a full guided tour of the studio, knowing and understanding its history and getting hands-on experience on the traditional Indian ‘kick wheel’ conducted by Sankhyan.

And if you are like me and just want to admire the finished products, you will enjoy their tasteful little shop. Here, various ceramic artefacts and crockery are for display and sale. Among these, the ceramic dervishes, a signa­ture style of Sankhyan, will grab your attention among many other items. Sankhy­an hopes that in future he can start an art gallery where every form of art, and not just pottery, will be showcased.

After visiting Andretta, one realises how a single person’s vision can be trans­formative. How a place blessed with nature’s bounty, can also create another unique identity because of the artists who have come and gone and left their traces behind.

AndrettaHimalayaspotteryTravel Issue 2025