Submitted to:

Dr. Sarvani V.

Submitted by:

Surbhi Modi – 31

FD 5
ACKNOWLEDGENT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our
faculty of Appreciation of Textiles, Dr. Sarvani V.,
for helping us & guiding us to accomplish this
p r o j e c t r ep o r t o n t h e K a l a m k a r i – p a i n t e d t e x t i l e s o f
Andhra Pradesh.

I would also like to express my gratitude to her for

giving us this assignment which greatly helped us in
increasing our knowledge about the subject.

Thanking You

Surbhi Modi – 31

FD 5
CONTENTS
 PAINTED TEXTILES OF INDIA

 TEXTILES OF ANDHRA PRADESH

 KALAMKARI - AN INTRODUCTION

 KALAMKARI AT SRIKALAHASTI

 HISTORY OF KALAMKARI IN SRIKALAHASTI, ANDHRA

PRADESH

 DYES & MORDANTS

 PROCESS USED IN HAND PAINTING OF KALAMKARIS AT

SRIKALAHASTI

 HUES OF NATURE

 DESIGNS, MOTIFS & APPLICATIONS

 SOCIO ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE ARTISTS

 & THE PRESENT SCENERIO

 FUTURE OF AN ANCIENT ART

 FROM THE MOUTH OF NEWSPAPERS

PAINTED TEXTILES OF INDIA
Painting on fabrics is a very
old method of decorating
the cloths made. It is done
by hand. Painted fabric is
popular in wall hangings,
tablecloths, floor spreads,
ceiling cloths, tents panels,
temple hangings and
canopies and bedsheets.
Dyes or mordants, or fixing
agents, are painted with a
brush on cotton cloth. Like
individual drawings they
have a human touch unlike
blockprinting where the use
of blocks makes the
process more mechanical
and restricted. Figurative
and floral motifs
predominate and these
large spreads, palampores, are in great demand all over the
world. Vibrant colours, red, black, ochre and white, are
applied in bold strokes on spreads. Some of the beauteous
painted fabrics of India are as follows:

Pichavai

Kalamkari

Patachitra of Orissa

Tamilnadu temple textiles

Pabuji-ki-Pad of Rajasthan
TEXTILES OF ANDHRA PRADESH
Andhra Pradesh is a state situated on the eastern coast of
India. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad.
Among other reasons
that make up this
beautiful state of south
India is the art and craft
that have been a part of
Andhra ever since. Most
handicrafts have been
learned as an art form
down the ages. And
some of them are still a
part of the cottage
industry of Andhra.
Some major textiles of
Andhra are Annibuta Sari, Cotton Zari Saris, Dharmavaram Silk
Sari, Gadwal Sari, Narayanpet Silk Saris, Upadha Jamdani Saris,
Venkatagiri Saris, Hand Block Printing, Tie & Dye/Telia
Rumal/Ikat, Kalamkari Hand Painting, Banjara Tribal Embroidery
& Mirror Work Embroidery, Zari, Zardozi, Tinsel Embroidery,
Paagdu Bandhu-Yarn Tie Resist Dyeing, Durrie weaving from
Warangal, Jute Craft from Vishakapatnam etc.

KALAMKARI - AN INTRODUCTION
Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton
textile, produced in parts of India. The word is derived from
the Persian words kalam (pen) and kari (craftmanship),
meaning drawing with a pen. The intricate pictures are drawn
with kalam or bamboo reed using natural dyes. European
merchants also had names for this type of fabric decoration:
the Portugese called it pintado, the Dutch used the name sitz,
and the British preferred chintz.
 The Natural dyestuffs used in this
craft are inexpensive and freely
available in many parts of our
country. These decorated fabrics
were either used as temple
backcloths or as garments. The art
of Kalamkari, which has been
practised in several parts of
India from early times, is
now confined to merely a
few places.
There are two distinctive
styles of kalamkari art in
India - one, the
Srikalahasti style, which is
essentially narrative in
character & often religious
and the other, the
Machalipatnam style of
art, which has wider
application in garments &
articles of daily use. Unlike
other centres of Kalamkari,
the craftsmen of Srikalahasti
still use the ancient
techniques of dyeing, which
they had inherited from the earliest days. The wall hangings
drawn free hands are the most popular creations of the
Craftsmen. Hindu mythology is the main source of themes.
Some of the craftsmen in Srikalahasti also produce beautiful
textile materials drawn free hand.
 The craft made at
Machilipatnam in Andhra
Pradesh, evolved with
patronage of the Mughals
and the Golconda
sultanate. Around the mid-
nineteenth century,
printing blocks were
introduced, and from then
on very little freehand
kalam drawing was done.
Large figurative kalamkari
wall hangings for both the
foreign and domestic
markets were formerly
made at Pulicat, near
Madras, and Palakollu, near
Machalipatnam. The
Persian influence is evident
in the profusion of non-figurative motifs like trees, flowers,
creepers and even some calligraphic lettering. The very
Persian 'Tree of life' is a popular subject. The craftsmen of
Machalipatnam produce beautiful block printed materials like
table linen, lungies, blankets etc.
Tanjore Kalamkari craftsmen specialise in temple decorations
like thumbais etc. Bagru, Sanganer, Palampur and Faizabad
are few centres in northern India where Kalamkari is practised.
While there are many forms of kalamkari throughout India and
the world, the focus of this document is on extant kalamkari
practice in Sri Kalahasti, Andhra Pradesh, in South India.
Sikkinaickenpet is the only centre for hand painted
Kalamkaris, apart from the temple town of Srikalahasti. Each
region has its own tradition & stylistic differences in drawing
the figures & the background.
KALAMKARI AT SRIKALAHASTI
The township of Srikalahasti
The temple at Sri Kalahasti is one
of the most revered Saivite
shrines in South India. Located in
the Chittor District of southern
Andhra Pradesh, near the famous
temple-town Tirupati, Sri
Kalahasteeswara Temple is
considered to be a
Navagrahastalam where Rahu and
Ketu - of the nine grahams or
celestial bodies in Indian astrology
- worshipped Shiva. Sri
Kalahasteeswara represents
wind/air or Vayu Kshetram.
The small temple town of Sri Kalahasti only became an
important centre for Kalamkari in the nineteenth century.
KALAMKARI
The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, wherein the "kalam" or
pen is used for free hand drawing of the subject and filling in
the colours, is
entirely hand
worked. This style
flowered around
temples and their
patronage and so
had an almost
religious identity -
scrolls, temple
hangings, chariot
banners and the
like, depicted
deities and scenes taken from the great hindu epics -
Ramayana, Mahabarata, Puranas and the mythological
classics.

Figurative and floral designs of great fineness were possible

using this method of drawing and painting. Be that as it may,
Kalahasti was well placed for kalamkari work, as it lay on the
river Swarnamukhi,
which was favorable
for dyeing operations
and could enjoy the
great patronage of the
famous temple town of
Tirupati. This free style
of pictorial expression
called for the use of
the kalam. Its minimal
use of repeats was
never suited to block
work.
In Kalahasti, in 1958,
the All India
Handicrafts Board set
up a training course
and school for
kalamkari workers,
drawing on the skills of
the few remaining
workers. Production
here is now aimed at
the foreign
tourist market.
Popular subjects
include Dashavatara
(the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu), Bhagavad Gita (the
charioteer Krishna's sermon to Arjuna) and Kaliyanartana
Krishna (Krishna dancing on the hood of the serpent, Kaliya).
Only natural vegetable dyes are used to bring out the most
intricate traditional, ethnic designs on different fabrics, ranging
from cotton to silk, tussar and crepe.
HISTORY OF KALAMKARI IN SRIKALAHASTI, ANDHRA
PRADESH

Kalamkari was most likely derived from trade relationships

between Persian and Indian merchants as early as the 10th

century CE.
Sri Kalahasti was most likely established as a kalamkari centre
due to its close proximity to a constant supply of clean, flowing
water (a necessary component to kalamkari production), found
in the River Swarnamurki that runs through the town.
The port, Machalipatnam in
Northern Andhra Pradesh, was
a prominent trading site along
the Coromandel Coast, and the
location where kalamkari from
Sri Kalahasti had been traded to
merchants from around the
world and ultimately shipped off
to a variety of international
locations. During the 18th
century, it was practised all
over the Coromandal cost
stretching from Machalipatnam
at the north to southern parts of
India, especially in areas like Srikalahasti, Salem, Madura,
Palakolu, Machalipatnam, Tanjore, Eleimbedu in Chengalpet,
and in Cocanada districts.
Merchants and traders from around the world used Indian
textiles, the majority of which were kalamkari, as a currency in
the Spice Trade. Thus a triangular trading system was
established that implicated Indian textiles in a larger global
exchange of goods and products.
Kalamkari textiles took many forms depending on their
intended market. Prayer rugs, canopies and door covers
painted with meharab designs, animal forms and floral motifs
were made for the Middle-Eastern market, while tree-of-life
bedcovers and dress material that resembled crewel work was
painted for the European market. On the other hand, patterned
hip and shoulder wrappers and narrative wall hangings were
traded to the Southeast Asian market and material for robes
and jackets were sent to East Asia.
The main artist families involved in kalamkari during the 19th
century were members of the Balaji jati community
traditionally involved in agricultural work and small industry.
Around the middle of the 20th century, the popularity of
kalamkari in Sri Kalahasti waned to the point of near
disappearance, with most artists focusing on agricultural work
and other local occupations. At that point, government-run
kalamkari training centres focused on teaching a new
generation of artists the techniques and stylistic vocabulary of
kalamkari.
The Sri Kalasteeswara
Temple has long been a
source of admiration and
patronage. The Chola, and
Vijayanagar rulers are noted
as the main patrons to the
temple.
The name Sri Kalahasti is
associated with an important
Hindu legend-a story that is
often depicted in kalamkari
wall hangings. Shiva is said
to have given salvation to a
spider, elephant and a
serpent who were ardent
devotees of the Shiva
Lingam located here. The
spider is said to have attained salvation in Kritayuga, while the
elephant and the snake were devotees in Treta Yugam, the
succeeding aeon. The elephant's devotional outpouring was a
source of disturbance to the serpent's display of devotion and
vice versa, resulting in animosity between the two, until Shiva's
intervention gave both the devotees their liberation.
Kalamkari art has been practised by many families in Andhra
Pradesh and has constituted their livelihood.

It was also the rulers of the Qutub Shahi dynasty that gave the
craft its name "kalamkari"--derived from qalamkor, an artisan
who works with the pen. The Kalamkari tradition grew rapidly
under Muslim influence, large-scale workshops were set up,
and craftsmen from Iran were brought in to draw Persian
motifs. With the demand from the West, themes from the Old
Testament of the Bible also appeared in Kalamkaris. Various
guilds developed that were a part of the social network and
vibrant culture.

Production fell into steep decline at the beginning of the

twentieth century. In 1924, Persia prohibited the import of
Indian kalamkari. Temple patronage declined and the local
landlords lost wealth and powers of patronage. In 1952,
kalamkari was revived at the instigation of some local textile
lovers and with the aid of the All India Handicrafts Board, the
kalamkari, as used and made in Iran, was taken as a model.
The use of indigo was eschewed, as the painting on the wax
resist was so time-consuming. A minimum of color was used,
with an emphasis on the filling-in of fine details with a kalam
after the pattern had been traced.
The discovery of synthetic dyes in the West in the 19th century
dealt a massive blow to the Indian textile industry.
DYES & MORDANTS
Vegetable dyes
are the colours
of India; the
lovely green of
the henna
leaves and the
deep blue of the
indigo are
among the hues
that jostle for
attention on the
colour palette
used in
Kalamkari. The
whole process is a natural and scientific one.
Many of the dyes are extracted from materials that have
medicinal properties. Myrobalam, a popular herb in Indian
medicine, is a valuable mordant & dye, crucial to the Kalamkari
craft which gives the cloth strength and protects the body. The
colour black is obtained from myrobalam fruit. The fruit known
as kadukkai is commonly used as a mordant in all vegetable
dye processes. The red dye is obtained from barks of
manjishta( Madder) which are used for treating rashes and
abrasions; the yellow is from turmeric which shields the body
from germs. Mango bark dust & leaves & skin of pomegranate
also impart a beautiful yellow colour. Depending on the
treatment of cloth, or quality of the mordant, the colours
change accordingly. Another herb surulpattal, which is purplish-
brown dye, is added with manjishta to deepen the red. Colors
like blue & yellow are cold applications. A beautiful dark blue is
derived from indigo which is a vat dye. Extract of catechu,
known in native parlance as kasikatti, imparts a strong brown &
chocolate shade.
The harmless, naturally dyed fabrics are used for Kalamkari
paintings. Only four colours are used. No chemical dyes are
used is producing Kalamkari colours. Among the vegetable
dyes, the basic colours of black, red, blue are the most prized.
The basic black dye, kaseem, was venerated & accorded the
status of Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, by the family. It was
considred inauspicious to lend the dye to others or to remove
the dyepot outside the hearth of the home.
The process of making chemical dyes was less elaborate than
that of vegetable dyes which was time consuming and
depended on sunlight and huge amounts of water. Chemical
dyes were also considered "more durable". This led to the
decline of vegetable dyes. Once used widely all over the sub-
continent, now there are only pockets where pure vegetable
dyed fabrics are made and some areas where vegetable dyes
are used in conjunction with chemical dyes.

But there has been a revival of interest in vegetable dyes in

recent times. The "back to nature" movement has refocused
interest in vegetable dyes both in the West and within the
country. Chemical dyes have led to environmental degradation;
whole rivers have been polluted with clear life-giving waters
turning toxic and murky. Workers handling chemical dyes have
been afflicted with respiratory problems. Chemical dyed clothes
are harmful to the skin and can cause allergies. Vegetable dyed
fabrics are of three categories - yarn dyed in natural colours
and woven; materials block printed with natural dyes and
Kalamkari where the "Kalam" or pen is used to draw beautiful
designs on the cloth.
Government efforts gave a fillip to the art of vegetable dyeing.
It also received a boost as individuals and non-government
organisations turned their attention to it.
But vegetable dyes are mellow and lovely, even the fading is a
graceful and an even process. "The background runs and the
colours show up; Westerners in the past actually thought it was
magic as the colours got brighter with each wash." The fabrics
are not difficult to care for. They can be washed at home and
dried in the sunlight. If detergents and dry cleaning are
avoided, they will last for years.
PROCESS USED IN HAND PAINTING OF
KALAMKARIS AT SRIKALAHASTI

In Srikalahasti hand
painting is
predominant, the
wall panels
depicting
mythological tales
and characters.
Each design can
take several days
of concentrated
effort to complete,
as the process of
dyeing and hand printing are very elaborate. Many stages
have to be undergone before the final results are achieved.
Cloth used for Kalamkari painting is generally unbleached
calico (gada). Unlike other styles of painting, Kalamkari
painting demands a lot of treatment before and after the
painting is completed on the cotton fabric.
Used as temple hangings these textile paintings are drawn
free hand with charcoal sticks while the painting is done
with a bamboo kalam (pen). The process followed is
lengthy and painstaking with attention paid to minute
detailing and each step is rigorously followed to produce a
final piece.
I. Unbleached cotton cloth that is to
be used for the hand painted
Kalamkari.

II. The fabric after it has been

washed in water and bleached by
soaking in buffalo or goat dung
solution, then washed in clean
water and dried in the sun for a
few days.

III.The cloth dipped into a solution of

milk and myrobalan (harda). Both
the raw and ripe Myrobalan fruit
can be used. Buffalo milk is added
to the solution as it prevents the
vegetable colours from spreading
and smudging in the later stages
the milk also adds certain stiffness
to the fabric thereby making it an
easier canvas to work on.

IV.The pattern an auspicious

Ganesha figure is sketched on to
the cloth with charcoal made of
burnt tamarind twigs.
V. The sketch is outlined using a
kalam dipped into a solution made
of iron filings that have been
fermented in molasses. This
mixture, when combined with
fermented starch or with coconut
water, results in the formation of
iron acetate. When painted on to
fabric that is treated with
myrobalan it turns black due to
the reaction between tannin and
iron. This black holds fast when it
oxidizes and it becomes
permanent when boiled with red
colouring matter. There a two
types of kalams used by the artist.
The sharp tipped ones used for
outlining and drawing the details
and the round broad tipped one
used for filling in the sections.
Usually a separate kalam is used
for each colour or else the wooden
rag which forms the tip is
changed.

VI.The areas and background meant

to be in red are painted with an
alum (phitkari) solution that is
used as a mordant. Alum being
colourless has a fugitive red colour
added to it so that it is visible
when painted on. This fugitive
colour washes off easily. The cloth
is then rested for at least 24 hours
before the next stage commences.
VII.The cloth is washed in flowing
water to remove the excess alum
mordant. By washing the excess
mordant the artist seeks to avoid
the colour from running on to the
other sections of the cloth. The
cloth is dried very carefully and
evenly to prevent overlapping of
colours and uneven dyeing.

VIII.The cloth is washed in tree bark

(surulupatta) and rice water
(chawalkudi).

IX.The cloth is again soaked in milk

and myrobalan solution.

X. The background and some other

sections are re-painted with the
alum mordant in order to obtain a
deeper red for the section that is
thus treated. This treatment helps
to differentiate the two shades of
red as this re-mordanted section
has a red that is darker than the
red of the figures.
 XI.The cloth is washed again in
flowing water to remove excess
colour.

XII.The cloth is boiled in surulupatta

and chawalkudi.

XIII.The cloth is bleached overnight once again in sheep,

buffalo or goat dung and then dried in the sun for a
few days. The cloth is normally dried on the riverbank
for bleaching in the sunlight.

XIV.The cloth is washed and treated

in milk. The cloth is painted with
crushed myrobalan flowers to
obtain yellow.

XV.The cloth is washed in flowing water.

XVI.The cloth is painted with chawalkudi

 XVII.The cloth is painted with an
extract of dried pomegranate rind.

XVIII.The cloth is painted with myrobalan flowers and

ferrous sulphate which is the second mordant used.

XIX.The cloth is painted with alum

and an extract of katha.

The cotton fabric gets its glossiness by immersing it for an hour

in a mixture of myrabalam (resin) and cow milk. Contours and
reasons are then drawn with a point in bamboo soaked in a
mixture of jagri fermented and water; one by one these are
applied, then the vegetable dyes. After applying each color, the
Kalamkari is washed. Thus, each fabric can undergo up to 20
washings. Various effects are obtained by using cow dung,
seeds, plants and crushed flowers.
All the areas meant to be red are painted or printed over with
the alum solution as a mordant. Mordant is a substance that
fixes the natural dye on the material. After applying alum, the
cloth is kept for at least 24 hours. Then the excess mordant is
removed by washing the cloth under flowing water.
The dyeing is done for the red colour by boiling with the red
colouring materials. All the portions that are not to be blue are
covered with wax. The waxed cloth is immersed in indigo
solution. In Srikalahasti, the blue is painted with the kalam.
Then the wax is removed by boiling the cloth in water. The
yellow is painted on to produce yellow and green.
The cloth is finally washed again and dried before the final
colours emerge. However, the use of vegetable dyes and
mordants make it still a time consuming process.

HUES OF NATURE
The palette of vegetable dyes was
limited & variation in tone was
introduced by painstaking
repetition to obtain a particular
depth of colour. Sometimes a stark
background was softened by a
dotted pattern. The stark, black
outline in the painting was often
softened by another thinner line in red, or soft brown, which
served to soften the colours.
The main colours used in Kalamkari now are manjishta &
surulpattai for reds, myroballam fruit & galls, pomegranate
peel, mango bark dust, turmeric powder & flowers of the dadup
for yellow colour, brown from catechu & blue from indigo.
Kaseem, the mineral black, provides black for outlines & also
for deepening other colours. Other colours like green and
purple are achieved by treating the blue on sections already
dyed yellow and red respectively.
Certainly there are religious color codes for the decoration of
kalamkari clothes - all gods are blue, female characters are
golden yellow, bad characters and demons are red.
The water of river Swarnamukhi in Srikalahasti is regarded as
excellent for developing the colors.

DESIGNS, MOTIFS
& APPLICATIONS
Kalamkari pictures drew
inspirations from a variety
of mythological subjects.
Entire epics, like the
Ramayana, the
Mahabharata & the Bhagavata Purana were presented in
pictorial form. Such Kalamkari scrolls were huge in dimension,
sometimes even ending upto 30 ft. in length 7 3-4 ft. in width.
These epics were depicted in segments in which each episode
was illustrated with appropriate pictures & descriptive headings
written in Telugu or Tamil.
Two distinctive streams can be recognized in the Kalamkari
temple tradition. One is the earlier folk form, & another a
sophisticated form, executed with greater attention to
craftsmanship & layout. In Kalahasti, the paintings are full of
detail, colour & movement. Even when the painting is a single
panel, the multiplicity of figures point to the larger dimensions
of the single episode. In some paintings, the emphasis is more
on mythology than on technical perfection as is seen in the
painting of the Kaliya mardanam. The borders are much
elaborate. They have a strict adherence to the pen or the
kalam & even border designs are not repeated. There is no
shading or an attempt at perspective.
The temple tradition of Kalamkari had a larger role to play than
the mere making of pictures. The ceremonial requirements of
the temple, like asmanagiri, canopies, the cylindrical thombias
to be tied to the processional chariots, the banners & flags
which were carried during the procession, were all made by
Kalamkari craftsmen. The ceremonial flags had auspicious
figures like the bull or the hamsa, the torans painted in vibrant
colors. The lotus, the palm, the mango, the peacock & the
elephant were adopted as elements in the designs. The ‘tree of
life’ was a very important symbol.
Kalamkari fabrics with non-figurative motifs are used in
apparel, home furnishing, wall hangings and even in
accessories like bags. The figurative designs are primarily used
as decorative wall panels but lately, enterprising designers
have adopted the designs in home furnishings as well as
apparel and sarees.
The canopies dating from about the 1880s are large but even
so space is limited when you are illustrating events from an
epic - the size of the Ramayana. There are “extensive Telugu
captions” which suggest that they may have been displayed to
an audience while a narrator went through each scene of the
story. (The image here depicts a Chirala Ramayana
scene, Kamadhenu and the parijata tree, with particularly
lengthy notes.)
The hangings
consist of simple
pieces of unlined
cloth sewn
together. They are
not designed to be
durable especially in
a climate like
India’s. Many of the
kalamkari temple
hangings have seen
such heavy use that
they are in a terrible
state. One of the
best preserved is a
piece from Chirala, Andhra Pradesh, signed and dated by the
artist, which was bought almost immediately by the then
Director of the Indian Museum in 1883 and so never actually
used.
As in other fields, practice makes perfect in Kalamkari too. One
of the best living artists, Gurappa Shetty, made an “absolutely
extraordinary” kalamkari canopy depicting the life of Jesus.
The canopy was later bought by the V&A. The representation of
Christ is presumably fairly new, but the pre-twentieth century
kalamkari artists did not limit themselves to the Ramayana,
they also worked on Mahabharata versions as well as regional
Telugu literature. There are some kalamkari hangings which
focus on a particular temple, such as Srirangam, and illustrate
the events from that temple’s mahatmya [devotional Sanskrit
text glorifying the local deity] on the border. They have tried
out 'harmony themes' too - Hindus visiting mosques, Hindus
and Muslims embracing each other and socialising. They've
recently tried out a shandy scene and also of the neem tree
and its uses.
It may not be possible to see these canopies in their original
temple settings, but there are several museums in both India
and abroad that house them. In India, the Calico Textile
Museum of Ahmedabad is probably the best bet. In London, the
British Museum has a few and the V&A itself has about 20 in
total.
Kalamkari is probably best known in India for its use in kurtas,
saris, pajamas and bedsheets. Less well known and certainly
less readily available are the hand-painted kalamkari textiles
depicting epic and mythical material.
Subahu and Maricha
pollute the rishis’
sacrifice

Sita and Hanuman in

Ravana’s garden,
from the kalamkari
5457A in the V&A’s
collection
SOCIO ECONOMIC CONDITIONS OF THE
ARTISTS
& THE PRESENT SCENERIO
These works were primarily
intended for use as backcloths
in temples. The work involves
as many as 17 stages with the
cloth being washed at every
step. A variety of natural
products such as buffalo's milk
to make the cloth sturdy and
dung for bleaching are used.
The artist starts his painting
project with prayer to Lord
Ganesa, as is mandatory in
almost all Kalamkari pictures.
The Kalamkari craft was a
personal craft handed down for
generations by father to son.
A large number of craftsmen
engaged in kalamkari craft in Srikalahasti belong to the Baloja
community who were originally bangle-sellers. The main
painting is created by the master of the household who is an
expert painter, while the minor details are filled in by the other
members of his family. Preparing the cloth by bleaching &
mordanting by myrobalam, & application of alum is attended to
by the women of the household.
Today, there are over 300 individuals in and around Sri
Kalahasti involved in some aspect of kalamkari work from
preparing cloth and dyes, to design motifs and format layout,
to final painting and execution. The highest income earned by a
craftsman is Rs. 7,000 a month and the lowest Rs. 1,500. There
is demand but they are not able to meet it for an artist may not
have the particular piece a customer is looking for at that point
of time. Except for a few who have developed contacts & are
able to market their paintings at fancy prices, the majority of
craftsmen sell the paintings to the A.P. Govt. Co-op. Society
called Lepakshi. Paintings are purchased by the government
emporium on a fixed price of Rs. 300 to 350 per metre. The
craftsmen cannot produce more than 2 or 3 pictures of approx.
2 mts. each per month, if paintings of exceptional quality are to
be produced.
Quality is sometimes affected when artists who depend on
quick sales for their day-to-day needs produce too many pieces
without devoting adequate time to the execution.
In 1991, a co-operative of sorts was set-up in Kalahasti, known
as the Srikalahasti Kalamkari Kalarula sangam. This was the
first attempt to form a group of about 50 craftsmen to produce
kalamkari fabrics as a joint venture. There are now 3 or 4 co-
operatives funded by the local industries.
The Central Government has many schemes to help the
craftsmen. The benefits however are not going to the
craftsmen but to the middlemen as the former are preoccupied
with their work and have no time for the marketing aspect.
Although there are so many voluntary organisations, only 10
per cent of them are serving the craftsmen properly, he feels.
The prevailing widespread corruption is worth appalling.
Government officers act like brokers and demand a percentage
of the sales even at exhibitions. Money is also being made by
guides who bring tourists to Kalamkari worksheds in Kalahasti.
They are fleecing foreigners.
FUTURE OF AN ANCIENT ART
The Kalamkari carried on & shaped by village artisans as a
living tradition is now in a process of disintegration. It is in
dusty piles that Kalamkari paintings can now be discovered in
various government emporia & fails to catch the attention of
the discerning buyer.
Kalamkari saris have a good market and the wall hangings do
well too. Kalamkari artists have a bright future.
There are crores of engineers and doctors in the country but
only a handful of Kalamkari artists. Such a sense of self-worth
and the blend of the savvy and sincere is what reassure those
concerned about the future of their craft traditions.
The ebb and flow of kalamkari popularity continues to plague
the artistic community at Sri Kalahasti, however at the moment
there is an upsurge in interest in the art form by designers,
NGOs and entrepreneurs living and working in nearby cities. A
range of products are now created using kalamkari cloth and
are available for sale at craft exhibitions, small boutiques and
from the artists directly. In addition to the traditional style
narrative wall hangings artists also create hand painted saris,
dupattas, personal items and home accessories. This style
owes its present status to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay
who popularised the art as the first Chairperson of the All India
Handicrafts Board. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari and
it involves numerous painstaking steps.
The J. J. School of Art, Mumbai is one such beneficiary. They are
presently experimenting with this art form on Silk Ikat (i.e., tie
and dye textiles popular in Pochampally, Andhra Pradesh).
However the timely revival of the intervention of Handicrafts
Boards under the leadership of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, a
few surviving practitioners of the craft were traced & thus the
craft was saved from total extinction. In present times, govt.
agencies with even less perception than the British
administrators of yesteryears, commission Kalamkari artworks
with a misguided sense of promoting traditional arts, which
only highlights the decadence.
It is unfortunate that traditional craftsmen have lost faith in
their own heritage & are led astray by the glitter of the present
day textile market. There is a craze to be modern & introduce
new colours to keep up with the changing social patterns. They
copy new designs, which are bizarre & totally out of character
& use cheap chemical dyes for easier production.
There is no agency for proper
designing, nor market-oriented
selling.
The Kalamkari heritage with its
beautiful & vibrant colors, its
eco-friendly nature, has a great
potential as a vital component
in the fashion trade. Proper
design inputs would go a long
way to present this craft in a
modern setting, without losing
its moorings in tradition.

Professor Anna L. Dallapiccola, former Professor of Indian Art at

the South Asia Institute at Heidelberg, Germany, recently wrote
the British Museum’s catalogue of South Indian Paintings and is
currently working with the kalamkari collection at the Victoria
and Albert Museum (V&A).
FROM THE MOUTH OF NEWSPAPERS
‘Dwaraka’: Reviving the age-old kalamkari art
Purushottam, an impoverished kalamkari artist from the temple
town of Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh arrived in Bangalore, a
few years back with beautiful mythological cloth panels in his
hands and tears in his eyes. His debt-ridden condition moved
Anita Reddy, a social activist, working for the urban poor for
over 20 years, to take up cudgels on their behalf, resulting in
setting up of the philanthropic NGO ‘DWARAKA (Development
of Weavers and Rural Artisans in Kalamkari Art) with the
support of the Ramanarpanam Trust initiated by her father
Dwarakanath.
A visit to Srikalahasti some years ago was an eye-opener for
Anita, who found an impoverished weaving community, on the
brink of extinction. With a lot of persuasion, she motivated two
local practitioners Nagaraj and Gopi to teach their traditional
male-centric skills to 25 local girls who were taught for over a
year by the duo and paid a stipend of Rs 300 a month.
The programme helped in stimulating higher levels of self-
confidence and self-reliance among girls who have now started
generating income for their survival. In addition to these girls,
many other artists too have started identifying themselves as
one unit, under the banner of DWARAKA. A revolving fund was
set up for weavers who were brought together as smaller self-
help groups to help them reduce their debts and procure raw
materials and recondition their looms, Anita says. The entire
activity has been envisaged exclusively to make the
community economically secure and has been established as
non- profit venture, she says. DWARAKA also opened its
marketing outlet and store in Bangalore two years back. Raji
Narayan, coordinator of the project, has been instrumental in
coordinating the designing of different ensembles and artefacts
available at the outlet and giving them the “necessary
contemporary touch.” “The earning of girls working for
DWARAKA today has gone up from a mere Rs 600 to Rs 6000”,
Ramakrishnan, financial director of the organisation says. While
DWARAKA’s first year brought in about Rs 20 lakh, exhibitions
at New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore through Delhi-based NGO
‘Dastakar’, have been its major successes, he says.

Antique saris are in vogue

Cashing in on this
demand for
traditional and
antique saris, the
apparel chain
Fabindia set up an
exclusive stand for
saris. This is the first
in a series of a
proposed chain
devoted to
traditional saris with
contemporary looks
and matching silk and cotton cholis. Every sari has been
handwoven by rural artisans at the chain's 17 community-
owned companies in villages, where artisans own 26 percent of
the stakes.
Fabindia has created three lines of saris - the "traditional" line
featuring crafts-based saris; "contemporary", a collection that
uses traditional techniques to create a modern idiom; and a
"revival" line that brings back saris that are in danger of dying
out.
"Traditions like silk Telia Rumals, Koraput saris, Upadas, Ajrakh
print on gajji silk, hand-painted kalamkari, madhubani
paintings on maheshwari and chanderi and jamdaanis are
dying because of lack of support," explains Prableen Sawhney,
spokesperson for Fabindia.
"The lure of the traditional Indian sari from the states is
evergreen," said Delhi-based designer-cum textile revivalist
Madhu Jain. She is working with former supermodel-turned-
grassroots textile activist Milind Soman for the past nine years
to revive the ancient "ikkat" and "kalamkari" saris and weaves
in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper, Wednesday, Nov
05, 2003 - Fabric makeover
Kalamkari gets a fillip at the hands of graduating students of
the National Institute of Fashion Technology, writes RADHIKA
RAJAMANI
FASHION CAN be fun, wacky,
avant-garde, yet serious too. It
is all about reinvention and
revitalisation as well. This was
amply reflected in the
ensembles designed by the
graduating students of FDIT
(Fashion Development and
Information Technology) of
National Institute of Fashion
Technology. Age-old textiles
and embellishments have
been given a makeover -
fabrics, textures, surface
ornamentation have been
developed and teamed with
accessories by students.
Old craft, contemporary treatment is the bottom line. Soumya
has given a `facelift' to Kalamkari, an ancient craft of Andhra
Pradesh, through her theme "The Art of Regeneration" at the
Design Paradigm 2003. “I want to bring back Kalamkari into
fashion by contemporising a traditional craft," says Soumya full
of enthusiasm. She chose to depict Kalamkari as body art and
tattooing.
Soumya experimented in different colours. "Kalamkari uses few
colours. By trial and error I worked on colours and developed
purple - an unused one." Denims, corduroy and knits were the
fabrics she worked on. The motifs on the clothes were hand
painted in vegetable dyes by her. The body art and tattoo was
reflected in stockings and rivets in the clothes. Surface textures
were interesting and the designer herself wore a kameez with a
hand-painted Kalamkari goddess. This budding designer's
ultimate aim is to incorporate Kalamkari into Western wear.
Both Soumya and Hari Gopal in their own way aim to uplift the
crafts to ensure larger markets - even international.