ARTS and CRAFTS
TEXTILES
Textile specialties by region
The specialty
in each region developed based on the geographical location, climatic conditions,
cultural influences, etc. The Northern India went through major influences
of the Persian, Mogul ideas. The weavers were highly skilled producing
intricate and delicate textiles, sometimes with the use of complicated
looms. The art of dyeing the thread for weaving and the woven fabric
was well developed. Fast, rich colours were used from very early
days. Being hand made, each fabric could be unique.
Cotton weaves
The
Dacca weaves of East Bengal
- famous for the figured, finely woven mulmul. The Daccai saree,
consists of different coloured threads intricately woven, (with several
needles used) on white unbleached cotton. The thread
was a slightly greater count than the base fabric. The style is now
practised in West Bengal by the craftsmen who had migrated
here after the partition. The technique also developed in Uttar
Pradesh, the style of textile known as Jamdani.
The
Jamdani weaves of Uttar Pradesh
This style
was introduced by the Nawabs of Oudh in the late 18th century. The
textile was very fine and delicate, the process very complicated and
intricate and hence the textile was very expensive. The style is
however still practised. In the style where white thread is used
to weave on white, i.e., self designs, the designs woven are hardly visible,
except on closer scrutiny. The thread used to weave the patterns
are of the same count as the base material. Gold and silver thread
are also used to weave the patterns.
The
Paithani weaves of Maharashtra
Zari thread
is used for the warp and the coloured threads for the weft are interlocked,
the result is similar to tapestry weave. Complicated patterns of
birds such as swans, peacocks, parrots, floral designs are intricately
and delicately woven.
Details
Chanderi
weaves of Madhya Pradesh
In this technique
silk thread is used for warp and fine cotton thread for the weft, with
a richly laid out zari border and pallav. Checks and floral patterns
are also laid all over the body.
Maheshwar
sarees of Madhya Pradesh
Similar to
Chanderi style, the saree is either pure cottons or silk / cotton mix,
with check patterns being the specialty.
Gadwal,
Vanaparti, Nander, Venkatagiri sarees of Andhra Pradesh
Gadwal and
Vanaparti are woven as thick cotton, checks being the popular pattern with
silk and zari border and pallav. The Nander sarees are very finely
woven cotton sarees with rich border and pallav with gold and silver threads.
The Venkatagiri sarees are very finely woven cottons with motifs from nature
such as animals, birds, flowers woven half with gold thread and half with
cotton thread.
Ikat
weaves of Andhra Pradesh
Pochampalli
sarees are woven with the ikat patterns, where the yarn is pre dyed
based on pattern before weaving.
Kancheepuram,
Salem, Coimbatore, Pudukottai, Madurai and Shankeranarkoil are
famous for cotton weaves with motifs and checks laid on the body .
The border and pallav are worked with thread or zari weaves.
Karakal
sarees from Kerala
These are
plain unbleached woven cottons with zari border and pallav.
Banglar Tant of West Bengal
Tant saree is a traditional Bengali saree and usually used by Bengali
women. It is traditionally made by the weavers from all over West Bengal
and Bangladesh but typically few places like Murshidabad, Nadia,
Hooghly of West Bengal and Dhaka, Tangail of Bangladesh are famous for
tant saree weaving. Tant saree are woven from cotton threads and
distinguished by its lightness and transparency. It is considered to be
the most comfortable saree for the Indian hot and humid climate.
Under the royal guidance the tant (specially jamdani) and muslin became
famous in and around Dhaka in the Mughal era. British government tried
to destroy this art to protect the textile industry of Manchester. With
the division of Bengal province of British India and departure of
British from India many skilled weavers had settled Hoogly, Nadia and
Burdwan district of West Bengal with the Government aid and
incentive.These weaver made this art famous for West Bengal.
Weaving of tant saree is famous and an age old crafting of West Bengal
and Bangladesh. The craftsmen deftly weave the cotton to thread which is
woven to tant saree. Two shuttles are used for this purpose.
Traditionally, handlooms were used by the weavers, which have today been
largely replaced by power looms to weave these sarees.
The typical Tant saree is characterised by a thick border and a
decorative pallav, woven using a variety of floral, paisley and other
artistic motifs. Some of the popular traditional motifs are: bhomra
(bumble bee), tabij (amulet), rajmahal (royal palace), ardha-chandra
(half moon), chandmala (garland of moons), ansh (fish scale), hathi
(elephant), nilambari (blue sky), ratan chokh (gem-eyed), benki
(spiral), tara (star), kalka (paisley) and phool (flower). Printed,
hand-painted and embroidered patterns are also used to get a larger
variety of designs.Different motifs including floral element, solar
element and recently even modern art are depicted in this saree. Tant
Saree comes with colourful design and borders are made thicker because
it is subjected to tear easily.
Source: http://www.banglartant.com
Silk weaves
Varanasi
(Uttar Pradesh) silk weaves - brocades
An extra weft
of gold thread runs across the warp with the motifs picked up in silk thread
and jewel like colours worked in the style of minakari in jewellery.
Another variety
of gold brocade has warp and weft of gold thread with patterns worked in
silk and gold thread. Normally the background material is woven in
silver zari and the patterns in gold. This is known as Ganga-Yamuna,
Ganga standing for the gold thread and Yamuna for the silver.
Yet another
variety is the gold and silver lame tissues.
The pure silk
brocades are very intricate with silk thread used for creating the patterns.
Baluchar
weaves of West Bengal
These are
plain woven fabric brocaded with untwisted silk thread developed in Murshidabad.
The specialty is the large pallav, with a large pattern radiating from
the centre. The body of the saree carries zari buttas. The
designs from the miniature paintings are used for the pallav design.
The weavers of Varanasi have excelled in creating textiles of this variety.
Tanchoi
weaves of Gujarat
These textiles
are based on satin weaving. The base is satin and the extra weft floats
are merged into the fabric.
Paithani
weaves used in pallavs of silk sarees of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh
The paithani
technique, where the warp is zari thread with coloured thread for the weft
and this technique is used in the pallav of the silk sarees.
Kancheepuram
weaves of Tamil Nadu
The silk sarees
are woven with fine silk with contrasting border and pallav woven with
a variety of zari motifs such as rudraksham, malli moggu, gopuram, etc.
There are other areas in Tamil Nadu that are famous for their silk weaves
such as Dharmavaram, Arni. Tanjore is famous for the all over gold
woven sarees used for temples.
Patola weaves
are practised in various regions with slight variations based on local
taste. In Patola weaving the warp and weft threads are tied and dyed
before it is woven. The warp thread is first stretched on the loom
and the design is marked on this. Areas are tied and dyed.
The tie and dye process is done in various colours from lighter to darker
colour shade. The weft threads are fixed on a prepared frame placed
at an angle and the same process is carried out. The weft threads
are thrown over the warp and woven using long bamboo needles to hold
the design. Sometimes only the warp or weft is tie-dyed and then
it is known as single patola.
The double
Ikat technique is followed in Rajkot and Patan, Gujarat.
Andhra Pradesh
is famous for the Pochampally sarees with the geometrical patterns, which
are usually made with only the weft tie-dyed. Chirala in Andhra Pradesh
is another centre famous for Patola weaving.
Orissa is famous
for Vichitrapuri sarees. Here in addition to the patola technique,
additionally have extra warp weaves of natural silk. Apart form the
usual geometrical patterns, complicated temple designs are woven in the
pallav.
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