Dinesh Chandra Kumhar

Dinesh Chandra Kumhar has dedicated over five decades to Molela terracotta. Learning the sacred craft at the age of eight alongside his father, the legendary Padma Shri Shilp Guru Mohan Lal Kumhar, he mastered every stage of the art on real temple orders rather than mere classroom exercises.

As a master artisan and leader of youth craftspeople in Molela, Dinesh has continually expanded the craft’s visual language. Alongside traditional votive terracotta plaques of Devnarayan and Dharamraj made for tribal and pastoral communities, he pioneered large-scale narrative terracotta panels depicting Rajasthan village scenes—weddings, harvest work, daily chores—as well as epic episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata.

His monumental architectural installations grace public institutions across India and abroad, including Udaipur and Ajmer Railway Stations, Delhi Metro INA Station, the Planning Commission Office in New Delhi, the National Crafts Museum, IGNCA, Jawahar Kala Kendra Jaipur, and the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Among his largest works is a hundred-foot mural tracing the course of the holy Narmada river, sculpted and fired in modular kiln-sized relief panels.

He has represented India on the global stage, conducting live demonstrations of GI-tagged Molela terracotta at the Frankfurt Messe Ambiente in Germany, the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) in Santa Fe (USA), and across Europe. On 26 January 2025, he was conferred the prestigious Rashtriya Tulsi Samman at Ravindra Bhavan, Bhopal by MP Governor Mangubhai C. Patel and Chief Minister Dr. Mohan Yadav.

A passionate educator, Dinesh has trained more than 20,000 students through workshops, seminars, and masterclasses across India—from the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas to fine art academies like MS University Baroda. Today, he works from the family studio in Molela alongside his wife, National Awardee Kailash Devi, his son Umesh Kumhar, and daughter-in-law Sonali Prajapati.

Documentary & Recognition