Kalamkari:

Kalamkari is the ancient art of decorating cloth with the aid of a Kalam or pen. A term mainly used to describe cotton fabrics patterned through the medium of Vegetable dyes by free-hand painting and block-printing, this category of fabric now covers a wide range of textiles produced in many regions of India. The term Kalamkari is however applied to the fabrics produced in the Southern districts only because the ancient tradition of patterning with the Kalam is still practised here. Even where the fabric is block printed the Kalam is used to draw finer details and for application of some colours. The Mughal who patronized this craft in the Coromandel and Golconda province called the practitioners of this craft "Qua-lamkars" and the distinctive term Kalamkari", for goods produced in this region persists even to this day. The Kalamkari tradition is more than three thousand years old. The earliest fabric samples of this craft found in the Mohenjo-daro excavations date back to 3000 B.C. Some samples of Madder dyed cloth with traditional Indian motifs have also been discovered in Egyptian tombs during excavations at Al Fustat near Cairo. These bear testimony not only to the antiquity of the craft but also prove that it was well developed and formed part of a flourishing export in ancient times. The popularity of Indian textiles in the markets of the ancient world may be attributed to the fact that India had even at that time perfected the technology of fixing the fugitive colours found in nature with a certain degree of permanence to fabrics. With the bounty and variety of tropical vegetation at his doorstep the Indian craftsman was able to evolve a palette of many colours derived from vegetable, animal and mineral sources. There are numerous references in ancient Hindu texts describing the colours and patterns of the clothes worn by the people of the Vedic Age which reveal that more than a hundred species of plants were known and used by the craftsman of those days. Varahamihira author of the voluminous Hindu text Brihatsamhita belonging to the 6th century A.D. describes not only the dye but also the process of mordanting in fixing colours to cloth. The action of Alum (Sanskrit: Tabari) in fixing-the colour Manjishta to cloth is detailed, and the technique is described as Raga Bandhana (Raga-colour; Bandhana to fix or tie).

Dr. Parul Bhatnagar

This technique in modem textile parlance is known as Mordanting, from the latin Mordere (to bite). This is a process by which a mineral salt like Alum, Tin or Chrome is applied to the cloth, which "bites" the fibres and makes it receptive to the dye. By this method a fugitive dye is fixed and forms a colour lake in the fabric which is fast to washing and light. The British East India Company established a flourishing trade in these fabrics in the later half of the 17th century and special orders were placed on the Indian craftsman for producing goods for the European market. The printed calicos of the Coromandel Coast became so much part of the fashion scene that often embroidered samples of garments were sent by the fashionable ladies of London and Paris for duplicating in print. Not only for garments but also for furnishings Kalamkari goods, known as Chintzes, were extremely popular. Many European designs like the Tudor Rose were incorporated into the Kalamkari tradition during this period. But by far the strongest influence, were the designs from Iran and Persia, much favoured by the Muslim rulers of those days. Persian motifs like the "Cypress tree", "Mihrab", "Almond", 'Tree of life" etc. have ever since been an inseparable part of Kalamkari. Absorbing various traditions and adapting them to the Indian idiom, the Kalamkari craftsman evolved a rich and vibrant textile tradition. While this Kalamkari tradition centered in the coastal city of Machilipatnam, was fully export oriented and consisted mostly of block printed fabrics, the earlier tradition growing in the shelter of the temples of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh retained its Hindu character, and was exclusively hand drawn. Concentrated now in the temple town Sri Kalahasti this Kalamkari tradition is deeply rooted in religion and draws its inspiration from the divine characters of Hindu Mythology. Huge tapestries and scrolls illustrating scenes from the Epics are entirely drawn by hand with vegetable dyes on cloth. This kind of picturisation of religious stories, supplementing ballad recitals, is prevalent in other parts of India like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa and West Bengal but in the South Indian tradition, unlike the tempera paintings of other regions; only natural dyes are used to produce the scrolls. This has given it its unique distinction, not only for the beauty of the tapestry produced but also for the expertise gained by these craftsmen in the use of vegetable dyes. Indeed so clothed in ritual and superstition was this craft that for many years it was restricted to only a handful of practitioners and the technique was a closely guarded secret. Unfortunately many a traditional craftsman has taken this jealously
Dr. Parul Bhatnagar

guarded secret with him to his grave and no written records are available of the techniques employed and the colour yielding plants used by him in his work. This has been mainly responsible for the decline of this beautiful art form and we have now barely a dozen dye recipes in the place of over a hundred which existed before. The influx of cheap chemical dyes drove the final nail in the coffin and Kalamkari craftsmen these days are only too eager to reach out to the readily available artificial dyes for quick and easy production of temple cloths. The basic black dye used by the Kalamkari craftsman is an iron liquor preparation known as Kaseem. This is made by soaking hoop iron bits in a solution of jaggery (Molasses) and water in a mud pot. The solution takes about twenty days to mature when it is decanted and taken for printing and painting. The cloth to be printed is treated in a solution of Kadukkai (Myrobalan) ground to a fine paste on stone. The Myrobalan nut is rich in tannin and it not only serves to develop the black colour of Kassim but also acts as an excellent fixing agent for the other natural dyes which are subsequently used. The printing method adopted is known as the "Dyed Style". In this method the areas to be coloured are printed or painted with the mordant. The cloth is dried and washed in flowing water to remove the excess salt and then put in the dye bath with the requisite colouring herbs. Only the areas which have been printed with the mordant pick up the colour while the rest of the material remains clear. Many shades are obtained from the same colouring matter by the use of different mordants. The mordant most commonly used is Alum (Padikaram) which is cheap and freely available. The printing paste is made of country gum, or powdered tamarind seed or even common flour. The only equipment the craftsman needs for producing his master pieces of art are, a low wooden table padded with gunny, wooden trays for the paste, mud pots for the black dye, and a copper vessel for the dye vat. All the operations in Kalamkari printing are carried out by hand. Village implements like the granite grinding stone, wooden mortar and pestle, and simple earthen pots to use as containers are mainly used. Charcoal pencils made by burning twigs of the Tamarind tree, and the Kalam made out of a sharpened sliver of bamboo are all made by the craftsman himself. Printing blocks for the Machilipatnam Kalamkari are more intricate, but this is also a cottage industry set alongside the Printing Houses.

Dr. Parul Bhatnagar

Seventeenth-century traders considered the quality of the block-printed and handpainted calicos finer and more elaborate from Machilipatnam, which was influenced by trade with Persia long before the arrival of the Europeans. These textiles were all the rage in Europe for nearly a hundred years, sparking the interest of a Japanese market. Many Persian artists were in residence at the Deccan courts of Persian rulers, and even in the 19th century, examples of Machilipatnam hangings and other cloth decorated with floral and geometric motifs. Hangings and temple cloths, some depicting court life and secular scenes and others depicting scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Puranas, are kalamkari examples from Srikalahasti. They were exported to Europe, or, in the case of religious hangings, often draped in temples or on processional chariots or ratha. In Gujarat the Kalamkari technique was often used traditionally to create pachedis or temple canopies and hangings. Pachedis were usually printed with a mother goddess figure in the center, surrounded by religious themes or scenes from daily life. Peasants and nomadic tribal groups rigged up impromptu temples using pachedis for temple walls and ceilings--hung from trees or rigged up as canopies on poles--or they were simply worn over the shoulder of a priest. The Vaghari community traditionally made them.

Dr. Parul Bhatnagar