Working in terracotta has been a tradition in India since ancient times. There are more terracotta craftsmen working in India than anywhere else in the world. Terracotta or clay craft symbolises man's first craftsmanship. Civilizations are now dated and assessed by the degree of skill and beauty displayed by the earthenware found in excavations. It may be that the potter's wheel was the first 'machine' man invented to use the power of motion for a productive purpose. Pottery has been called the lyric of handicrafts because of its universal appeal. But it is the association of religion with this very humble object that has given it a deeper significance.
 

               
Any casual visitor to an Indian village invariably finds a hoard of terracotta animal figures lying under pipal trees or at rural shrines. Abstract in form and varying in sizes, these figures stand for the longings and aspirations of the village folk who still retain the age-old mystic belief that guided the life of the people more than five thousand years ago. The tradition has continued unbroken whether in the clarity of design or in the characteristic plastic values of the shapes. The Mother Goddess or the so-called fertility symbols still produced in Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa resemble the ones worshipped in Mohenjodaro and Harappa. The children of the pre-historic period were amused with similar toys which even today fascinate the children of rural India.     

Though the 'ageless' variety of what is connected with rituals and associated with mystico-economic beliefs basically remains unchanged in shape and form, orientation in designing the 'time-bound' type is clear even to a causal observer. To suit the taste of the modern generation, however, a trend of commercialising the craft has laid its impression. Modern designers are consciously trying to adapt traditional figures and forms to suit the taste of the times. Modern methods of moulding, baking and treating these items are producing remarkable results. But, side by side, millions of craftsmen in the rural areas still caress the clay in the age-old style, and treat it as work and play at the same time.

The terracotta horse from Panchmura, popularly known as the Bankura horse, with its elegant stance and unique abstraction of basic volumes, is perhaps the best example of the impact of modern times. It has shaken itself of its ritualistic connotation and has run through the whole world as an ambassador of Indian folk art.