At the heart of India’s non-farm rural economy are the traditional artists who engage in craft production to earn a livelihood. The creative works of these artists are a vital reminder to India’s popular imagination of its illustrious past and the subsequent colonial disruption. Despite their enormous contribution to the Indian cultural legacy, their lives are marked by precarity and struggle to access new markets and upgrade skills in a competitive space. The rejuvenation of this sector can lead to the development of a non-traditional economy in the villages and urban periphery.