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Issue #002, Monsoon, 2019 ISSN: 2581- 9410 This paper explores the dichotomies of India’s craft experience. These reflect the centrality of hand production to the Freedom struggle under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership, bold experiments in craft development as part of national planning once India was free, and contrasting notions today of what should represent modernity and progress. Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay pioneered a range of institutions and approaches intended to empower artisans and to secure a lasting position for craft in India’s culture and economy. Her efforts and those of craft masters and other leaders registered many achievements, as Indian crafts swept the country and the globe, demonstrating an ability to evolve and change with new times and new challenges. A craft renaissance was achieved over many hurdles and India’s craft leadership became unquestioned. Yet in more recent times there has been a distinct retreat in understanding and support. Suddenly, the artisan and her culture and skills have been interpreted as representing a primitive past that is out of step with ambitions of global power and influence. New attitudes were revealed in the term ‘sunset industry’ that began to be applied to the craft sector. A sense of crisis now threatens the legacy of India’s craft pioneers and the achievements of another generation of activists. Meanwhile, industrially advanced societies are striving to recover their own craft heritage as a source of creativity indispensable to contemporary need. New approaches in the understanding of development also suggest the incredible value of India’s craft advantage. What is now at stake, and where can we go from here? Background: A crisis in the making A year or so ago, the Government of India mooted a plan to assist handloom weavers by attaching a small electric motor to their looms. Official worthies further proposed an amendment to the definition of handloom fabric, a move that would be to the great advantage of the dominating power-loom sector. The logic of the motor was to increase productivity and therefore the earnings of deprived weavers --- estimated by some at 13 million --- competing against power-looms, mills and imports. No questions seemed to have been asked as to why these millions of weavers were still deprived despite global demand for their production, decades after Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay had helped establish institutions and systems that were meant to empower artisans and to sustain their crafts. No questions seemed to have been asked about the logic of converting handlooms into power-looms, removing at one stroke the quality of the hand that distinguishes handloom fabric from power-loom and mill alternatives and providing the handloom product with its global USP. No questions seemed to have been asked about what weavers might think of this extraordinary strategy to serve them by destroying their craft advantage, nor of where the power would come from to get those motors moving. For decades, weavers have been awaiting functioning light-bulbs that could illuminate their cramped workplaces. No questions seemed to have been asked about what clients of handloom production all over the world might think of the motorised fabric that would now be offered to them, devoid of that handmade quality that created demand. This incredibly foolish or diabolically wicked plan --- the choice depends on one’s faith in humankind --- may well have gone through. Fortunately, it did not. The credit for this goes to one vigilant soul in the now-defunct Planning Commission --- who happened to notice that this project defied both Twelfth Plan allocations as well as the definition of handlooms on which Plan allocations had been made. Her vigilance was supported by weavers and craft activists around the country. A nationwide movement followed to protect India’s great handloom advantage from an official threat that compounded the harsh competition from mass production. That abhiyan is still on-going, with the need now to deal with a new political environment committed to what we must welcome as ‘market forces’. The handloom crisis erupted while Government and civil society were working in partnership to bridge another crisis: the absence of reliable data (outside of exports) about the scale and contribution of the hand sector to the national economy --- despite repeated acknowledgement of handcraft as a source of Indian livelihood second only to agriculture. This partnership between official and non-government stakeholders succeeded in 2012 to include artisans for the very first time in the National Economic Census. The Census outcome is now awaited to help correct current estimates of artisan numbers that can range as widely as 13M to 200M, and to provide for the first time some understanding of India’s stake in its craft economy. By indicating scales of risk and opportunity, robust data might offer a brake on foolishness of the kind that led to the handloom crisis. Four years earlier, Gopalkrishna Gandhi had reminded us in 2008 that the Government’s heart is to be reached through the Government’s mind, and that facts would need to speak louder than sentiments. For this, economics must be summoned to the cause. He was referring to proclamations from high places in New Delhi that India’s crafts were a sunset activity, an exotic and quaint facet quite out of step with national ambitions of global power and modernity. An attitude of benign neglect would speed a sunset’s journey into night, allowing sunrise to greet a modern India cleansed of embarrassing reminders of a primitive handcrafted past, and ready to compete with Singapore and Silicon Valley. These current experiences and the attitudes they reflect should suffice to warn us that almost seven decades after Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay and other stalwarts pioneered handcraft development in national planning, the sector is in crisis. Institutions established by Kamaldevi and like-minded visionaries appear to have abandoned their mandate or been sidelined by vested interests. While India’s global reputation for craft excellence remains unmatched, there are today dire predictions about the future despite all the opportunities of a massive market at home and overseas, as well as the growing recognition of the importance of artisanal cultures and industries. These are acknowledged to not only protect and reinforce identity and opportunity within the global village but equally to help sustain the capacities of creativity and innovation that international trade now demands. Kamaladevi’s vision and after It is in this context of opportunity and threat that we pay tribute today to the memory of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay. Kamaladevi is often called the Mother of Indian Handicraft. Does she then bear some responsibility for the current fate of her children? Did the parent fail the child? Or have we failed Kamaladevi? In these years of transition, how have the skills and values to which Kamaladevi’s generation were so powerfully committed grown, matured, transformed, flourished or failed? Personally, I am not at all sure that Kamaladevi would appreciate the parental label that is so regularly attached to her. It smacks ofmaa-baap patronage that somehow does not blend with her other no-nonsense reputation. I prefer to think of Kamaladevi as a trustee --- conscious of India’s huge advantage of living crafts, and determined to transmit that heritage to the future. Experience in the application of that advantage to the Freedom movement, Kamaladevi’s early efforts at craft-based livelihoods were to help rehabilitate women who were flooding into refugee camps from what was now Pakistan. The Indian Cooperation Union’s modest handicraft store was established as the outlet, precursor to the Central Cottage Industries Emporium that started in 1948. ‘Cottage’ was to become a symbol of free India’s faith in Gadhijii’s example and in his advocacy of decentralised economic opportunity, heightened by awareness of so many in our society who live by their hands, including those now dispossessed and uprooted by Partition. Much has been written of Kamaladeviji’s role in launching free India’s programmes for handicraft and handloom development in 1952 at the behest of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Cottage Industries Board, the Indian Cooperative Union, the All India Handicrafts & Handloom Board, the Cottage Industries Emporium, Regional Design Centres, new experiments through Marketing Clinics in different regions, the Crafts Council of India, the Crafts Museum, the National and State Awards that have done so much to recognize excellence --- all these are milestones on Kamaladevi’s journey towards a craft renaissance. That renaissance has included a national and global awareness of Indian craft and made it an integral part of our way of life, an inescapable element in the very idea of India. National and world demand for handmade quality from India has never flagged, even during years of economic recession. The visibility of its crafts and artisans gives India global leadership in the sector. With such a backdrop of history from Mohenjodaro to the Mahatma and to Ministries of national planning, with India as the first post-colonial economy to incorporate handcraft into national development and to bring the craft culture to global attention --- with all this, why then should Indian artisans and their crafts be in crisis today? Perhaps because this familiarity has led to a sense of taking a priceless heritage entirely for granted, turning familiarity slowly into contempt. The seeds of crises that I have recalled were sown in the very institutions Kamaladevi helped establish. The sunset syndrome This crisis demands understanding not merely because millions of Indian lives are at stake. More critical is the crisis of values and of mindsets that is the root cause. How and when did pride and confidence in India’s artisans transform into apathy and contempt, their skills dismissed as obsolescent and their culture as defeated? A nation that lacks basic data for its second-largest industry is clearly not committed to it. If even economic potential is ignored or regarded as a threat to modernity and power, what chance is there for those other craft values that are cultural, social, environmental and spiritual? Has an India emerged that no longer values the need for different knowledge systems to coexist and enrich one another? The only constant over these years has been showcasing of crafts and artisans on festive occasions, to the accompaniment of mantras extolling our ancient heritage and cultural superiority. Walking the craft talk has been another matter altogether. While Kamaladevi’s generation epitomised India’s capacity for synthesis, diversity and tolerance, today’s schizophrenia mixes mantras of an ancient past with cultural intolerance masquerading as pride and garnished with Singapore/Silicon dreams. Crafts and artisans are caught in a bind --- simultaneously needed for cultural window-dressing and dismissed as irrelevant relics. The handloom crisis I have described is a symptom of this malaise. Perhaps my generation must own some responsibility for this failure. We matured in an India which took its craft heritage for granted. We accepted the mantras of culture and aesthetic superiority. We did not ask questions about economics or sustainability or about artisan rights. We did not pay adequate heed to their repeated demands for basic social security that could offer a safety-net against market uncertainties and offer an incentive to remain within the tradition. Nor did we anticipate the mimicries of taste that globalisation would come to mean. Not a few of us made careers that impinged on the paths that Kamaladevi and others had prepared for us. Then came those jolting references to a sunset sector. Recovery is taking its time. Our effort to recover is a story in itself. It began in the Planning Commission with an effort to communicate what was at stake to policy-makers --- and to communicate this in economic terms It had become clear, just as Gopal Gandhi had predicted, that unless the economic argument was made, all other arguments would be left unheard. With this vast sector of the economy adrift without a factual anchor that could justify the investment, a research methodology had to be evolved and tested to gather data. We also discovered that New Delhi accommodates some 30 ministries, departments and authorities that impinge on artisans. They do not consult. There is no sector overview, little synergy. Two key offices --- the Offices of the Development Commissioner of Handicrafts and of the Development Commissioner of Handlooms --- together representing the nation’s second-largest industry --- are nowhere near the high tables of decision-making. If that was not enough, both are currently attached to a Ministry of Textiles whose first concern is mass production of fabrics by mills and power-looms. It does not seem odd to anyone other than ourselves that a textiles ministry should be responsible for brass, metal, stone, wood, cane and bamboo. What to say then that this Ministry is not even accountable for India’s wondrous khadi? That great fabric is left to the mercies of small-scale industries and even smaller-scale Gandhians. Against such a backdrop of contextual confusion and missing data, handlooms can be transformed into power-looms. No one is watching. What has speeded this great descent from the heights of Gandhian thought, Tagore’s demonstration at Sriniketan, Kamaladevi’s torch-bearing efforts, Smt Pupul Jayakar’s spectacles of craft diplomacy, and so much other evidence of craft quality? Perhaps early warnings had been ignored. In September 1964 a committee headed by Asoka Mehta laid emphasis on “regulated transition of handlooms to powerlooms” with steps to install 10,000 power-looms in the handloom sector. One of Kamaladeviji’s colleagues, Jasleen Dhamija, has recalled that even in the early ‘fifties, economists from Western schools in the Planning Commission regarded ‘cottage industries’ as non-productive welfare. Their Marxist colleagues opposed the hand sector as exploitive. Pupul Jayakar, that other great craft leader, was to recall that the only argument that seemed to make a lasting dent was that of export promotion. India then was in desperate need of foreign exchange to help build its basic industries. The global reputation of Indian hand skills was, therefore, an opportunity not to be missed. The Ministry of Commerce, which handled foreign trade, was made responsible for craft development. A list of exportable crafts was developed. To this day, that list represents the mandate of the Office of the Development Commissioner (Handicrafts). This explains why such classic handcrafted products as clay pots, jhadoos and chiks or items created from recycled materials are not the concern of this Office, even though thousands are involved in their manufacture and sale at every corner. The Khadi and Village Industries Commission may or may not be responsible for khadi. That depends how you interpret the term ‘responsible’. This confusion extends right down the line at state and local levels. There are no federations or fora that bring artisans together. No chambers of commerce or B-schools are bothered with their business. Artisans do not block highways and train tracks. Like farmers, they are voiceless. They commit suicide. The concept of cultural industries Almost at the same moment that influential Indian planners were declaring craft a sunset activity, the European Union could be heard proclaiming that the ‘future is handmade’. So what would Kamaladeviji, Pupulben, L C Jain and so many other past stalwarts make of these contradictions? How would they respond to the contrasting message given out from the EU of all places? Would they ask bemused whether Europe is planning to abandon the machine and revert to its pre-industrial artisanal past? And if that is unlikely, then how indeed is the global future to be handmade? The European response would have resonated with their own deep understanding of craft cultures within the larger human consciousness. The call from Europe is a reminder that creativity and innovation are the only human capacities available to any economy if it is to survive and to flourish in today’s globalised economy. This creative ability to respond to change is embedded in cultures that harmonise the hand, eye and mind. Destroy these deeply-rooted capacities and not just crafts but all national creativity is endangered. Japan, Taiwan and South Korea have long attributed their success in electronic, computer and automotive industries to craft attitudes embedded in their national psyche. One example is Kanazawa in Japan, now registered as a City of Crafts in recognition of “The spirit of artistic production that made possible Kanazawa’s own industrial revolution and made it the home of top engineering companies”. Switzerland, Scandinavia, Germany and Italy recognize their craft heritage in the success of precision and engineering industries as well as in design leadership. Thailand and China are making major investments in craft strategies, while the USA and the UK are rediscovering the potential of their craft sectors. There is today a growing literature of cultural economics as a discipline which appreciates that cultural goods and services actually add much more value than what is realized in the market. We Indians have neglected this link despite brilliant demonstrations that range from Dilli Haat and the Festivals of India to Titan watches and the machine tool industry of Surat. In 2005 India was host to a world symposium that culminated in the Jodhpur Consensus on Cultural Industries which recognized these industries “as a source of capital assets for economic, social and cultural development” and as “a vital source for the cultural identities of communities and individuals which lead to further creativity and human development ..... What cultural industries have in common is that they create content, use, creativity, skill and in some cases intellectual property, to produce goods and services with the social and cultural meaning”. The reminder that artisans “produce goods and services with the social and cultural meaning” addresses those for whom the term ‘cultural industries’ can be disquieting, with possible overtones of selling out. What protection is there in the marketplace for the culture of the spirit through which craft traditions travelled through the centuries, not as mere products but as rich expressions of the mind engaged in service? In Kamaladevi’s words, it is the artisan's tender care of the substance of everyday life and of nature’s own rich storehouse that adds a finer dimension to our being. Is there a place in the market for such caring? Perhaps a first need is for a respectful acceptance of the marketplace as a space familiar to Indian artisans throughout history, and the only space that can deliver meaningful livelihoods. Today’s challenge is to empower the artisan to negotiate effectively with market forces, rather than to fear them. Gandhi’s respect for the customer, the ultimate user of the handmade, was legendary. His understanding and ability to use the market enabled the swadeshi movement and made possible the handloom revolution. To my generation, Cottage Industries, Contemporary Arts & Crafts, Sohan, Handloom House, Sasha, landmark Khadi Bhavans and the Fabindia of John Bissell were among the craft experiences that moulded us while also delivering to artisans the possibility of dignity and hope. It was the changing market in India and overseas that forged partnerships between craftspersons and designers to develop an idiom of Indian craft that could respond to contemporary need. The challenge therefore is not one of market threat but rather fostering the capacity of artisans to negotiate effectively with the market, and effectively protect their own interests within a situation of constant change and unrelenting competition. Building demand for hand quality To do this requires building consumer awareness of craft quality and thus generating a demand for the quality that only the hand can deliver to markets at home and around the world. Demand requires awareness. Awareness begins with education --- education that can sensitise the Indian child and tomorrow’s consumer to her craft heritage and its relevance to her own well-being. An important opportunity is now available through the craft curriculum offered to Indian schools through the NCERT. The curriculum reflects the thought and effort of Prof Krishna Kumar. He shared his perspective from this podium through the second Kamaladevi Memorial Lecture “Hastkalayein aur Shiksha” in February 2011. I would urge CCRT to translate Prof Kumar’s lecture not only into English but into every language so that his insights can reach and engage the entire sector. India’s artisans themselves represent a great educational advantage. They are unmatched in their ability to communicate through their hands an understanding of materials, technology, function and aesthetics. Yet our master artisans are excluded as educators because they lack the formal degrees and certificates of the so-called qualified. This must change because without another generation of Indians who understand the value of the handmade through direct encounters with the craft culture and wisdom, respect for artisans and demand for hand-made quality may be impossible to ensure. Education and awareness cannot be restricted to formal and informal channels of education. The father-to-son and mother-to-daughter channels to which crafts have passed through generations represent not just vocational education and training but lessons in aesthetics and in the human spirit that no school can match. Today these traditional channels can be challenged by the need to distinguish between craft paramparas on the one hand and the issues of caste barriers and of child labour on the other. What education must offer to the children of artisans is the option of a hereditary profession by choice and not by compulsion. For other children, it should be the option to join and to participate in a shared legacy of heritage. This is not an impractical dream. It is happening in Maheshwar, Kutch and elsewhere. Transformed landscapes, tectonic shifts Many of us who have been trying to manage the challenges of traditions in transition tend to ascribe failures to our own incapacities, or to the poor framing and execution of national policies, to bureaucratic insensitivity, or to the absence of any clear strategy to raise demand for handmade quality. Perhaps we need also to go beyond these symptoms of crisis to an even deeper understanding of tectonic shifts taking place on our ground. These shifts include those which I have described of attitude and perception. The aspirations of artisans and their clients have also changed from acceptance of past identities to those associated with new concepts of progress and modernity. There are also huge market transformations, transitions demanded by urbanisation, the impact of political forces, and the colossal influence of environmental change. Perhaps the most obvious shift has been that of a transformed market. The struggle for livelihoods is bereft of pre-Independence barter systems and the patronage of temple, mosque and palace.Systems of support from Central and State authorities made major contributions to the sector, keeping it alive within a protected economy. In the so-called free market of liberalised globalisation, past schemes have become increasingly irrelevant. The self-sufficient village of centuries, the gram Rajya of Gandhiji’s dream, is now a space invaded by urban dreams and demands for urban services. The user of what the village artisan makes is now a distant, most often unknown entity located in the cities of India and the world. To understand her and to influence her choices requires a range of ‘middleman’ functions: access to market knowledge, to design and technology, to finance and to channels of distribution. Each function can be exploitive or supportive. Which it will be now depends primarily on the artisan’s capacity to negotiate and to influence the market chain with its demands of timely delivery, quality control, merchandising, trade regimes and, above all, of competition from alternatives. The need now is for building greater management capacities and services at the grassroots, for entrepreneurship capacities that can negotiate unlimited market opportunities at home and overseas, as well as the range of market threats. Self-reliant entrepreneurship rooted in inherited wisdom and combined with current knowledge is perhaps the most essential prerequisite for sustainable livelihoods from handcraft. The most essential, but certainly not the only prerequisite. Rural crafts or a rural myth?The challenge of sacred spaces Access is another. Access to markets and to services that have failed to reach the village doorstep, forcing the movement of artisans away from villages into town and cities. Many of us are still obsessed with the myth of preserving a rural culture ---- ‘cottage’ industries, handmade in kutirs. The truth is that many of our craft traditions have moved into urban slums and pavements. Every Indian city reveals this fact, with artisans working and selling at whatever corner of space they can find. Hovels, not kutirs, crowded with artisans in search of markets, materials and finance. This trend will accelerate as India evolves as an urban society, a transformation to which the present administration is wholly committed. The implications are huge for re-defining or re-discovering the cultural integrity of Indian craft. The shift is not just physical. It is a movement of the mind. Contrast this reality with another recalled by the Pupul Jayakar in her classic work The Earth Mother over twenty years ago: “The rural arts of India are the arts of the settled villages and countryside, of people with lives tuned to the rhythm of nature and its laws of cyclical change, an art with a central concern with the earth and with harvesting...The rural arts of India are the visual expression and technological processes that had remained static for over two thousand years...Rural arts are also the arts of people living in forests and mountains, the ancient inheritors of this land, who claim to be the first-born of the earth....”. Pupulben went on to observe, even two decades ago, that ‘The danger to rural India lies in its accepting the values and norms of technological culture and of a consumer-oriented society, and in doing so, losing communion with nature and its inexhaustible resources of energy. The danger is of losing the sense of mysterious sacredness of the earth that ‘life-giving, tranquil, fragrant, auspicious Mother’ invoked in the Atharva Veda. Kapila Vatsayan has also reminded us, time and again, of the danger of contextual loss when the earth is no longer a sustainer but is used as a resource to be exploited. “The moment of disassociating life functions from art/craft was the moment of also accepting the disassociation of Senses, Body, Mind, Intellectual and Spirit from one another”. Perhaps our first task then is to explore whether that ‘mysterious sacredness’, for generations the heartbeat of Indian creativity, can survive and flourish away from contact with the earth, forest and sky, within the dense squalor that is life for India’s urban poor. What is needed to foster an idiom of creativity and sacredness in this new setting? Is it past memories that need to be secured and carried into new places? Is it the need for a wholesome quality of life in which sacred links with nature can be re-defined and re-drawn? Do we who work for artisans need now to assist them in finding new centres of the spirit within our urban chaos, so as to nourish civilizational roots in settings so far removed from their past? Have we the capacity to do what the city of Kanazawa has achieved in Japan? Where can such a struggle for context begin? What new partnerships may be needed? Is it with rural and urban educators? Is it with scholars of anthropology, sociology, culture, language and the arts? Or with city planners?Or with master artisans, encouraged to reflect on these changing contexts and on what they consider as tomorrow’s benchmarks of craft integrity?

Earth Mother and her artisan children The shift is not just cultural. The natural environment is degrading at a pace that threatens not just the craft inspiration which Pupulji and Kapilaji have described but its materials as well. Crafts have depended on nature for so many resources, elements and benchmarks of excellence: woods, grasses, fibres, stone, natural colours, earth and water, not to speak of design inspiration. Yet today each of these essential elements is threatened and often far removed from direct experience. Resources that once were free or accessible within habitats have disappeared due to environmental degradation, natural disasters and greed. How can motifs drawn from nature retain their freshness if new generations are denied the inspiration of having lived with nature and having absorbed the inspiration of changing seasons? And what of climate change that today threatens us with intensifying disasters of the kind Jammu & Kashmir have just witnessed, that Assam and Uttarakhand have endured, and that have brought such havoc to coastal Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu ---- everywhere destroying the materials, tools, and stocks of artisans? If nature’s integrity is a sine qua none of craft inspiration, does this require that craft activist now partner efforts at protecting the earth? Must we help redress the imbalance between development and greed with a culture of replenishment and concern for tomorrow? This is the message of Dastkar’s Green Bazaars, with which CCRT teachers may be familiar. Craft harbingers of justice Another shift is political and social, recalling the million mutinies of our land. A map of Indian tensions would include the Naxal corridor, Kashmir and northeastern states. These locations are also our richest craft resources. Does this fact tell us something about those attitudes of sunset and neglect, and of the potential of Indian crafts as a huge social and political safety net? Can craft cultures flourish amidst violence and injustice? Consider the reality that the vast majority of India’s artisans comprise those marginalised by society: scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, minorities, women, and citizens of some of the most disturbed areas of the land. Can we expect rich craft contributions from those deprived of rights others take for granted and living with neglect and violence? Is our craft culture then a valid argument to be advanced in the cause of peace and justice? If so, what demands does that make on us craft activists? Does this mean that the struggle for human dignity and for human rights is an inescapable aspect of our movement toward sustainable crafts? Does this demand that we forge new partnerships with those who struggle for justice and for peace? Do we have the stamina now to be rights activists as well? Do we, should we, have a choice? The development agenda: a craft opportunity Such a range of challenges may seem an impossible agenda for most of us who are still led by passions of the heart, not by strategies of the head. Applications of social sciences, politics and management are still unfamiliar to most of our work territories. Indeed they often appear as threats to the cultural and spiritual qualities we hold dear. Yet the sector’s greatest strength may well be that its impact and influence are cross-cutting, intersecting with so many national and global priorities. Perhaps as no other industry, craft is deeply involved with the most fundamental development agendas of our time: managing threats to the environment, promoting justice and equity and peace by bringing the deprived into the centre of concern, empowering women through recognition of their craft roles and contributions, offering identity and confidence in an era threatened by globalised uniformity, providing sustainable livelihoods to households and communities in their own locations through the use of local resources, protecting them from the miseries of migration, and leaving a light carbon footprint to address the threat of climate change. In other words, an industry that probably reflects as no other, both the issues as well as the opportunities for sustainable development. The opportunity of craft is to bring back what Kapilaji has described as “The experience of the whole, the total, in its multi-layered inter-webbing and inter-relatedness”. Thus,a cutting-edge industry which represents in itself a development agenda, a movement that is social, cultural, political and environmental, and one that carries within it the seeds of spiritual awakening. Craft as sustainable development For these reasons, I do not use the term ‘cutting edge’ lightly. We are on the threshold of one of the most important debates in economic and political history: the new development agenda that will be framed in 2015 as the Sustainable Development Goals to replace the more limited Millennium Development Goals or MDGs. The new SDGs are meant to take us as nations into a future that is more socially just, more equitable and inclusive, and therefore more sustainable. Preliminary documents are emerging out of the UN system that includes the elusive concept of well-being as the primary goal --- well-being understood as a situation in which social, economic and environmental sustainability are not trade-offs but together address the needs of billions at the bottom of the global pyramid, empowering them with a bottom-up, rather than a top-down, trajectory of development. The backdrop to MDGs and now to SDGs is the shift to human development indicators (HDIs) evolved by Amartya Sen, Maqbool ul Haque and others to reform global systems of assessing progress. These indicators can be interpreted as a powerful case for artisans and their crafts around the world. In India, the indicators can highlight that few countries are as privileged to have a sector that addresses at such a scale every major issue of national wellbeing: economic, social, political, ecological, cultural as well as spiritual. This is the Indian advantage that needs to be brought back into the centre of national consciousness. That is where a future that is handmade must begin, and the forthcoming SDGs offer an opportunity to do so. In his report on the UN’s development agenda beyond 2015, released over a year ago, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon laid emphasis on inclusive growth, decent employment and social protection and on the need to ensure that “sustainable development must be enabled by integration of economic growth, social justice and environmental stewardship” as global guiding principles. Craft industries do exactly that. The report is fore-grounded in the language of human rights and justice, pointing to our own need to position the craft movement as representing the rights of deprived millions. The report provides a credo of “international action for our collective wellbeing” that is to be achieved through addressing “global challenges with local solutions”. Again, exactly what decentralised crafts are capable of achieving. Preliminary work on the SDGs in India and overseas has focused on 15 Key Concerns translated into Goals. Many of these are immediately relevant to the future of Indian artisans and their crafts. The first SDG is to end poverty in all its forms everywhere. This is followed by the goal to end hunger and to achieve food security, nutrition and the promotion of sustainable agriculture. The invisible 50% India’s artisanal population are women, and another goal is about the need to attain gender equality and to empower all women and girls. Then there is Goal 8 to “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all” --- the very argument we have been advocating at the Planning Commission. Note the word ‘decent’. And then, critically important for us, there is Goal 12 which is to “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” that can reflect a middle path of wellbeing in which the progress of the human and natural ecologies is established as a single trajectory, and not as a competing one. Perhaps no other industry addresses this Goal as responsibly as craft. This is backed by Goal 9 which aims at inclusive and sustainable industries that foster innovation. Another goal concerns the need for urgent action to combat climate change, and yet another aims to “protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss” --- each element critical to the natural resources on which so many crafts depend. A UN High-Level Panel has recommended the need for turning to the private sector as well as to civil society “within market principles”. For us, this is an opportunity to re-emphasise that marketing and entrepreneurial capacities are essential keys to sustainable livelihoods from handcraft. Handmade in India for the world The coming year will see heightened levels of debate and discussion on the meaning of sustainable development and on how the SGDs will be interpreted for action at national and global levels. This is our new opportunity. We can now take the legacy of India’s craft advantage to another level of understanding by linking our heritage as well as our current concerns to the most contemporary developmental challenge of our time. We can try to bring back that understanding of the whole, that context that has given Indian craft its age-old power. As the largest craft concentration in the world, Indian artisans can make a massive contribution to the search for a more socially just, equitable, sustainable and inclusive planet. At last we have an opportunity to demonstrate why the legacy of Gandhi, Kamaladevi, Pupul Jayakar, L C Jain and so many other stalwarts of the Indian craft movement is not just about a proud past but equally about the future we all want for our children and for theirs. At the end of the day, there are only two tasks that truly matter: caring for each other and caring for the earth. That is indeed a future that Indian hands can help make --- handmade in India for the world.

5^th Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Memorial Lecture, October 29 2014 Centre for
 Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi

https://youtu.be/lHs74LC1_Ds

A small team of artisans from Jawaja (Rajasthan) accompanied by Prof Ashoke Chatterjee (former Director, National Institute of Design and former President, Crafts Council of India) have been denied visas to attend a global symposium on craft development that opened this week in Vancouver, Canada. The reason stated by the Canadian authorities in New Delhi is the lack of "a legitimate business purpose". The group had been invited to share three decades of development experience through an experiment that is globally acknowledged for its significance, and has had an influence well beyond the craft sector. The Maiwa Symposium is organized in Vancouver each year by the Maiwa Foundation. Its objective is to bring together artisans and activists to understand developments in the sector that can impact future craft directions. The global recession, while slowing the growth of the market, has demonstrated the remarkable resilience of world demand for hand production. In India, the sector is the largest employment generator after agriculture. Yet most Indian artisans remain among the weakest sections of society. The context of unparalleled scale and centuries-old unbroken tradition --- combined with major social, economic and political implications and opportunities - make India's craft experience critical for understanding within the debate on sustainable livelihoods. With this objective, the Maiwa Foundation invited the Artisans Alliance of Jawaja (AAJ) to share their unique experience through presentations and training workshops at its 2009 Symposium, which opened on 19 October in Vancouver, BC. The hamlet of Jawaja, in one of the most degraded districts of Rajasthan, was selected in 1975 by the late Prof Ravi J Matthai (founder Director of IIMA) for a path-breaking experiment in self-reliance. After lifting IIMA to global prominence, Ravi Matthai stepped down to test whether his management experience could be relevant to those most affected by poverty. Matthai selected Jawaja and its impoverished artisan community. Both had been identified as lacking development opportunity. Under Matthai's leadership, his 'Rural University' experiment came to be respected as one of the most innovative approaches to self-reliance and empowerment. Its prime objective was to raise the capacity of the poor to network with markets and institutions outside the oppressive control of local power structures, and to achieve this with self-reliance. The Artisans Alliance of Jawaja (AAJ) over three decades has been recognized as a remarkable development effort, linking traditional craft skills with contemporary opportunities and demonstrating the ability of the poorest to work for change. Jawaja has been a seed influence for some of India's finest civil society institutions and activists. Prof Ashoke Chatterjee has had a long career in education and development, working in India and overseas on social and environmental concerns. As NID's Director, he partnered the late Ravi J Matthai from the beginnings of the Jawaja experiment in 1975 and has since sustained his contact with AAJ. The visa rejection is symbolic of both the neglect of crafts at high levels of decision-making worldwide, and the enormous gap between the rhetoric of donor nations and what they can actually deliver on the ground. A small but determined group of Indian artisans have been denied a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which they are today attempting to recover with support from a video-conference facility located at IIMA's Ravi J Matthai Centre in Ahmedabad.

National Museum, New Delhi has a few exquisitely carved ivory objects in its collection. One of them is beautifully carved five feet long ivory tusk illustrating the important life events of Lord Buddha in forty-three small circular roundels (fig. 44). First twenty-five roundels illustrate the story of Buddha's birth to his enlightenment and next eighteen show his life events from enlightenment to Mahaparinirvana. All these scenes, narrated in Buddhist literature are represented in sculptures and paintings. However, the present ivory tusk shows a few new episodes such as Siddhartha's fight for a bird, his move against animal sacrifice and self realization of death's eternity. Intricately carved floral creeper band around roundels, makes it very beautiful. This priceless work of art appears to be the artistic creation of Delhi craftsmen of early twentieth century. The present ivory tusk narrates the complete life story of Lord Buddha. The story runs from bottom to top. The first scene shows mountains, flora-fauna and architecture which gives the impact of a town, probably Kapilvastu followed by the second scene showing seated figure of king Suddhodhana, father of Buddha. Buddha seated in abhaya-mudrd under a tree is beautifully carved in third roundel. Though Buddha's presence is not clear yet perhaps the artist wanted to indicate that the story of Buddha starts from here. The fourth scene is the dream of queen Maya Devi, the mother of Buddha, which depicts elephant (fig. 45) on upper side while she is asleep, which symbolizes the saintly soul's appearence in her womb. Maya Devi's move to meet her parents alongwith her friends in a chariot is carved in the fifth scene. Next scene is Buddha's birth, which is different from the literary and sculptural narrations. In the example. Maya Devi is seated with a baby in her lap surrounded by cauri-bearer and friends. In the next scene saint Asita is welcomed by the king and queen. Here also artist hadn't followed the popular tradition where Asita is depicted in Sddhodhana's court. Maya Devi's death scene is rarely portrayed in art though in literature it is clearly mentioned that after few days of Siddhartha's birth she died. In the eighth scene ivory tusk depicts sick Maya Devi lying on a bed, while king Suddhodhana and her maid are gloomy in grief (fig. 45). Prince Siddhartha's humanistic approach towards living being is well carved in the next three roundels which depict Siddhartha's fight for a bird with his cousin, Devadutta. The scenes are : Siddhartha is watched by his friends, while a bird wounded by Devadutta is lying near him and Devadutta is observing Siddhartha, who is passionately curing the bird. This started the quarrel between the two brothers for the bird which ended with Suddhodhanas intervention who decided that bird should remain with Siddhartha who was life saver (fig. 46). The twelfth scene portrayes Siddhartha as an archer (fig. 45) in the svayamvara of Princess Yasodhara. In the following scene she is garlanding him. Now comes the turning point of Siddhartha's life when he meets an old man (fig. 46), a dead body and an ascetic. Finally Siddhartha decided to leave the house, which is depicted in roundel no. 17 : Siddhartha is leaving the house while Yasodhara and her son are asleep. He left the palace on horse alongwith his charioteer, is the theme depited in the following scene. Next roundel depicts Siddhartha, being devoid of jewellery and royal costumes, who is cutting his hairs. His eagerness to know the truth made him restless and his various saintly activities are carved in the next three roundels where he is receiving bhiksa from a lady and sitting in meditation with five saintly persons. The next scene (no. 23) depicts Sujata offering kheer to Siddhartha. As described in Buddhist literature, after accepting the kheer Siddhartha wen: into final meditation. This tumbled the Mara, god of evil, and he tried to divert Siddhartha from the noble path, which is the theme of next roundel of the tusk. Siddhartha is sitt-in: in dhyana-mudra under a tree, Mara's daughters are dancing around him and then Siddhartha called the goddess earth for witness by touching the earth. Finally he attained enlightenment and became Buddha. Buddha after attaining enlightenment started preaching. His first disciples were the five friends who had left him in his early stage of meditation. The next two roundels depict Buddha seated in front of sacred fire, a snake and a standing saint. In the next roundel Buddha is addressing the mass after conquering the furious snake in the asram of Agni-Pujaka Jatadhari Kasyapa. The next roundel (no: 29) illustrating a beautiful story depicts Buddha holding a lamb and walking alongwith a shephered and cattle. According to literature, several animals were brought by the shephered to the king Prasenjit's palace for sacrifice. Buddha followed the cattles and was welcomed by king Prasenjit. Buddha Persuaded the King to give up the practice of animal sacrifice, which had influence on others also to follow the noble path of animal protection. Buddha's visit to Magadha alongwith his followers and two Sariputras are the themes of next two scenes. Buddha's style of preaching about the realities of life in a simple way was well received in the society. One such popular story is carved which, however, is not found in sculptural art. The story in brief is that once a lady came to Buddha and asked to revive her dead son. He agreed to do it with the help of few seeds which were to be obtained from that house where in no one had ever died. The lady moved from house to house but failed to get any such house and thus she could understand the fact of death's eternity. Later on she joined the sarirgha. Just by way of one scene the entire story has been narrated which shows Buddha standing in front of a lady with a baby in her arms. Buddha's visit to Kapilvastu is carved in next three roundels (no. 33-35). These are : Buddha is welcomed by his father Suddhodhana while Yasodhara is watching him; Yasodhara alongwith her son Rahul is standing infront of Buddha in anjali-mudra. Rahul bows his head towards Buddha and Yasodhara and her maid are watching from a distance. Rahul followed his mother's advice and joined the samgha. In the roundel no. 36 a lady is shown greeting Buddha and his followers. It could be Amrapali, as evidenced from literary and sculptural sources. The story of amorous couple Nanda-Sundari and their encounter with Buddha is carved next. All these episodes are mentioned in literature in great details. The ivory carver has beautifully carried out following scenes in next three roundels (37-39) : Buddha seated under a tree alongwith his followers, two ladies watching from the palace and Nand standing in front of seated Buddha. Nand is escaping from the samhga and is being stopped by Buddha. Popular Nilgiri's episode is the last one, depicted in two scenes : a mad elephant coming to Buddha and again an elephant bowing before him. According to Buddhist literature, once in Nilgiri hills, a mad elephant was sent to kill Buddha but elephant was so mesmerised by Buddha's spritual halo that he bowed before him. The theme of story is well carved by the ivory carver here. Next scene illustrates Buddha preaching a large gathering and last one depicts the Mahaparinirvana of Buddha. At the top of the tusk Lord Buddha is beautifully carved in three popular postures, which illustrate the main phases of his life. Buddha is carved in dhyana-mudra. bhumisparsaa-mudra and in dharmacakrapravartana-mudra. The excellent carving on entire ivory tusk with minute details carries high expressive style of Indian ivory carvers. The tradition to carve the full tusk was popular in 18th-19th century in India, specially among Delhi ivory carvers. Besides India, similar tradition was in practice in Africa (Ivory coast. Congo and Benin) and Myamer (Moulmein, Pyinmana and Rangoon) around 18th-19th centuries. Several such examples are now housed in different museums. FOOT-NOTES

K. Lal., Indian Decorative Arts and Jewellery, Delhi; 1987, p. 85, pl. 84.
Ibid., p. 86, pl. 86. This tusk depicts the Ganesa's birth story. It's a superb craftsmanship of Delhi craftsmen. This tusk was lent for the Russian exhibition to the National Museum by : Handicraft board. Delhi. Intricately carved both the tusks have many similarities such as narrative formation, figure work, floral decoration, sufficient depth, and oval roundels. All these indicate the possibility of carving both the tusks by the Delhi craftsmen.
R. Parimoo, Life of Buddha in Indian Sculpture, Delhi, 1982, p. 11.
Ibid., p. 9, p1. 6.
S. Beal, Romantic legend of Sakya Buddha, Delhi, 1985, p. 63.
Ibid., pp. 72-73.
P.V. Bapat, 2500 years of Buddhism, Delhi, 1976, p. 22.
S. P. Asthana, Masterpieces from the National Museum Collection, ed. S. P. Gupta, Delhi, 1985, p.31.
G. Watt., Indian Art at Delhi, Calcutta, 1903, p. 192.
B. Benjamin, Ivory and It's Uses, Japan, 1984, p. 25.
G. Watt., op. cit., p. 192.
Clevland Museum Bulletin - 1969, p. 56.

Mahatma Gandhi’s powerful call of Swadeshi and Swaraj to his fellow Indians not only created the radical shift that led to the crumbling of imperialism in India, the call was equally a beacon to the spinners and weavers, the makers by hand, spread across rural India. His vision for a self reliant, free India closely linked to its resurgent village industries and its village roots laid the foundation stone of women’s leadership and empowerment in the craft movement. In parallel in Bengal the visionary Nobel Prize winner, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore initiated a search into the indigenous roots of culture, setting the bedrock, inspiring others to follow.

Over the almost seven decades since India’s independence, many women contributed to change, walking the long road to try to convert the vision of a revitalized crafts and handloom sector into reality. While hard to single out names as their histories are largely unrecorded, the aim of this brief essay is limited. It is first, to briefly examine and identify those women who led the way shaping the journey, creating invigorated patterns of impact and influence. Whether working pan-India or in localized spaces, these authors of development created and empowered the crafts¹ and craftspeople².

The second aim is to signpost the changing mandates that lead to directional change. Models of development which whilst rooted in a similar ethos, metamorphosised and adapted to fit the rapidly evolving social, cultural, political and economic landscape in which the crafts and craftspeople were situated.

A fitting starting point of the journey is with Kamladevi Chattopadhyaya whose pioneering work in the decades after independence rejuvenated and vitalized the crafts and the craftspeople across India. When appointed the Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board (AIHB) in1952³, the situation she faced on the ground is hard to imagine today. With a nascent polity, an uncharted territory, crafts and craftspeople displaced and unsettled in the turmoil of independence and the partition of the country, it was a enormous mission that the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru entrusted to her. “This was a challenging task for there was no previous experience on which to build the work. It meant the creation of a new economic order for a newly independent country which would nurture and support the existing structure and skills.” ⁴ The task of formulating policy, the setting up of institutions, and the designing of a framework for the crafts to flourish and develop in was the vast undertaking faced. Her holistic view of the sector wherein “She saw crafts not in isolation, but as part of the rich fabric of our life involving all the creative expressions of a people” ⁵, was the grounding of the vision. The Ramon Magasay Award citation which she received in 1996 stated “Among the architects of modern India few have been so broadly effective as Kamladevi Chattopadhyay… in an era when great traditional crafts and artistry often are submerged by mass production of standardized products, Kamladevi has led in mobilizing for new generations these ancient skills." ⁶

The creation of support systems and frameworks such as the Regional Design Centers, the infrastructure she put into place and the organizations she seeded included the “Indian Cooperative Union (ICU), which she founded in 1948 providing tools, loans and directions in a new way of living.” ⁷ The ICU managed the then iconic handicrafts and handloom store - the Central Cottage Industries Emporium (CCIE), where “Teji Vir Singh and Mrs. Prem Bery with their experience of Marketing of Refugee Handicrafts and with the guidance of Kitty Shiva Rao and Mrs. B.K. Nehru and the support of dynamic and talented Sina Kaul were responsible for building it up. …the best of handicrafts, with its buyers such as Gulshan Nanda⁸, Nakara sisters and many others travelling the length and breadth of the country, searching for crafts and craftsmen…”⁹

The furthering of the craft movement, the process of revival and empowerment continued through her lifetime. She brought new ways at looking at the crafts, challenged hierarchies and reached out to craftspeople. Herself a prolific writer and spokesperson she initiated research and documentation on the crafts and its practitioners. Her interest and her ability to galvanize others led to the seeding of organizations across the continuum of art, culture and heritage. In the field of craft, she served as Vice President of the World Crafts Council, an endeavor that she initiated in 1964. The backing and encouragement she provided to many furthered the cause - from Rukmini Devi Arundale whose efforts in the area of natural dyes and weaving at Kalakshetra have continued to be carried forward, to the setting up of the Crafts Council of India(CCI), which now has chapters across several States and is largely women led and women run¹⁰. The Paramparik Karigar Trust, established in Mumbai in 1996, when master craftspeople from across India met with her and Roshan Kalapesi to create the first registered body of craftspeople responsible for their own future. “It is in this context that Paramparik Karigar is so important. Its active core' with full decision-making rights' is the-now around 1000 strong-crafts community.” ¹¹

These were just some of Kamladevi’s many activities and achievements in shaping, empowering and revival.

In parallel in the 1950,s Pupul Jayakar, was appointed as Chairperson of the All India Handloom Board by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, with a short break in between, her role in influencing culture and craft policy continued under the Prime Ministership of both Shmt. Indira Gandhi and Shri Rajiv Gandhi.

The building of the Weavers Service Centers, the marketing frameworks and institutions supportive of the sector, the formation of the Handloom and Handicraft Export Promotion Corporation (HHEC) ¹² and other initiatives was a response to the shifting economic and social situation, a directional change that recognized the need for repositioning Indian handmade products for the world. The Sona shop in New York, the emphasis on design and design education, the introduction of internationally known designers, including Pierre Cardin to Indian culture, crafts and textiles, the Festivals of India all worked towards a global repositioning of Indian crafts and textiles as valued, timeless, cultural artifacts.

She initiated the idea of a national school of design in 1955 when she met Charles Eames in the United States. Subsequently Eames was invited by the government to outline a proposal. “He came to explore the actuality of India before preparing his blueprint. He and his wife Ray travelled through India… observing the landscape, the people ….the rural capacity for attention, their skills and the intensity of their minds. He prepared out of this raw material his blueprint, an integral view of the Indian scene…. his report was placed before Manubhai Shah, the then Minister of Commerce and Industry; … also present, was Gautam Sarabhai. …. The Minister was confused but trusted Sarabhai’s acute business sense and was aware of my down-to-earth approach to development. Finally, the report was accepted and the National Institute of Design (NID) came into being and was built in Ahmedabad…”¹³” Similarly, the creation of national level institutes of fashion and accessory design were mooted and NIFT came into being in 1986¹⁴. These institutions and the many others they spawned changed forever the design landscape in India. The many design graduates and increasing emphasis on design in the country are a product of this foresight.

The establishment of INTACH was similar, “While in England I had met the senior representatives of the National Trust in London and discussed the possibilities of establishing an all-India society concerned with heritage and its preservation. … there was no major all-India body to concern itself with identifying, listing and conserving manmade and natural heritage. Indira was enthused with the suggestion. In spite of all manner of obstacles, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) was registered in early 1984 with Indira Gandhi as its patron, Rajiv its first Chairman.” ¹⁵

Her interests in the rural arts and crafts, her ability to see potential and translate it into action, sparked change in many areas of craft. One such incident was recounted by L.K. Jha,“… another field of high achievement… is the popularization of Madhubani paintings…. when in the mid 60’s, during the famine which threatened Bihar, she went there to discover ways in which new incomes could be generated for those whose crops had failed, with the result that they neither had the food which they used to grow for themselves nor the income to buy it from others. The problem was that since Madhubani paintings were done on walls, there was no way they could be transported or sold….Pupul Jayakar was the first person to persuade them to do their paintings on paper….. Soon, their quality caught the fancy of those with a discerning eye. …. Madhubani paintings are in many museums as well as homes of the art lovers all over the world – thanks more to Pupul Jayakar than to anyone else.” ¹⁶

In a period before ethnic became chic, Pupul Jayakar connected the crafts to their cultural underpinnings. As Chairman of CCIE she initiated policies that widened their reach. As Chairperson of HHEC she introduced Indian crafts to the global market. It was however, as Chairman of the Advisory Committee of the Festivals of India, held in Britain, USA, Japan and France that her creative and organizational activities were brought to the fore. The Festivals were a major series of events, a unique cooperative effort between the Government of India and the host country, designed to bring to the attention of the world greater understanding of the complex life and “the vibrant manifestations of Indian culture…”¹⁷In the wide-ranging presentations on art, culture, performance, scientific achievements were included ‘Vasna’, a portrait of a contemporary village and The Living Arts exhibition with demonstrations of crafts skills. Several years in its making, the Master Weavers exhibition, a part of the Festival ‘projected the great contemporary textile arts of the country and focused on the continuity of tradition.” ¹⁸ The exhibition Aditi, inspired by the rural and ritual arts, ¹⁹ centered on the growing-up of the child – from womb to adulthood.

While received with glowing tributes, “…and as Mrs. (Indira) Gandhi said it had ‘succeeded beyond our wildest hopes’. It did not serve just as a ‘show window’ for India but had actively created interest in India. ²⁰” This shift in priorities and strategies led to trenchant disapproval with traditionalists, Mrs Jayakar countered these by saying, ‘There may be much criticism today but I am confident that the events as they unfold will bring in the bouquets. We hope these festivals will reveal the great strengths of a young nation with an ancient culture and heritage” ²¹

The early foundational figures had worked in synch with a farsighted political class and bureaucracy, who backed their initiatives. From Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, there was a recognition that the arts and crafts were not only an invaluable cultural asset, but equally an economic force²².

From the late 1980’s onwards, Government institutions became less responsive to the needs of craftspeople. Political will now shifted gear, with prioritization and an almost exclusive focus on the urban, the industrial and digital, the crafts and craftspeople now relegated to the backwaters. Their neglect reflected in the phase used by politicians and policy makers to describe the sector as a “sunset industry,” and viewed through the lens of sops and subsidy, rather than as a muscular economic activity contributing to GDP. This mindset made the task of those who worked in the Sector much harder.

The major question that arose was of how to equip and empower craftspeople for the changing times.

While there was a burgeoning middle class market that demanded goods that fit into their lifestyle, there was a growing schism between rural and urban India. The opening up of the economy, globalization, loss of traditional markets, increased competition from mass marketers, declining incomes, were just some of the many challenges being faced up to. Craftspeople too were looking for change aware that economic empowerment, development, and other transformations occurring in modern India were not trickling down to them.

Priorities and strategies needed to change to suit this rapidly altering scenario.

It was in this context that a new generation of activists’ matured, their direction, both a response and a reaction to the shifts in circumstances confronting the craftspeople. Mandated to empower and improve the economic and social status of craftspeople, pan-India and regional non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) heralded in a new wave of women, from dissimilar backgrounds, who drawn to the sector had a pulse for its needs and changing priorities. Working to create sustainable economic models and equally significantly going beyond economics to fulfill social development agendas these NGO’s focused on a wide range of actions. Measures included seeking sustainable employment, collectivization, generating income, economic self-sufficiency and social equity… all human development aspirations.

To review the impressive line-up could risk producing a mere laundry list of achievers, but it needs to be done. Each name could be accompanied by a roll call of achievements, given the exigencies of space, the mention here is however pithy and brief.

Organizations with wide mandates such as SEWA in Ahmedabad, ²³ its trade union of self-employed poor women workers, led by Ella Bhatt, Rehanana Jhabvala, Mirai Chatterjee. The struggles it undertook strengthened women to organize for social change, making it equally “both an organization and a movement” ²⁴. Its emphasis on creating self-reliance and employment, included those engaged in craft activity, led by Reema Nanavati and Lalitha Krishnaswami.

In 1972 Bunker Roy setup the Social Work and Research Centre (SWRC), popularly known as the ‘Barefoot College’ in Tillonia, Rajasthan, and was joined in 1974 by his wife Aruna Roy, ²⁵ working to improve the lives of the lives of the rural poor by addressing basic needs for water, electricity, housing, health, education. The Hatheli Sansthan wing works with artisans across Rajasthan, and Saharanpur in UP.

NGO’s interknitted the concerns of the sector, creating self sufficiency’s, improving the economic status of craftspeople and promoting the survival of traditional craftsmanship. Developing a momentum as well as foci of its own – maturing and transforming along the way to resolve the problems of their time. Through successful experimentation introducing crafts to urban India, demonstrating that skills were alive and the products of craftsmanship in demand for a new, rapidly evolving middleclass.

Dastkar headed by Laila Tyabji set up in 1981 with its groundbreaking exhibitions where craftspeople could interact with their customers, learning new skills and developing markets. Their programs providing support whether in design or in accessing credit and raw material, from training in entrepreneurship to providing technical assistance. With year-on-year bazaars held across India, craftspeople developed direct links to new markets, leading to improved incomes, social equity and empowerment.

Concerns echoed at Dastkari Haat Samiti, chaired by Jaya Jaitley, ²⁶ working closely with craftspeople from across India, expanding their markets, developing cutting edge design, giving strength and support in each area of required. Jaitley’s innovative and breakout idea of a permanent craft bazaar, the Dilli Haat, conceptualized, blue-printed and pushed through with government with great perseverance by her. This landmark achievement has been hugely successful and duplicated across India and indeed in other countries.

NGO’s working closely with the concerns of the sector at large, adapting programs to needs, reinforcing efforts while constantly pushing the boundaries to growth, empowerment and change. Weaving together a network of mutual interests and collaborations they attempted to make an impact and bring change for those whom they were serving. From Anita Reddy working with the Kalamkari craftspeople in Sri Kalahasti; ²⁷ Sally Holkar’s work with the weavers in Maheshwar;²⁸ Gita Ram and Neelam Chibber’s developmental and marketing initiatives with natural fiber craftspeople in South India; ²⁹ Uzramma’s, path breaking work with the cotton handloom and Malkha weavers in Andhra, ³⁰ Mukti Dutta in Panchchuli and, Rashmi Bharathi in Uttrakhand; ³¹ the work of the Craft Revival Trust in creating the largest online encyclopedia on the arts, crafts and textiles and its practitioners; Ujwala Jodha of Dastkar Ranthambore are only some of the many examples that abound in the sector.

Working to preserve traditions, creating employment while ensuring income and livelihoods for its members, Chandraben Shroff at Shrujan, Meera Goradia at Khamir, Neena Raaste at KMVS and Judy Frater at Kala Raksha work in Kutch. While in West Bengal, the Late Dr Phulrenu Guha of Karma Kutir; ³² worked to rehabilitate refugees from erstwhile Bangladesh, providing training in skills and reviving handicrafts; Ruby Pal Choudhuri at the Crafts Council; Sarba Shanti Ayog – SASHA, set up by the Late Subhashini Kohli³³ and its stewardship by Roopa Mehta, working now with more than 100 crafts groups. Ananya Bhattacharya at Banglanatak@com; Sumita at Rangasutra; Adithi established by the Late Vijii Srinivasan, ³⁴ operating across Bihar and Jharkhand. The M Rm Rm Cultural Foundation set up by Visalakshi Ramaswamy in Chettinad; the Late Lalitha Prasad of Crafts Council of Andhra; SEWA Lucknow formed with the agenda of doing away with the middleman under the able guidance of Runa Banerjee, providing viable and sustainable livelihood opportunities to Chikan embroiderers…the list goes on.

Diverse, spread out, kaleidoscopic in character responding to the beat of development and opportunity craftspeople³⁵ across clusters, quickened to change. Their response echoed across the country. From the first women craftspeople to step out of the confines of home whether it was women chikan embroiderers from Lucknow, Ahir and Rabari women from Kutch or Banjara’s from Sandur, these remarkable pioneers broke the mould, setting examples for others to follow. Madhubani artists from Mithila, Gond women from Jharkhand, women weavers from the North-East took the step, their standing-up to be counted having a multiplier effect on others in their community. Their personal growth linked to social change and economic progress. These craftswomen seized the opportunity to enter the economic sphere, asserted their rights and developed a voice within the social and contractual sphere of their lives. ³⁶ In interviews their reactions covered a range of affirmative responses from “ghore bosa kaaj”, ³⁷ to “..this is a boon to my craft” ³⁸ their engagements and interactions creating social and economic ripple effect on their communities.

Alongside the NGO movement was the parallel growth of commercial and entrepreneurial activity that brought to markets across India products of traditional craftsmanship. Improving livelihoods, opening out markets, introducing design adapted for the ‘new’ consumer, and critically for the craftsperson, sustaining and increasing demand for their products. The most well known of these remains FabIndia; ³⁹ Anokhi, a venture of John and Faith Singh in Jaipur; Suraiya Hassan in Hyderabad who successfully combined revival with commerce - both in ikat and with the Himroo weaving skills; Bandhej by Archana Shah in Gujarat; Sunny and Meeta in Kala Dera and other entrepreneurs across India who clearly demonstrated that it was possible to run successful craft-based businesses with a social agenda. These commercial interdependencies between entrepreneurs and craftspeople worked in the best interest of both, reviving techniques, empowering craftspeople , introducing and innovating with new designs and opening fresh markets so successfully that a steady demand for crafts skills is sustained from year after year.

Designers working with the crafts served as a bridge, mediating between craftspeople and their evolving urban markets. Shona Ray, textile designer ‘introduced craft into people’s interiors’ to Prabhaben Shah and Malti Jhaveri, sisters, who worked in hand-block prints in the 50’s and 60’s. Iola Basu, with her ‘understanding of product design as a process and marketing, well before others’. ⁴⁰ Sina Kaul, Ratna Fabri whose design careers started at CCIE to Bina Das who worked with the potters in West Bengal.⁴¹ This connection and interaction have strengthened and multiplied four-fold over the decades, with designers working with craftspeople across the country and in varied traditions.

In museums, education and writings on crafts and their cultural contexts women continued to play a significant part.

The Calico Museum of Textile, set up in 1949 in Ahmadabad is among the foremost textile museums in the world. Inspired by Dr. Ananda Coomaraswamy and founded in 1949 by Shri Gautam Sarabhai and his sister Gira Sarabhai. Guided over the last several decades by Gira Sarbhai, its exceptional collection educates the curious and the scholar, besides being an invaluable reference source for practitioners. Its publication program encompassing both the historical, scientific and technical aspects of craftsmanship has pushed the boundaries of scholarship in the subject.

Located in Paris, the Association for the Study and Documentation of Asian Textiles (AEDTA) established 1979, based around the textile collection of Krishna Reboud, its founder “is a centre which was created to foster the study and research in Asian textile”. ⁴²

Praful Shah and Shilpa Shah’s, Tapi Collection of Textiles in Surat, grew from “Shilpa’s eager-eyed forays into our small town bazaars⁴³,” began as a resource centre for design. To be “what must be one of the finest private textile collections in India today” ⁴⁴ This formidable collection comprises textiles covering a wide range of techniques, materials and patterning, dating from the 14th century onwards. The Tapi Collection also supports an ambitious research and publication program.

Dakshina Chitra, the museum of living traditions, set enroute from Chennai to Mammallapuram, founded by Deborah Thiagarajan in 1996. It promotes, revives and preserves the arts, crafts and traditions of South India. This living heritage centre, has given great impetus to crafts and craftspeople. Its activities include demonstrations of craftsmanship, seminars, workshops and other participatory activities for the its many visitors, creating an awareness of everyday culture and the living practices of arts and crafts.

The Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing in Jaipur, an initiative of, Rachel Bracken-Singh and her husband Pritam Singh is dedicated to the collection, preservation and interpretation of block printed cloth, strengthening the appreciation for this living heritage.

Led by Dr Stella Kramrisch, the prolific writing of Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay on crafts influenced many who came after her. Pupul Jaykar’s contributions to Marg, Journal of Indian Textile History and to other publications. Dr Lotika Vardhrajan’s scholarship and research on traditional knowledge systems, lead to her publications in the fields of textiles, tribal cultures and maritime ventures. Jasleen Dhamija, who worked with the AIHB in the 50’s and subsequently internationally, has travelled, researched and written extensively on textiles and costumes. Rta Chisti’s work in the area of handloom, Janet Rizvi, and the many others, all pioneers, who led the way in developing an Indian idiom in researching, documenting and publishing.

In Bengal Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s innovative and far-sighted initiatives vitalized and reformed education through the setting up of the Vishva Bharati at Shantiniketan. ‘In every nation, education is intimately associated with the life of the people. For us, modern education is relevant only to turning out clerks, lawyers, doctors, magistrates and policemen…. This education has not reached the farmer, the oil grinder, nor the potter. No other educated society has been struck with such disaster…. If ever a truly Indian university is established it must from the very beginning implement India’s own knowledge of economics, agriculture, health, medicine and of all other everyday science from the surrounding villages. Then alone can the school or university become the centre of the country’s way of living. This school must practise agriculture, dairying and weaving using the best modern methods…. I have proposed to call this school Visva Bharati.’ ⁴⁵ In 1919, Kala Bhawana as part of Vishva Bharti was established in Shanti Niketan. Under the guidance of Tagore’s daughter-in-law Pratima Devi, the French artist Madam Andree Karpelees and Smt Sukumar Devi, ⁴⁶ crafts were introduced into the curriculum⁴⁷ resulting in the revitalization of various traditional crafts.

In the area of educational reform and change, an extremely significant transformation occurred in October 2005. Judy Frater founded the first institution of design for traditional artisans - Kala Raksha Vidhyalaya (KRV) in Kutch. Laila Tyabji expressed very eloquently what many felt “20 years ago, a Mithila craftswoman, Shiva Kashyap, bewailed that “We may be wage earners but we are still walking on someone else’s feet. Because we lack the tools of education and language we are still dependent.” It is a cry that many otherwise skilled traditional craftspeople have echoed. So Kala Raksha Vidyalaya is truly an answer to a dream… of hundreds of craftspeople. Hopefully it will be a module for many other similar local design schools in craft pockets all over the country.” ⁴⁸ Developing learning material, a modular curriculum that allows for flexibility and a pedagogy focused on acquiring knowledge and skills that are relevant to craftspeople, the KRV is now in its seventh successful year. Sally Holkar’s small, yet significant start of the Handloom Weaving School in Maheshwar, teaching sustainable dyeing practices, weaving techniques, use of alternate yarns, design, and a curriculum that is expected to grow and mature with its students.

The change makers were not only the women who were directly working in the sector with craftspeople but also additionally those who shaped and influenced our professional values. Women in public life - politicians, artists, bureaucrats, doctors, lawyers, educationists and others, exuding authority, dressed in traditional attire, leading modern lives. The focus of attention in the 1980’s being Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At meetings of the Commonwealth Heads of Government or with other World leaders, whether in India or abroad, Mrs. Gandhi made a powerful statement. Images relayed across India on cinema newsreels, Doordarshan and in the press, were of an Indian woman holding her own – dressed in handloom, conveying authority. A pan-Indian look, both distinct, original and power dressing at its best. “She chose her clothes to reflect the traditions of the different regions of the country. Thus she not only made a fashion statement but also gave an impetus to the development of the khadi and handloom sectors in India.” ⁴⁹ A powerful example continued by her daughter-in-law, the President of UPA, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, and other political leaders.

The highly influential world of cinema also made its contribution with the diva Rekha, magnificently draped in sumptuous, glamorous Kanjeevaram silks and traditional handcrafted jewellery. Shabana Azmi, Aparna Sen, the mega stars of South Indian cinema and others, seen on screen and off in handloom cottons and silks, in settings that showed the best of Indian crafts.

A view of the sector, of its empowerment, development and change would be unsatisfactory, deficient and incomplete without paying tribute to the many who worked and continue to do so in the sector. The fundamental debt owed to foundational figures like the Late Shri L C Jain⁵⁰ and John Bissel⁵¹ cannot be forgotten. The contribution of Ashoke Chatterjee, ⁵² Martand Singh, ⁵³ Rajeev Sethi, ⁵⁴ Brij Bhasin⁵⁵, Bunker Roy and others, whose immense contribution illumined the path.

At the policy level, meetings and committees in the last decade have done little to resolve the issues of the sector. Its fractured polity divided into the KVIC, handlooms and handicrafts. The craftspeople themselves, dealt with by innumerable Ministries, the threads of interventions and schemes not interlocking to produce on the ground deliverables. Yet under the stewardship of Dr Syeda Hameed, Member, Planning Commission, thought and debate along with concrete action has since been initiated to bring about much needed relook at the sector as a whole.

While much has been realized since Independence, not enough has been done to achieve the watermark level for real empowerment, inclusion and economic and social equity. As Ashoke Chatterjee vividly puts it “We all took for granted that this Indian advantage needed no special attention for its sustenance – all part of the landscape like the Himalayas and Ganga, ‘until mental climate change’ and other pollutants brought us the current pass” ⁵⁶

Issues of the paradox of value continue to confront craftspeople - while the products of craftsmanship are highly valued, craftspeople themselves the holders of knowledge are relegated to obscurity and anonymity. Additionally while much has been done, there are still large numbers who remain out of the ambit of change and development⁵⁷. Access to markets, credit, schemes and programs, and social security remains elusive for many.

The urgent need to codify the traditional knowledge systems of the crafts, and furthermore to research and contextualize the products of craftsmanship is still in its nascent stage. While the study of the intersection of craft techniques and technology is an imperative for us to build on for the future.

Additionally to bring craftspeople, on equal footing, into the educational system as teachers and trainers, continue to defy us. The issue of intellectual property and protection of community knowledge looms large. Faking and copying of traditional crafts products remains rife. There is need in addition, to revisit the ethics of engagement with craftspeople⁵⁸ bringing in the larger issues of rights. The questions of certification of skills, the need to collectivize to build strength are also on the agenda. Development initiatives need to reach out to larger numbers; to deliver to those who need it most, for all this to be achieved continuous sustained and determined effort by many more is needed⁵⁹.

End Notes

The term craft has been used in this essay in a generic manner to include both traditional handicrafts and handlooms.
The term craftsperson/craftspeople has been used in this essay to refer to the holders of traditional knowledge and includes weavers (including pre and post loom) and traditional craft practitioners (pre and post production)
She served as Chairman till 1967
Kamladevi Chattopadhyay – Jasleen Dhamija. National Book Trusr;2007 pp 73
Kamladevi Chattopadhyay – Jasleen Dhamija. National Book Trusr;2007 pp 69
Citation - Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership 31 August 1966,
Magasay citation
Gulshan Nanda, served with CCIE since 1952, and returned after retirement as Chairperson from 2005 to 2010.
Jasleen Dhamija, pp78
With the honorable exception of Ashoke Chatterjjee, who was President of CC! for over a decade and continues as Advisor
Hindu, March 24,2002
Chairman from 1968 to 1977
Indira Gandhi: A Biography – Pupul Jayakar; pp. 150 – 151, Penguin. 1995
There are now 15 NIFT’s located at different centers across India
Pp437 Pupul Jayakar - Indira
Dimensions of Indian Art: Pupul Jayakar Seventy Ed Lokesh Chandra, Jyotindra Jain; Agam Kala Prakashan; Delhi. 1986 Page: XXViii
Continuity and Change. Introduction – Saryu Doshi,, Marg xxxv No.4
Pupul Jayakar - Continuity and Change. Images and Tradition. Marg, Vol. xxxvi No 1,pp 5. NB. Martand Singh was exhibition director and curator.
– Rajeev Sethi was Project Director and Curator
Saryu Doshi. Introduction. Marg
Ppxvii’ The tapestry of her life’ – Malvika Singh; Dimensions of India Art: Pupul Jayakar Seventy, Vol I, Ed. Lokesh Chandra, Jyotindra Jain, Agam Kala Prakashan, 1986
Second largest sector of employment in India after agriculture
Registered in 1972,
http/www.sewa.org
She now heads the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathana
Established in 1985
Dwarka
Womens Weaves
Industree Foundation
Dastkar Andhra and Malkha Marketing Trust
Avani
1972
1978
1988
Highlights: Third National Handloom Census of Weavers and Allied workers. 2010. NCAER. Pp xxii. Of the over 38.46 lakh handloom workers in India, 77% are women. A similar percentage that can probably be expected from the results of the handicraft census that has been conducted, though the figures have not been released yet
Read also From Stones to Stitches – A life transformed, dec 1997, Laila Tyabjee; also read Embroidering Futures – Repurposing the Kantha Ed Ritu Sethi, 2012. IFA publication
Embroidering Futures: Repurposing the Kantha. Ed Ritu SethiPp 73. . IFA publication. 2012
Vishnu Kumar Jangid, Tarkashi craftsman. Designers Meet Artisans: A practical guide. Craft Revival Trust. Pp 64
Founded by the charismatic John Bissel
In conversation with Ashoke Chatterjee
Information from Gulshan Nanda
pp viii Marg – In quest of theme and skills – Asian Textiles – Marg Publication 1989.
Collectors note – Praful Shah in Trade, Temple and Court: Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection Ruth Barnes, Steven Cohen, Rosemary Crill, pp6, India Book House, 2002.
Introduction – Trade, Temple and Court: Indian Textiles from the Tapi Collection Ruth Barnes, Steven Cohen, Rosemary Crill, pp8, India Book House, 2002.
Rabindranath Tagore, Addresses by Tagore, p. 9–10, Santiniketan, Visva Bharati, 1963. English translation - M. Das Gupta, Santiniketan and Sri Niketan, Calcutta, Visva Bharati, 1983.
Subramanya KG, The craft movement in Shantniketan in Arts of Bengal and Eastern India. Published by Crafts Council of West Bengal. 1982:37-41
T he pedagogy adopted by its first director, the artist Asit Kumar Haldar was continued over the decades through the commitment and wisdom of Nandlal Bose, Benodebehari Mukhopadhyay and others.
Dream Come True: Being a Jury Member at the first graduation of the Kalaraksha Design School .Laila Tyabji. www.craftrevival.org
Indiraji Through My Eyes by Usha Bhagat; penguin Viking press, 2005; Pp 150
Gandhian, economist, social activist and builder of the framework for handicrafts
Founder FabIndia
Former Executive Director NID, Former President Crafts Council of India
Founder Member INTACH, author, textile revivalist
Founder -Chairman, Asian Heritage Foundation
Chairperson Barsana
Correspondence with Ritu Sethi. 5January, 2013
Arjun Sengupta Report on the Unorganised Sector
Co-creating: Revisiting the ethics of engagement between designers and craftspeople. Moe Chiba and Ritu Sethi; July 2012 www.AsiaInch.org

Thanks to Ashoke Chatterjee for reading the draft, and giving valuable suggestions.

Come autumn and London comes alive with a spectrum of events celebrating craft and design. While the London Design Festival brings together a wide spectrum of events like design trade fairs, seminars, exhibitions and sales across a range of sectors, Origin, the London Craft Fair, showcases over 300 of the most innovative and influential international craft-makers under one roof¹. The city celebrates the unique, the handmade and the well designed. I visited 100% Design, an Interior Design trade fair and Origin, the London Crafts Fair this autumn. 100% Design was held from 21-24 September 2006 at Earl's Court this year. This yearly event was founded by Ian Rudge and Rachel Robin in 1994. Over the years it has gained the reputation of showcasing the best in interior design, presenting the latest and most innovative in furniture, lighting, accessories, wall & floor coverings, textiles and kitchens & bathrooms.

Co-located exhibitions like 100% Detail and 100 % Light focus on specific sectors presenting innovations in building/materials and lighting products respectively. Participation at the event is not restricted to British design companies, but is in fact quite international. For me browsing through various countries' pavilions was an exciting window into cutting edge design imbued with cultural references of the region. 100% East, an associated exhibition now into its second year showcases emerging talent. I visited this event and was amazed at the sheer variety of work exhibited. From giant balloons digitally printed with panoramic views of the city to eclectic chairs that had sledge-like legs, the exhibition covered innovations in a wide range of disciplines, namely ceramics, furniture, graphics, jewellery, lighting and photography. Held at the Truman Brewery on Brick Lane, London's edgiest creative quarter during the annual London Design Festival, 100% East is a multi-disciplinary international showcase for young, up-and-coming designers and companies². Designers from Britain, India, Japan, Scandinavia and several other countries exhibited their work. The event generated immense interest from the industry, the press and public. Talent scouts from big design houses and members of the media on the lookout for the next big thing in design browsed through the stands. Factors like these make 100% East a great platform for young design companies to launch themselves from. Several seminars, debates and discussions on issues concerning design and architecture were organized as part of 100% Design. Discussions ranged from 'Sustainability' to 'How To Do Business in China', addressing topical issues and providing added value to the participants. Besides 100% Design, a plethora of events were organized under the umbrella of the London Design Festival. These included discussions on Creative Wealth, Creative Economy, Technology, IPR issues; exhibitions like the Conran exhibit, Designers Guild Autumn Collection, Design UK at Liberty, Greenwich Village Showroom; fashion events like the Camden Fashion Show, Fashion Stories, DePLOY demi-couture women's wear, and even events featuring children's creative activity, one of which was 'Flying into the Future'. Promoting Creative Economy was quite central to the festival. Events such as Designing a Business, Creative Wealth, Creative Futures, Design Talks at Somerset House, Exploring Innovation: best Practice Forum for Designers, were organized as part of this endeavour. (Details of these events can be viewed at (http:/www.londondesignfestival.com). The fortnight beginning October 3rd saw the best of international contemporary crafts showcased at Origin, the London Craft Fair. Craft Council's new event Origin, has replaced the Chelsea Crafts Fair this year, showcasing over 30% more exhibitors than the Chelsea Crafts Fair. The Chelsea Crafts Fair was held at Chelsea Old Town in London for 26 years. The new crafts fair has been given a new identity as well as a brand new address, Somerset House in London. The event showcased over 300 exhibitors, divided into two groups. The first half exhibited in week one, while the other half of the exhibitors showcased its work in week two. I visited the exhibition in the first week. The event showcased exhibitors from various disciplines including textiles, ceramics, jewellery, furniture, basketry, metal and glass. It was exciting to see such diverse products and expressions innovatively answering contemporary needs as well as creating new ones and suggesting new uses. Springboard, a new exhibition for emerging craft talent was curated this year at Origin where 24 of the most exciting emerging makers showed and sold their work to the public for the first time. Springboard is an opportunity for those makers, who are within one year of trading to explore the market and gain experience of showing at a major event.³ The importance of such festivals and events for promoting creative businesses doesn't need validation. Such events are engines of growth, diversity and innovation, the central pivots of a Creative Economy. Inevitably, my thoughts turned to comparisons between the situation here in the UK and at home in India. Compared to their counterparts in the UK, platforms available to Indian designers and craftspeople to exhibit their work are few and far between. The state's initiative to promote creative businesses, which is so evident in the UK, is completely lacking in India. Why has our government not even begun investing in building a Creative Economy, when we have millions employed by the creative sector? Is the importance of an economy fuelled by ideas even recognized? In the days of growing global competition, can we really sustain an economic advantage simply based on cost? More importantly, are we even questioning ourselves in our euphoria over the Sensex⁴ reaching the 13,000 mark, whether we want to see ourselves as a country of back office menials, or as visionaries spearheading an economy based on ideas and innovation? If affirmation in the latter is what we all want, we must resolve to build ourselves as a nation of thinkers, of innovators, of visionaries and not simply of executors of someone else's ideas. Nurturing creative entrepreneurship through education, policies, investment and state initiatives would certainly pave the way for realizing this affirmation into reality. End Notes

http:/www.artscouncil.org.uk/regions/press_detail.php?rid=7&id=721
http:/www.100percenteast.co.uk
http:/www.craftsonline.org.uk/origin/springboard
The Index of the Bombay Stock Exchange

Issue #009, 2022 ISSN: 2581- 9410 The Central Asian region is home to the Indo Aryans, branches being the Iranian and Indian civilizations. Intercultural linkages between these with Chinese traditions of silk weaving and embroidery have given rise to some of the finest material culture of humankind. The geographical routes and historical details of this craft form has led to the complex roots of what we call “Parsi embroidery”, an amalgamation of Iranian, Chinese, Indian and European traditions. Sericulture originated in China and silk played a vital role in the evolution of embroidery. The traditional account of the discovery of Silk is attributed to a fourteen year old concubine His-ling-lo-tsu. Legend states that she was drinking tea under a mulberry tree when a cocoon accidentally fell inside the cup and while retrieving the worm, she literally unwound the secret of silk. This secret remained jealously guarded till another Chinese princess married a Zoroastrian prince of Khotan. She smuggled silk worm eggs and mulberry plants in her head dress, not wanting to ever be deprived of the beautiful material. This is how silk entered the Persian empire. Many centuries later Marco Polo reported on “a thriving silk industry and Safavaid weaves, twill, satin, lampas, brocade and velvet.” Marco Polo describes the embroidery of Kirman women, “in silk of all colours with beast and birds and many other figures” as “a delight to the eye.” Embroidery has always been a vital part of the Zoroastrian love of life. Despite empires collapsing, the Zoroastrians clung to their core cultural beliefs of a love of life and beauty in all its forms. Zoroastrianism celebrates the animal kingdom and bounty of nature in its sacred texts, ceremonies and myths; revels in flowers and gardens, birds and beauty which provide the backdrop, interwoven and embroidered into the costumes of daily life. This ‘Spenta’ or ‘bountiful’ world is to be treated with care, each tiny butterfly a manifestation of God’s Goodness. When the Zoroastrians became a conquered people in their Iranian homeland, they were not permitted to buy full yardage but strips of cloth from baskets which were kept outside shops. Yet these strips of cloth were stitched together carefully and embroidered with tiny images from nature to create garments. Since Zoroastrians have loved joyous colours (Khush Bakht) as blessings, they used these to make a rainbow effect on their shalwar/ Ijar or lower garments.

Pix 1 & 1 a. Ijar - Shalwar.

1. Ijar- Shalwar neatly stitched together & embroidered these strips depict tiny animals

1 a. Ijar- Shalwar neatly stitched together & embroidered these strips depict tiny animals

These women’s trousers were accompanied by a long shirt which reached the knees, while the head was covered with a shawl and the entire costume embroidered with rustic, simple embroidery. Fish and bird motifs prevailed as did flowers, roundel like emblems of Khurshid - the sun, tiny birds and animals. Even as a conquered people their love of life continued to be expressed in embroidery. Even when Islam became the religion of a conquered Persia and forbade portrayal of live figures, Zoroastrian motifs, animals and birds continued to be portrayed. As Allgrove McDowell states; ‘The textiles of conquered Persia preserved its original national identity and passed it on to future generations’. (McDowell,1989, 157).

Pix -2 Elizabeth Gersvitch Shawl

2. Sir Percy Sykes procured this embroidered Zarthushti Bridal Shawl which came into the possession of Prof. Ilya & Elizabeth Gersvitch of Cambridge.

Flowers, birds and animals are celebrated as emblems of power, protection and purity. This iconography continuing centuries later in Parsi embroidery uses the simurgh and rooster as sacred birds which provide health and protection. The rooster when it crows every morning, slaying the demon of darkness, is sacred to Sarosh, Yazata of prayer and protection. The Simugrh or Phoenix ensures health and faithfulness. These protective powers make them favoured emblems, especially on jhablas which children wore before their Navjote or sacred initiation when the Sudreh (muslin shirt) & Kusti (sacred thread) provided protection .

Pix 3 & 4- Child picture rooster /Simurgh Jhabla.

3. Child's Picture with Roosters on her Jhabla

[caption id="attachment_193030" align="aligncenter" width="225"]

4. Simurgh on Jhabla[/caption] Most common across Zoroastrian textiles is the Gul-e-bulbul or bird and flower design from Persian Gardens. The fish or Ariz, the chief of water creatures, is still found across Parsi material culture in several forms from simple chalk or rangoli designs to elaborate embroidery. Fish as a symbol of fertility is found in most cultures but has special relevance in Zoroastrian embroidery for marriage garments, being found across Iran & India in the Zoroastrian tradition.

Pix 5- Fish Gara.

5. The fish gara has all forms of aquatic life including prawns, eels & even turtles

Prophet Zarathushtra’s love of dogs is legendary: “It is declared, if a dog I asleep upon the road, it is not proper that (man) put a foot violently on the ground so that he becomes awake.” (Pahlavi texts). In the religion the dog is sacred to the Angel of Prayer and helps the soul cross the Chinvat Bridge of the Separator. The dog, mans oldest companion on the Central Asian steppes is still a beloved friend and represented across embroidered textiles.

Pix- 6 Dogs in Parsi embroidery.

[caption id="attachment_193032" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

6. Dogs in Parsi embroidery[/caption] Embroidery even carries the oral traditions of the Persian refugees in the form of the Karolia or Spider design seen very often in Parsi embroidery. It reflects the story of the little spider who wove a web of protection across the mouth of a disused well in which Zoroastrians were hiding while fleeing from their oppressors during the medieval period of migration to India. Till today, while in the religious texts of Zoroastrianism, the spider and other insects are to be avoided, in Indian Parsi tradition, the spider is lucky and should not be killed.

Pix- 7 Karolia

7. Karolia or Spider patterns on textiles

Flowers are used across Zoroastrian embroidery, because the flower of your birthday or roj when used on garments provided blessings. In the Bundahishn text of the Story of Creation, each day is dedicated to an angel, symbolized in the material world by a flower. There are thirty archangels and angels, whose names are applied to the thirty days of the month and examples seen on textiles include, the white Jasmine (for Vohu Manah- the good mind), the lily (for Khordad- health), the marigold (for Atar-Angel of fire), the water lily (for Ava-Goddess of water, the red chrysanthemum (for Saroasha- Angel of Prayer), the white chrysanthemum (for Mino Ram- Spirit of abiding peace), the Hundred Petalled Rose (for Din- Angel of Religion)

Pix 8 a, b, c – Water lily/ red chrysanthemum/ 100 petalled rose.

[caption id="attachment_193034" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

8 a. Water lily of Ava Yazad[/caption] [caption id="attachment_193035" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

8 b. Red Chrysanthemum for Angel Saroasha[/caption] [caption id="attachment_193036" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

8 c. 100 petalled rose for Din[/caption] While we have examined some of the traditional Zoroastrian symbols and motifs, the Chinese influence on Parsi embroidery is enormous. The Chinese links with Persia were across the trade routes of the Silk Road and many centuries later were revived from India, with Parsis trading in opium, ceramics and silk. Chinese Embroidery became a fashion item among the Parsis around the 1700s when the first Parsi traders set up Factories in China. Chinese silk ‘factories’ or workshops supplied expensive garments for export, across the world, from Canton. Oral tradition tells us that a Parsi trader in Canton, watching craftsmen embroidering a garment requested them to embroider a full six yards of silk for his wife in India. These first pieces embroidered on heavy silk have no border or pallus and seem like yardage. They have clearly Chinese scenes & are very finely embroidered following the traditions of the great Schools or Factories of embroidery in Canton & other parts of China. The early pieces of Parsi embroidery from China carried on them Taoist and Buddhist symbolism because embroidery in China was a sacred art. Embroidery in China was symmetrical because it had to balance a stitched garment; it used colours which symbolized the position of the wearer in the bureaucracy or at Court. As Chinese embroidery became popular among rich Parsi traders, it adapted and reinvented itself. A sari is a garment which has to flow and soon Chinese embroiders had created a new garment. The original name for what we today call Garas, or an embroidered sari, was Badhi Bhareli, Parsi Gujarati for ‘fully embroidered’. In this, embroidered yardage was covered on all four sides as if bordered within a frame. This yardage is called gala in Gujarati and its enclosed patterned space gave its name to the Gara. The colours favoured in the Persian tradition were imperial purple and other rich shades. The Persian Garden with Gul-e-Bulbul or flowers and birds is a common design in all garas, reflecting a love of life and joy in all creation. Following Indian tradition, a border or kor developed defining the sari edge and a later development was the seedha haath ni pallu with a border completing the sari.

Pix 9 – NCPA Exhibition

9. Garas from different ages NCPA, Bombay, 2006

Chinese lucky signs and protective symbols had found a new home in Parsi textiles. Butterflies are easy to embroider and are often the first designs for children. They come from Persian gardens are Chinese symbols for love and are seen as well in European designs. However, Bats or Shou are found only in China where they represent the five blessings of health, long life, happiness, riches & a peaceful death.

Pix 10 & 11, 11 a - Butterflies & Bats.

[caption id="attachment_193038" align="aligncenter" width="212"]

10. Butterfly stole[/caption] [caption id="attachment_193040" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

11. Bats on kors[/caption] [caption id="attachment_193039" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

11 a.. Bats on kors[/caption]

Whether the symbolism was understood by the Parsis or not borders with Taoist symbols are seen in Parsi kors.

Pix 12- Taoist Symbols.

12. Taoist Symbols- all 8 symbols of protection are seen in this border

While dragons symbolized power and kingship, very few Parsi pieces of embroidery have a dragon, hence the adaptations of symbols seem to be carefully considered by the new community which only used those which appealed to their sensibilities. A constant emblem appearing on both the front & back of children’s jhablas or tunics, had been forgotten even in China but today Chinese researchers with Parzor have re-discovered the sacred or Divine Fungus. It is most common on children’s clothing often used along with the rooster of protection thereby combining both Zoroastrian & Chinese traditions.

Pix 13- Red Jhabla

13. Rooster motif with Divine Fungus for protection on Jhabla

Cranes came into Parsi embroidery from China. Cranes symbolize long life and loyalty in marriage as Cranes mate for life.

Pix 14- Crane gara

14. This Crane gara is fully embroidered with aquatic life

An unusual addition in Parsi embroidery is the deer; in China, the deer alone can find the Divine fungus of protection and joins the creatures great and small in garas and kors.

Pix 15- Deer on a kor.

[caption id="attachment_193044" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

15. The Deer which discovers the Divine Fungus[/caption] As we have seen the dog is important to Zarthushti mythology. In Chinese statuary it is represented by the Chinese Dogs of Fu, actually protective Lion Dogs. In its full form it is seen outside Taoist Temples across China & the Far East. It is also seen in Tibet, Nepal & Sikkim in Buddhist temple art & statues.

Pix 16– Dogs of Fu.

16. This is the only recorded image of the Dogs of Fu; they look playful and yet fulfill the protective task they symbolize. Kor found in Navsari

However, a distinct Parsi embroidery developed over time, especially when women began living in China with their husbands in the late 18^th & 19^th century. As the demand from Parsi women grew, Chinese workmen in Canton, Shanghai and other factory towns began interacting with these women, following their designs thus creating a distinct ‘Parsi embroidery’, amalgamating skills and symbols from Persian, Chinese and Indian traditions with ideas from Europe. The Chinese even set up settlements for embroidery in Gujarat where some of these families are still to be found. Over time, designs were planned by Parsi women to be executed by these craftsmen and Parsi women began adding to their original embroidery skill sets. Under Indian influence, the auspicious Indian Kunku red or vermillion became a favourite, particularly for engagement saris. Parsis wear white, symbolizing purity at their weddings, but began a tradition of using red for the engagement sari. Pix 17- Engagement gara. [caption id="attachment_193046" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

17. Engagement Gara[/caption] In India, the late Mr. Bejan Bodhanvala of Baroda is one of many who recalled Chinese embroidery traders sitting on his grandmother’s veranda resting after lunch. This was the time when they took out their embroidery rings and special needles and soon were teaching his great aunts and other female relatives their special Chinese skills in embroidery. This is actually the time of the birth of Parsi women’s embroidery in India. Along with Chinese satin stitch, Parsis adapted the Indian aari and mochi stitch from their Gujarati neighbours into Parsi textiles. The oldest recorded ‘embroidery by a Parsi woman’ is a jhabla bought for the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace, London, 1851. It is in the archives of the V&A, London where ‘Parsi embroidery’ was dated for the first time. This jhabla is in Aari stitch. Parsi women with their skills later developed more than five types of satin stitch & changed the Pekin Knot into what is called the Khakho or seed pearl also the Forbidden stitch. Intercultural amalgamation continued and it is only in the Parsi gara that we have the Indian Ambi and the Chinese Paisley coming together with ancient Persian trellis designs.

Pix 18- Paisley gara.

18. This Paisley gara combines both the Indian Ambi & Chinese Square Paisley

As European influence grew in India along with trade, embroidery from Europe was introduced to the Parsis. Since Parsi women were the first to socially interact with their European counterparts. European scallops, bows and baskets were next incorporated, leading to a unique amalgam of four distinct civilizational traditions. The long handmade lace sudreh was now showcased proudly beneath a European lace blouse. To match this most garas were now embroidered in cream or ivory silk floss and can be dated accordingly.

Pix 19- The lace blouse & long lace sudreh offset the cream embroidery

19. Photograph showing Western influence - The lace blouse & long lace sudreh offset the cream embroidery

In various ways, through design and craft, these embroidered temperate silk saris & kors (borders) became identified with the Parsi community. A distinct style called the ‘Parsi sari’ now developed.

The embroidered, heavy gara fell out of fashion with the coming of georgette and chiffon saris and many of these masterpieces were cut up or lost. Today once again, while Parsi brides value the gara, they prefer to look slim & elegant in lace, Chantilly from Europe or from Hong Kong for their white wedding saris while adding a special touch by embroidering on the lace.

For far too long, Parsis forgot their great craft tradition .While many of us, over fifty years of age, remember the Embroidery Cupboards of family homes and patterns neatly drawn on butter paper with notations created by the women of our grandmothers’ generation, this all seemed to be easy to forget as time passed and new life styles could no longer maintain either the embroidery cupboard or the laborious, intricate craft. Pix 20- Parzor revival Workshop, Ahmedabad. [caption id="attachment_193049" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

20. Parzor revival Workshop, Ahmedabad[/caption] It is therefore important to remember that the rich amalgam of Parsi Zoroastrian textiles brings together the Persian, Chinese, Indian and European symbols, stitches and stories. Workshops training the craft persons of India in Parsi embroidery have led to an understanding and revival. This Heritage of Humanity has finally begun to be appreciated as a unique contribution to world textiles. Further Reading: J. Allgrove Mc Dowell (1989) ‘Textiles’. In Ronald W. Ferrier (ed.), The Arts of Persia. E.W. West (1977) trans/ed. Pahlavi Texts: The Bundahisn: Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 5, Part 1. Cama, Shernaz. ‘Parsi Embroidery: An Intercultural Amalgam’. In Marie- Louise Nosch, Zhao Feng & Lotika Vardarajan, Eds. Ancient Textile Series Vol. 20. Global Textile Encounters, 2014, Oxbow Books: Oxford & Philadelphia.

The seventeenth century rectangular hanging created in Coromandel coast that reached the museum of France is a significant example of kalamkari. It is preserved in the French city of Mulhouse at the Musee de l'impression sur etoffes de Mulhouse! This hand painted kalamkari is decorated with vibrant colours and bold line work with an amazing composition.' Most fascinating design of the hanging illustrates centre medallion, hybrid bird, animal, lots of vegetation and architectural patterns. The design and composition of this kalamkari pose some questions like, its functional uses, who the artists were, who designed it, from where they took inspiration, who were the patrons, where it was created, was the creation centre different from the export centre, how it reached France, etc. Here is an attempt to understand the design, composition, its concept, its philosophy and the artistic expression, but before that, a quick look of the Mulhouse kalamkari.

Fig1: Hand painted and printed canopy /hanging 17th century South India Mulhouse at the Musee de 1st impression sur etoffes de Mulhouse France

The Mulhouse kalamkari is an amazing work of art having attractive design, unusual size and interesting composition (Fig.1). The centre medallion is in oval shape, which is full of vegetation pattern with projected pointed floral end on two sides. It is within the square frame, which illustrates lot of vegetation almost like a forest with various hybrids, mythical birds and animals in between. Row of narrow and broad borders depicts small flower buties, foliage pattern arranged in architectural panels, corner floral motifs, rock with flower-pattern, big size flower motifs of different types along with butterflies on two sides. Finally, the narrow plain red border balances the entire composition very well and makes it very attractive. It appears that artist has taken inspiration from Mughal monuments of Northern India for designing the floral border and its architectural panel type arrangement.' Depiction of hybrid birds and animals, where figures are made with different animal figurine, remind the concept of 'Navgunjar'. Subject 'Navgunjar' is often portrayed in the traditional paintings of eastern, southern and western India. Artistic depiction is found in the paintings of sixteenth century onwards and became very popular by the eighteenth century.' The Epic Mahabharata mentions that 'Navagunjar' is a creature composed of nine different animals. This kalamkari opens several aspects to be looked upon in detail as mentioned above; however, here is an attempt to look at the centre medallion in de ail, its concept, style, variations and that too, in the context of three small hand painted tray coverings housed in the National Museum (NM) collection. There are some similarities and some differences in the NM coverings and Mulhouse kalamkari. This will be discussed further, but first let us get introduced to the NM's tray coverings. Beautifully painted three small coverings (Figs.2, 3, 4) illustrate the attractive floral composition that belongs to the last quarter of 19th century The size of all the three rectangular coverings with cotton-base are the same. The centre design on all the three has been composed in such a way that these coverings can be used from any side, which indicates that these could be tray covers. On the other hand, the usual coverlets are square in size and the main pattern remains on one side only. All the three coverings have similar colour palette, design and composition.

Fig2: Tray cover, last quarter of 18th century South India, Cotton hand painted and printed National Museum, New Delhi (Acc.no. 48.7/47)

Fig3: Tray cover, last quarter of 18th century South India, Cotton hand painted and printed National Museum, New Delhi (Acc.no. 48.7/55)

Fig4: Tray cover, last quarter of 18th century South India, Cotton hand painted and printed National Museum, New Delhi, Acc.no. 60.327

Fig5: Detail of NM's tray cover illustrating four konia motifs and tip of six floral plants leading to centre medallion

Colours used for decorating these coverings are mainly red, black and green with black colour outline on the off-white background. The composition of covering illustrates floral patterned circular medallion in centre, which dominates the pattern and covers a large space. Konia (corner) motifs and interesting elongated six floral plants have been placed in between the centre. All the four konia motifs and tip of six floral plants leads to the centre medallion (Fig.5). Design of this elongated floral plant starts from small rock. Such depiction is common in tree of life compositions, where three pineapple fruits are placed on the top, flowers/leaves in the middle and a pair of birds, looking downwards, at the lowest portion. Such elongated floral design gives the impression of floral motif from distance, although it's a combination of fruits, flower /leaf and birds. An interesting feature of illustration of pineapple is found in Golconda kalamkari coverlets also. 'An ascetic holding the pineapple' is very prominently painted in one of the NM's coverlet. Karnataka region is the prominent area for pineapple farming. Although pineapples are grown in Tamil Nadu and Kerala also, but Karnataka is well known for quantity. Moreover, pineapple is a popular fruit, which is full of notorious values. In kalamkaris these vegetation patterns are within rectangular frame of double borders; broad foliage and narrow plain red, complement the entire floral composition well in the limited colour palette and it gives the perfect balance to the composition.

The big circular centre medallion in the coverings of NM is composed of intermingling of floral creeper with birds and having projected pointed stylized leaf motif on two horizontal sides (Fig.6). Attractive illustration of birds and foliage in the centre medallion shows lots of movement and the way konia buta and other plant pattern leads to centre buta represents the 'Nature' or the 'Symbol of Life'. Such illustrations remind the ceiling decoration tradition of India, which are often found from the beginning of Indian art history. This appears to be inspired from nature and embedded with spirituality.

In fact, the depiction of nature is an integral part of Indian art and the Indian artists have always taken inspiration from nature. They have carved or painted the nature in three different forms, i.e. natural, symbolic and artistic. Nature has been illustrated as decorative motifs independently since Harappan times. Later on, the flora-fauna designs became an integral part of decoration while illustrating the main deity or any other subject. Depiction of foliage pattern coming out from makar-mukh, dwarf and tree (concept of kalpa-vrikshas) were common subjects on terracotta sealings and stone sculptures of Mauryan and Shung periods.' Subsequently, many animals and birds became the vehicle of several prominent Hindu, Buddhist and Jaina deities and some deities with animal or bird face became an important part of the Hindu pantheon.

Fig6: Detail of NM's tray cover (Acc.no.60.327 ) illustrating Centre Medallion

In addition to artistic expression of different forms of nature in Indian art, it also got the prominent place in discussion among Gods and saints as mentioned in many ancient scriptures. The Epics, Puranas and most of the texts advocate that man, who live in balanced harmony with nature, always leads to peace and prosperity. Nature's role as a great teacher is also mentioned in ancient texts. In Mahabharat, Lord Krishna advise Uddhava that 'man should learn from nature. The 7th to 29th chapters of the 11th Skandha (Canto) of Srimad Bhagavatam came to be known as the Uddhava Gita. With all these philosophical aspects the 'nature' got embedded in the minds of the Indians and became an integral part of Indian art right from the beginning.

The centre medallion of NM's coverings is full of life, depicting movement of birds and foliage pattern. It appears that nature loving artisans were inspired for such executions from the ceiling decorations of Indian temples. A railing from Bharhut stupa (2nd century BCE) depicts lotus medallion surmounted with rows of winged lion. The best ceiling decorations can be noticed in the mural paintings of Ajanta, especially in caves I & II, which have attractive and colourful compositions done with fine line work. The designs portray the movement of birds, dwarf and animal figures intermingled with foliage creepers. Both these caves date back to 2nd century BCE. The paintings and the composition of south Indian temples have many similarities with those of Ajanta. The famous scholar Dr. Rama Sivaram from Tamil Nadu observes that, 'the likeness sketching, modelling, delineation and grouping of figures are freely used to draw parallels, to show continuity and migration in the Deccan and south India. Both of them in their structural and rock-cut temples reserved wall surfaces and ceilings for large scale schemes in paintings. This tradition is well followed in temple ceiling decorations during the period of Pallavas. The temples at Madurai and Kanchi also refer to the artist's capability to reproduce movement and creation. Creativity was encouraged as seen in the Pattinappalai (lines 45-50) and fully realized in the painted canopies of the palaces. Tradition continued during the Chola, Vijayanagar and Nayaka periods, where the ceilings of Brihadishvara temple at Tanjavur, Lepakshi temple at Kanchipuram and Tiruvalur temple are painted with beautiful colours.

The centre medallion occupies the important place in the rectangular or square composition of kalamkaris, which are made for different purposes. Medallion is usually round, as NM's tray coverings have. Sometimes these medallions are oval in shape, like the one in canopy of Mulhouse museum (Fig.7) or floor-spread housed in the museum of Holland. The round medallion composition is very common in many Indian textiles, viz. moon-shawl of Kashmir or the brocade chaukora odhani (square head-covering) of Banaras, Uttar Pradesh, etc. Kalamkaris of southern India have both the varieties, round and oval centre medallions.

By and large these medallions are filled with foliage patterns. Sometimes birds are also intermingled with stylized flower patterns as in the case of NM's tray coverings. Angels are depicted with floral creepers within the centre medallion of the floor-spread in the museum of Holland. Such concept appears to be inspired by the stone sculptures of ancient and medieval periods, where the roundel often depicts floral-fauna pattern. Another interesting feature of medallion is to have two projected floral pointed ends or tips. These projections could be on horizontal base, like in NM's coverings, or vertical base, like in the floor-spread of Holland museum.

Fig7: Detail of Mulhouse Centre Medallion

The outer lines of these medallions remain plain like NM's coverings. Another variety is the lobed composition, as in the case of coverlet of metropolitan museum. One of the painted table-cover depicts two lobed oval shape central medallions having pointed tip on horizontal facing. It also has corner segments and floral border and is preserved in Textile Museum, Washington DC, USA. Prominently painted similar composition is also noticed in one of the coverlet housed in Victoria and Albert Museum, London. This coverlet illustrates an oval lobed central medallion, which has projected two ends on horizontal facing. It is prominently filled with cross type foliage design and double projected ends. Similar composition appears on the inner portion of the Bidari pandan (betel-box), base of Kashkul (dervish's begging bowl) (Fig.8) or on the manuscript cover. The sixteenth century Quran manuscript cover, having the seals of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, illustrates the lobed oval medallion. The composition of circular medallion along with konia pattern on corners is very common in floor-spread of Gujarat, moon-shawl of Kashmir, zarzodi embroidered carpets and so on.

Fig8 : back portion of kashkul coco-de-mer carved net shell 17th century, Deccan National Museum

The kind of variations in subject, designs found in different types of artifacts and kalamkaris show the artistic skill of artists of the southern region. With the bold line works and vibrant colours, kalamkaris of South India created a special niche among the hand printed categories of Indian traditional textiles in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. Golconda, the export centre, is designated to most of these beautiful kalamkaris, although these were produced at different centres like Sickinaikkenpat, Tanjore, Pulicat in Tamilnadu, Kalahasti, Mauslipatam in Andhra Pradesh and Srikakulam district in the border of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. These hangings, curtains, canopies, floor-spreads and coverlets were produced for domestic and export market. The nature-loving Indian artists made many such kalamkaris, which were in great demand all over the world. The medallions remain the centre of attraction in most of these kalamkaris of Southern India.

References and Notes

The Museum of Printed Textiles, Mulhouse, France.
On the basis of subject, such flora-fauna Kalamkaris are one of the varieties out of three styles, other two subjects are religious narrative and composition of multiple figures.
Mulhouse museum records mention that it is the floor-cover/hanging; however, the centre medallion surrounded with forest, animals, birds and two side flower butas give the impression that it is a canopy and not a hanging or floor-spread.
E.B. Findly, 'Nur Jahan's Embroidery Trade and Flowers of the Taj Mahal', Arts and Culture, Vol-IX, No.2, 1996, pp.7-25.
J.P. Das, Puri Painting, New Delhi, 1982, pp.135-36; N.P. Ahuja, The Body in Indian Art and Thought, Brussels, 2013, p.175, pls.195-96. Several museums (Craft Museum, Delhi; Indian Museum, Kolkata; City Palace, Jaipur; State Museum, Odisha; Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad; National Museum, Delhi; Metropolitan Museum, USA, etc) have miniature paintings illustrating rock and composite animals of Persian, Deccani and Rajasthani painting schools.
Devdutt Pattanaik, Indian Mythology: Tales, Symbols and Rituals from the Heart of the Subcontinent, 2003, Inner Traditions, USA, pp.19-21.
There are two or three similar pieces in US museums and one is in Calico Museum, which is published by J. Irwin and M. Hall in a book on printed and painted fabric, acc.no. 71. Author is thankful to Mr. Rahul Jain for sharing this information.
Length and width of three coverings are - (a) 77x 44.5 cms, (b) 80x46 cms and (c) 81.5x46 cms.
John Irwin, 'Golconda Cotton Paintings of the Early Seventeenth Century', Lalit Kala-5, New Delhi, pp .32-34, pl.A, figs.16-20.
A. Pathak, 'The Textile Collection at the National Museum, New Delhi', Heritage Conservation and Research in India, Ed. Gabriela Krist and Tatjana Bayerova, Austria, 2010, pp.147-154, p1.1.
S. Satyawadi, Proto-Historic Pottery of Indus Valley Civilization: Study of Painted Motifs, Delhi, 1994.
R.R. Tripathi, Masterpieces in the Allahabad Museum, Allahabad, 1984, pp.51-52, fig.87.
P. Pal, Divine Images Human Visions, Canada, 1997, pp.35-40.
14. Ramayana and Mahabharata have minute narration of forest, mountain, ocean, etc. The main hero of both the Epics spent long time in the forest. Many Puranas advocate for tree plantation, tree worship, etc.
He explains 'nature' as a great teacher, which teaches many things of life. Few important ones are - one should learn the virtue of patience from the Earth, we should be like the wind-unattached to anything in life, not sorrowing over the past or worrying about the future. Clean water purifies a place and so does a virtuous man, purifying others. Moon shrinks and is lost to sight, so will our lives wither away one day. We can learn satiation from the python; once he has eaten and is full, it does not attack a creature, even if the creature turns up close to it. Just like ocean does not show unhappiness because of lack of water from a dry river reaching to it, we should also remain calm and undisturbed by anything in life. He further says that desires could lead us to disaster. Nature is not partial to anybody as mother earth, sunlight, air, water, tree, etc. treats everybody equally.
R.R. Tripathi, ibid., p.11, fig.14.
Osamu Takata and Teruo Ueno, The Art of India, Japan, 1976, p.124.
A. Ghosh, Ajanta, Delhi, 1987, pls.V, VIII, XVI, XXV and XLV.
'Influence of Ajanta in the Deccan and South Indian Painting', The Art of Ajanta New Perspectives, vol.2, Delhi, 1992, pp .467-476.
C. Sivaramamurti, Indian Painting, Delhi, 1970, pp.63-78.
The prominent uses are coverlet, covering, floor-spread, tent, hanging, etc.
Fries Museum, Leecewarden, Holland, Ebeltje Harthamp-Jonxia, Sits East-West Relates in Textile, Uitgeveriji Waanders-Zwalle, 1987, p.99, p1.76.
A. Pathak, Pashmina, New Delhi, 2003, pp.49-56.
Y. Agrawal, Silk Brocades, Delhi, 2003, p.27, pls.10 and 10a. 25. Lotika Varadrajan, South Indian Traditions of Kalamkari, Ahmedabad, 1982.
This 1650-1700 CE cotton base floor-spread's border is figurative; field is filled with repeat pattern of flora-fauna, probably done with printing block and animal figures worked in opposite direction. It appears that for decorating this floor-spread probably wooden printing blocks have been used, as evident from repeat of same animal and floral pattern alternatively.
M. Gittinger, Master Dyers of the World, US, 1982, p1.75, p.86.
M. Gittinger, ibid., p1.102, p.111.
Naseem Akhtar, in Art and Culture Around 1492, Spain, 1992, p.281, p1.198.

ABSTRACT: India has a great tradition of embroidery and different regions have distinctive styles of fine embroidery on cotton, silk and wool fabric. From coverlets to garments, these embroideries have lots of charm and attraction. Of all the regions of the country, the most artistic and picturesque embroidery comes from the Chamba state. It is known as Chamba rumal (coverlet) and is done on white muslin or cotton fabric with colourful silk threads and silver metal thread. Although it is commonly known as Chamba rumal, it is not only rumal or coverlets that are made using this style. The important ones are wall hangings, variety of costumes, fans, covers etc., with beautiful religious, secular, geometric and floral patterned themes. The Chamba rumals show an interesting aspect of embroidery tradition, which reflects the social and cultural life of the people of this region. After careful selection of some of the rumals from the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi, an attempt has been made to show its variety in the types of embroidery and themes that appear on these rumals. KEY WORDS: India - Himachal Pradesh - Chamba state - embrioidery - rumal – coverlet - mal-mal - cotton cloth - geometric pattern - floral pattern - figural pattern - ritual art - secular art Small, quiet and picturesquely beautiful, the Chamba state' has a special place among the hill states of the Western Himalayan region. Located on the bank of the river Ravi, Chamba is a part of Northern India (at present in Himachal Pradesh) and has a unique geographical position. This region is surrounded by Jammu and Kashmir to the north-west and west, Ladakh and Bara Bangahal to the north-east and the district of Kangra and Gurdaspur to the south-east and south. Situated on the trade route from Delhi to Kashmir, it provides an opportunity for local people to interact with diverse people, from travellers, traders, spiritual leaders to neighbors. This can be seen throughout its long history, which has a rich cultural background. From 8th century onwards the continuous flow of art from this region has provided many great works. The important ones are wooden temples,' brass and bronze images of Hindu Gods and Goddesses,' palaces decorated with wall paintings decorated palaces,4 a huge collection of Pahari miniature paintings and embroidered rumals. Since the focus of this paper is the embroidery of the Chamba region, therefore the embroidery tradition that existed here, its style, production techniques and the vast range of subjects that appeared on rumals will be discussed in detail here. Technical Knowhow of the Chamba Rumal 'The term "Chamba rumal "is generally used for a square mal-mal (muslin) or cotton cloth coverlet embroidered with colourful silken threads. Here the term rumal should not be looked at in the context of handkerchiefs, as these rumals were used as coverlets for platters on religious and ceremonial occasions. There are a few Pahari miniature paintings in which embroidered rumals have been depicted as coverlets. These coverlets were used especially at the time of offering gifts to God and at weddings, when the exchange of gifts between the bride and bridegroom's side would take place. Apart from rumals, sometimes large hangings were also made to offer to a guest in a house or village or state. One such rectangular hanging was given by Raja Gopal Singh (1870-1873) to a British dignitary-who visited Chamba state. Apart from hangings and coverlets, this style of embroidery work was also carried out on religious textiles, costumes and miscellaneous things. The most common objects in the religious group are the gomukhi (‘L’ shaped prayer bag) and throne cover. The headdress, patka (sash), choli (woman's bodice worn with a long skirt or saree) and handkerchief are a few of the costumes which were decorated with this type of embroidery work. There are also few other assorted things such as fans, chaupar (a board game) spreads, pillow covers, basket covers etc., which featured a similar style of embroidery to that practiced on coverlets. Since the best embroidered rumals known so far come from the Chamba region, they gained the generic name "Chamba rumal. However, the tradition of embroidery was practiced in other centers of the Himalayan region, where art and culture flourished. 'the other important centers were Nurpur, Kangra, Mandl, Kehlur (Bilaspur), Basholi, Jammu and the adjacent area of Punjab. 'These coverlets were generally square in shape; however, examples of rectangular and circular shaped coverlets are also found in many collections. 'These rumals were usually embroidered on white fine mal-mal or other cotton cloth, but sometimes red coloured rumal was also found. Untwisted silk threads (pattu) were also used for embroidery in some of the early pieces, and the use of metal thread (silver zari thread) and mirror work was also evident. The silk threads were available from the market of Sialkot (now in Pakistan), Amritsar and Ludhiana (in Punjab), but early examples show the use of Chinese silk threads, which were available from the market of the Ladakh region. The 'double satin stitch' or Kashmir's do-rukha (double sided) technique was the most favored method for coverlets. However, the single satin stitch, darn stitch, cross stitch, buttonhole stitch and chain stitch were also used for embroidering these coverlets. Generally the line work on these coverlets was drawn in black or maroon colour; which can be seen from those examples where only the outlines are left and the embroidery threads have gone. It is a known fact that skilled women of the region, in their leisure time, used to produce this reversible embroidery. Quite often it became hard to identify the right side of the coverlet; the fine work of embroidery gives the impression of a raised painting done on cloth. History of the Embroidery Tradition There is no clear date for the beginning of embroidery tradition in the Chamba region. However, the earliest surviving coverlet produced in Chamba rumal style is believed to have been made by Nanki, sister of Guru Nanak Devji, and is preserved in a Sikh shrine in the Gurudaspur district of Punjab. The embroidery is in narrative style, and a lot of village activities can be seen. It is believed that like any other state of India, the Chamba region witnessed the tradition of embroidery from early times. Buddhist literature makes reference to the existence of an early embroidery tradition in that region. Probably this tradition started with basic line work, simple human figures and limited subjects. Later on, the nice composition, soothing colours, fine stitch work and in time the addition of varied subjects made it so popular that by the mid 18th century the art of embroidery was patronized by the rulers of the Himalayan region. In fact, the period of Umed Singh of Chamba (r.1748-64) is very important in the field of art and culture. This dynamic leader patronized the Mughal artists, who started coming from Delhi court after the decline of the strong Mughal rulers. Like his father, his son Raja Raj Singh (1-.1764-94) also patronized the Mughal court artists and there were a number of artists who worked with the Chamba rulers. Raj Singh's son Raja Jit Singh and his successors, Raja Charat Singh (r.1808-1844) and Raja Sri Singh (r.1844-1870) also took lots of interest and it is believed that the best rumals were created during this phase. Once royalty started taking an interest in Chamba rumal, the difference in selection of subjects, classical style line drawing and use of soft colours with good composition and a variety of themes was clearly evident in these coverlets. In fact such coverlets are often reminiscent of the Pahari style of miniature painting, which also had royal patronage. Raja Jit Singh was married to Sharada Devi, the princess of Jammu, and it is believed that she was skilled in embroidery work. The next important ruler, Gopal Singh, contributed a lot to the development of the region. An important reference point of Chamba embroidery comes from this phase, when he gave a huge hanging to Lord Mayo, the fourth Viceroy of India, during his state visit on 13 November 1871. The name of Raja Sham Singh, son of Gopal Singh, is also very significant with regard to the popularization of the embroidery tradition, as he introduced the craft of embroidery as a subject in the state girl's school in 1904. His son, Raja Bhuri Singh,'' also played an important role in making these coverlets popular in abroad. Under his supervision some coverlets were specially embroidered, and he took them to Delhi on the occasion of Imperial Durbars held in the years 1903, 1907 and 1911. Some of the pieces are housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.'' At present a non-government organization named the Delhi Craft Council, with the help of the Government of India, is working to propagate the Chamba rumal. It has now become popular and a large number of women in the region are busy in making good work of Chamba rumal for the domestic and export market. Embroidery Style When these coverlets are examined on the basis of the line drawing, embroidery stitches and subjects that appear on them, often two distinct styles are evident: 'folk' and 'classical'. The appearance of folk elements on coverlets gave them the name of 'folk rumals'. The limited subject matter, unbalanced composition, not very good line drawing, use of bright colours for embroidery and uneven long stitches are characteristic of these folk coverlets. Although most museums have a large number of folk style coverlets in their collections, the quality found in the classical ones is far superior. The rich subject matter and intricate embroidery puts them in the category of classical style coverlets. Most scholars are of the opinion that the rich tradition of painting on paper, cloth and walls of this region might have inspired women to embroider the same subjects on coverlets. The strong line work and use of soft soothing colours are the main focal point of these coverlets. And when similar subjects, sometimes composition, of coverlets is found in miniature paintings or wall paintings, it gives the impression that court artists of Pahari schools might have done the drawing on these coverlets and even provided the supervision for colour schemes. One thing is very clear - these coverlets were made with great passion, whether in folk or classical style. Subject of Embroideries The embroidered coverlet shows a vast range of subject matter from religious to secular and from geometric to floral patterns. In the religious group the most popular themes that appeared on these coverlets are: Rasamandala of Krishna and gopis, Krishna with flute, Krishna-Balarama-Subhadra, Rukmani harana, Krishna, Holy Family of Shiva, Gajantaka Siva,Hanuman, Ganesha, Shakti etc. In the secular category an important theme that often appeared on embroidered coverlets were wedding scenes. Some of the famous weddings depicted on coverlets are: the Krishna and Rukmani, Shiva and Parvati, Rama and Sita and Raja Jit Singla's wedding with Rani Sharada Devi (of Jammu), Apart from religious and wedding themes, there are coverlets which illustrate hunting scenes, floral and geometric patterns etc. Some of the rumals in the collection of the National Museum, New Delhi have been discussed in detail.

Religious Subjects

A.1 Rasamandala Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Early 20th century White cotton base; silk thread in blue, orange, green, grey, white, yellow, pink and black. Embroidered with double satin, cross and buttonhole stitch. Size: L: 66 cm; W: 64 cm Acc. no.: 62.2308

The most popular theme that appeared on coverlets is the rasamandala dance of Krishna, where he dances with gopis in circle. The essence of this concept is that God is everywhere and will remain with everybody. On this coverlet the two-armed Lord Vishnu is standing inside a circle and four pair of Krishna and gopis are dancing around him. All the dancers while dancing are holding flowers and each other's hands. 'There is a pair of peacocks on four sides and the corner has flower butas (flower motif). This dance composition is surrounded by cross borders, which show the usual floral creeper motif. The remaining portion of the rumal is embroidered with a stylized flower pattern, birds, plants etc. in a colourful manner. The edges have been done in buttonhole stitching technique. The simple line work and use of bright colours indicate its folk style, as none of them are facing each other, which can be seen in the classical style of rasamandala rumals.

Fig.A.1: Rasamandala

2 a

Lakshmi-Narayana Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Mid 19th century White muslin base, silk thread in yellow, blue, orange, green, pink and white. Embroidered with single satin stitch. Size: L: 89 cm; W: 89 cm Acc. no.: 61.1011

This large square coverlet has an impressive image of Lakshmi-Narayana in the center accompanied by two attendants. The central theme of the coverlet is surrounded by a circular border in place of the usual cross border, illustrating the foliage pattern in a colourful manner. All the corners depict small flower betas with leaves and buds. Sitting on a lotus pedestal, the two armed Lakshmi-Narayana couple is dressed in their usual attire and ornaments. Narayana (Vishnu) wears a yellow dhoti (lower garment. orange patka and flowered crown, while Lakshmi, who is sitting on his lap, wears a lahanga (long skirt), choli (bodice) and odhani (head covering). Their lotus pedestal seat is coming out from a pond, which also has lotus leaves and buds around it. Hanuman, who stands in front of the Lord, holds his weapon, a gada (mace, which is only reflected in line drawing and is offering a fruit bowl to the Lord. The crowned Hanuman wears a striped lower garment and contrast colour patka. An attendant holding a chauri (fly whisk) is standing at the back of the Lord. He is also crowned, wears dhoti and patka and holds chauri only the line drawing is visible). The remaining portion of the coverlet is also embroidered with flowers, leaves and buds in a colourful manner. The most interesting aspect of this coverlet is the depiction of larger images than the usual small images that appear most of the coverlets.

Fig.A.2: Lakshami Narayana

Interestingly there is a coverlet in the collection of the National Museum, Prague with an almost similar type of composition (Fig. A. 2b). Here the two-armed Lakshmi-Narayan is in standing posture (in place of the Delhi National Museum's sitting posture) on a lotus pedestal, which is coming out from a pond. They are flanked by four persons, two male and two female. In place of the Delhi National Museum's Hanuman, here Narada is standing in front of Lakshmi-Narayana. Narada is the foster son of Lord Brahma, who is one of the trinity of the Hindu pantheon. The rest of the attendants hold chauri, utensils and other things In place of the Delhi National Museum's circular border around the main theme, here a square frame is used as a border. Although the subject and composition of both coverlets and quite similar, on the basis of line drawing and use of colours the Prague National Museum coverlet appears to be late 19th century workmanship done by Chamba artists.

Fig.A.2b: Lakshami-Narayana

Krishna-Radha Guler/Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Mid 19th century White fine cotton base, silk thread in yellow, blue, green, pink, greenish blue, black and white; silver zari thread. Embroidered with double satin and darn stitch. Size: L: 66 cm; W: 64 cm Acc. no.: 49.19/332

This coverlet is beautifully embroidered with the playful activities of Krishna-Radha within a cross border. Here the artist has very skilfully illustrated four different moods of Krishna and Radha arranged in the four corners of the coverlet, which has been artistically divided by a row of trees. In all scenes two female attendants are shown accompanying them. The narration starts from the lower left scene and moves clockwise. In the first scene Krishna is sitting on the floor, and it appears that he is inquiring about Radha from her friend. On the upper left in the second scene, Radha is sitting on a throne and Krishna on the floor. Here Krishna is trying to explain the reason for his late coming to Radha, who has covered herself with a veil and is not talking to him. ('This aspect is often discussed in Nayika-bheda of the famous Rasamanjari text of medieval period.) In the third scene, Krishna is sitting in front of Radha with folded hands and bowed head. Here Krishna is trying to pursue her, while Radha has not only covered her face, but turned her face in the opposite direction. As mentioned in the texts, after long persuasion Radha became happy and forgave Krishna, which has been depicted in the last scene. It depicts Krishna-Radha sitting on a throne and looking at each other with love and affection. Use of zari thread is also evident in places, especially on the costumes of Krishna-Radha, the throne legs and the utensils which the attendants are carrying. ibis coverlet is reminiscent of the Pahari miniature painting, which also depicts the same theme.

Fig.A.3: Krishna Radha

Mahabharata and Kiratarjuni Guler/Kangra, Himachal Pradesh Last quarter of 19th century White cotton base; silk thread in pink, blue, yellow and white. Embroidered with double satin stitch. Size: L: 227 cm; W: 174 cm Acc. no.: 64.160 The great epic of India narrates many stories and quite often inspires the artists to create art works based on them. The National Museum has a big hanging which has been beautifully embroidered with a Mahabharata war scene and the story of Kiratarjuni in typical floral creeper borders. 'The center scene of the hanging depicts the big fight between warriors of Pandava and Kaurava. On the right side Arjuna's chariot is depicted, with Krishna dressed as warrior shown as a sarthi (charioteer). Krishna's mayor mukut (peacock feather crown) and his blowing conch action suggests that this scene may indicate either the beginning or end of the war. Arjuna is dressed in body armor, helmet and patka and holds a bow and arrow. He stands in front of a royal warrior from Kaurava's side, who is riding on an elephant. The lowest part of the hanging depicts the man to man fight, with warriors are dressed in body armor and hold swords, shields, bows and arrows.

The next important scene of the hanging is the story of Kiratarjuni, which has been embroidered in the upper right-hand corner of the hanging. Kiratarjuni's story first appeared in Mahabharata and then in other texts. The first scene depicts the fight between kirata and Arjuna for a wild boar which is in the center. The boar is being shot with arrows from both sides. To create the impression of Indrakila mountain, the artist depicted a tree, bushes and animals around the main images. Just behind this scene Arjuna is seated in the ascetic form, worshipping and offering flowers to shivalinga. Interestingly, a group of weapons are lying in front of him, which indicates that the artist wants to highlight the reason for Arjuna's worship. In the third and final scene Arjuna falls at the feet of Kirata, and this entire episode is witnessed by Kirati (Parvati), as mentioned in later texts. With the help of just three scenes, the artist of this hanging successfully portrayed the story of famous Kiratarjuni, which was more popular in the south than the north. Just one set of Pahari miniature paintings of 19th century is known so fan's So far two long hangings with a common subject embroidered in Chamba rumal style are known; in the Victoria and Albert Museum (further referred to as the VA), London and the National Museum (further referred as NM), New Delhi. the line work, treatment of figures, their attire, crown, arms, armor, helmet and embroidery style is similar in both the hangings. The VA Museum hanging is bigger than the NM's, but the VA's hanging depicts only the Mahabharata war scene, whereas the National Museum's hanging illustrates the Mahabharata war scene and Kiratarjuni story. Both hangings have many similarities and the VA's hanging was donated during Raja Gopal Singh's period in 1871. It is therefore possible that the National Museum's hanging is also embroidered by women of Chamba in around the 1870s probably during the Raja Sri Singh or Raja Gopal Singh's period under royal supervision.

Fig.A.4: Mahabharat and Kiratarjuni

Gomukhi Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Early 20th century Brown coarse cotton base, silk thread in white, blue, pink and yellow; mirror. Embroidered with single satin, chain, buttonhole and cross stitch. Size: L: 33 cm; W: 26 cm Acc. no.: 62.1945

The ‘L’ shaped gomukhi is a prayer bag for keeping the string of prayer beads used by the devotees during the chanting of mantras. Three large full blown flower motifs in three different colour petals are embroidered on the front of the gomukhi while the other side is plain. A small circular mirror in the center of each flower has been very neatly fixed by buttonhole stitch. Each petal of the flowers has distinctive contrast colour embroidery in chain stitch which makes the motifs more colourful. Buds and leaves are embroidered around the flower motifs and all these motifs are beautifully surrounded by a narrow border.

Fig.A.5: Gomukhi

Secular Subjects
6

Wedding scenes Kangra/Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Mid 18th century White muslin base; silk thread in white, pink, yellow, light blue, dark blue, green, white and maroon; silver zari thread. Embroidered with double satin and darn stitch. Size: L: 77 cm; W: 75 cm Acc. no.: 60.891

In the secular group, the most popular subject to appear on coverlets are wedding scenes. 'This coverlet also depicts part of a wedding function in narrative manner within the usual floral border. It portrays the return of a barat (bridegroom's guests) from the bride's house after the wedding. 'The well-dressed bridegroom is on horseback, while other people are on elephants, camel and horseback, with lots of treasure on the animals' backs. Musicians, standard- and fan bearers are part of the procession, which is being witnessed by people who are peeping from windows. In the central scene the bridegroom is shown walking, while the bride is coming out from a palanquin and in the next segment the newly wedded couple is walking together towards the entrance of the house, where the groom's mother is standing with an arti (lamp) to welcome them.

Fig.B.6: Wedding scenes

'This coverlet beautifully illustrates the whole atmosphere of welcoming the newly wedded couple in the bridegroom's house, where many activities are going on; ladies are singing, ladies are holding lamps or vanity boxes etc. All these activities are taking place inside the aagan (central courtyard of the house) as an architectural wall with a window and door; trees can also be seen. 'The ends of the bride and bridegroom's costumes end portion have been decorated with zari threads. This coverlet is a very important piece of the collection, as the name of the embroiderer, Govindadasi, is embroidered on the left side corner of coverlet.

Rumal with geometric pattern Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Late 19th century White fine cotton base; silk thread in maroon, blue, yellow, green, brown, and white. Embroidered with double satin stitch. Size: L: 61 cm; W: 59.5 cm Acc. no.: 62.2753

This coverlet is different from the usual set patterns of Chamba rumal, since here the floral pattern is embroidered in geometric style within a square broad border around the central motif. The central pattern is dominated by the bunch of eight flowers and creeper motifs, while all the corners have a three-flower buta pattern facing towards the central buta. The beautiful broad border has a similar style of flower and creeper motif as the center, while there is a fine triangular style of small buties with cross pattern on both sides of the borders. This style of embroidery is reminiscent of the phulkari of the Punjab region.

Fig.B.7: Rumal with geometric pattern

Couple in pavilion Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Last quarter of 19th century White cotton base; silk thread in pink, blue, yellow, green, black, brown and white; silver zari thread. Embroidered with double satin stitch. Size: L: 66 cm; W: 64 cm Acc. no.: 62.703 This coverlet shows the beautiful palace architecture where a couple is enjoying music. The palace architecture has been executed in two tiers; the area where couple is sitting on a striped dari (rug) under a canopy appears to be a terrace and the area where attendants are gives the impression of the lower portion of palace. Sitting against a bolster, the male is dressed in choga, patka and turban, while the female wears a lahanga, choli and odhani showing membership of the social elite. The fact that the couple is flanked by a chauri (fly whisk) bearer at the back and other female attendants holding big plates covered with coverlets indicates that they are having a feast. A betel box is also placed nearby and indicates the custom of having betel after a meal. In the lower segment of the palace, female attendants are playing musical instruments such as the dolaka (drum) and veena, while other attendants are holding utensils, flowers and other things. There are pairs of peahens and ducks around a tulsi (considered the most auspicious plant with medicinal properties; every Hindu always has it at home). Two trees in full bloom are in the background and reflect the good mood and atmosphere of the scene. To find architecture on coverlets is rare, so this object is important for its depiction of architecture and perspective.

Circular chhabu Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Early 20th century White fine cotton base; silk thread in pink, green, brown, orange, black and white. Embroidered with single satin stitch. Size: Diam.: 76.5 cm Acc. no.: 62.1198 This circular coverlet although less in number, but carries the essence of the Chamba rumal tradition. Such circular coverlets, which are popularly known as `chhabu’, were generally used for covering bamboo baskets (known as chhabri). The center of this coverlet has a six-petal pink flower, which is surrounded by small flowers and foliage pattern all over. The entire field of the coverlet has a stylized floral creeper and it also has a broad border all around. These borders are also decorated with the foliage pattern in a very artistic way. The whole composition of the coverlet features fine line drawing and a soft soothing colour scheme.

Hunting scene Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Late 19th century White mal-mal (fine muslin) base; silk thread in green, yellow, blue, pink, white, grey and black , silver zari thread. Embroidered with double satin and cross stitch. Size: L: 68 cm; W: 64 cm Acc. no.: 61.1010

Here the coverlet illustrates a hunting scene surrounded by asquare border frame. The border has been executed in the usual simple foliage pattern, while there is a narrow additional border on the edges of both borders, embroidered with cross stitch. The entire field of the coverlet beautifully illustrates the hunting scene, which shows the movement of hunters and animals. Hunters on horseback and elephants are busy hunting lion, deer or boar. The most fascinating aspect of this coverlet is that it gives the feel of force whether of the hunters, who are hunting with swords, or the animals running here and there.

Fig.B.10: Huntig scene

Costume
11

Choli Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Early 20th century Brown coarse cotton base; silk thread in white, blue, yellow, pink, green, grey and orange; green striped piping. Embroidered with single satin, chain, cross and buttonhole stitch. Size: L: 46 cm; Sleeve 26 cm. Acc. no.: 60.841/1

This half sleeve backless choli has a 'V' shaped neck and a small rectangular apron which adds to the grace of this women's upper garment. A pair of folk style peacocks has been embroidered on the front side of the choli and one pair is on upper part of each sleeve. The peacock has an elongated neck; his colourful feathers have been arranged as if he is in a dancing pose. There is green coloured striped piping cloth around the apron and neck. Long blue coloured cotton thread has been stitched on the front side of the choli in between the cup part and the apron of the choli, which functions as a tied. There is also a small brown cloth thread around the neck for tieing.

Fig.C.11: Choli

Games
12

Chaupar spread Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Early 20th century Brown coarse cotton base; pink cotton lining; silk thread in white, yellow, blue, pink and green ; mirrors; triangular white cloth as fringes is attached. Embroidered with single satin, chain and buttonhole stitch. Size: 41 x 41 cm Acc. no.: 60.843

Two broad strips of cloth have been stitched together in a cross shape to make a board for the game of chaupar. The game is one of the earliest board games of India, played with sixteen pieces and three dice. This game is mentioned in the epic Mahabharata and other texts also. The center of the spread depicts a flower motif in colourful style, while the remaining portion of the chaupar spread has been worked with small squares arranged in three rows. These squares are either filled with colourful threads or left plain with just mirror decoration. The balance of colour is good and it makes the chaupar spread very attractive.

Fig.D.12: Chaupar spread

These colourful embroidered coverlets from the Himachal region illustrate the very rich variety of objects, from chaupar spread and choli to coverlet, on which both religious and secular subjects appeared. As people of this region are very religious-minded, which is reflected in their art work, many coverlets depict Lord Krishna, Rama, Shiva, Hanuman and Lakshmi-Narayana. Besides their Lord, people also depicted flora and fauna, architecture and geometric patterns in an effective manner. All such coverlets have great charm, attraction and aesthetic appeal, which have kept this art alive for centuries and ensure that it will continue. Bibliography: ARYAN, S. (2005), Unknown Masterpieces of Indian Folk & Tribal Art, Gurgaon. ARYAN, S. (1976), Himachal Embroidery, New Delhi. BHATTACHARYA, A. K. (1975), Chamba Rumal. A Pictorial Handicraft of Himachal Pradesh. In: Ohri, V. C. (ed.), Art of Himachal Pradesh, Calcutta. BHATTACHARYA, A. K. (1968), Chamba Rumal, Calcutta, Indian Museum. BHATIA, U.- KHANNA, A. N.- SHARIVIA, V. (eds.) (1999), The Diverse World of Indian Painting, New Delhi. (1904), Chamba State Gazetteer, Punjab (Pakistan), p. 114. (1945-1946), An early Basohli Chamba rumal - the wedding of Raja lit Singh of Chanzba and Rani Sharada Devi of Jammu, 1783. Bulletin of the Museum and Picture Gallery, Baroda, Vol. 3, pp. 35-42. GOSWAMY, B. N. and Bhattia, U. (1999), Goenka collection of Indian Paintings, New Delhi, Lalit Kala. GOSWAMY, B. N. (1999), 'Threads and Pigments. In: Rasa. The Chamba Rumal, New Delhi, Craft Council of India. HALL, M. (1996), The Victoria and Albert Museum's Mahabharata Hanging. South Asian Studies, No. 12, pp. 83-97. JAIN, J. and AGGRAWAL, A. (1989), Catalogue of National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum. New Delhi, Ahmedabad. KHURSHII), Z. (1988), Chamba Rumals in the collections of Lahore Museum. Lahore, Lahore Museum Bulletin, January-June, no.1. MITTAL, J. (1952-1953), Mural painting of Chamba. Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, Calcutta, vol. 19, pp. 11-18. NAGARAJA Rao, M. S. (1979), Kiratarjuniyarn in Indian Art. New Delhi. OHRI, V. C. (2001), The Technique of Pahari Painting. New Delhi. OHRI, V. C. and KHANNA, A.N. (eds.) (1989), History and culture of the Chamba State, a western Himalayan kingdom. New Delhi. SHARMA, K. R (2009), Wedding Scenes in Chamba Rumal and Unusual subject of Til-Chauli. In: Bhatia, U., Khanna, A.N., Sharma, V. (eds.), The Diverse World of Indian Painting, New Delhi. PATHAK. A. (2009), Pahari rumal: the Picturesque Narratives. In: Bhatia, U., Khanna, A. N., Sharma, V. (eds.), The Diverse World of Indian Painting, New Delhi. PATHAK, A. (2004), A Unique Chamba Rumal on the Gajantaka Theme. Marg, Vol. 55, No. 3, pp. 52-56. PATHAK, A. (2002), Rasamandala in Indian Textiles. National Museum Bulletin, New Delhi, no. 9, pp. 1-29. References

The earliest reference to Chamba comes from Kalhana's Rajatarangini, which mentions the name of Raja Meruvarman, who ruled here in 7" century. The important geographical situation of this region inspired the then ruler, Raja Sahila Varman, to shift the capital from Brahmapura to Chamba in the first half of the 10th century. It is said that Sahila Varman's daughter liked the plateau of Chamba very much and asked her father to build a town and make it the capital. So he did and named it Chamba after his beloved daughter. It is also believed that the champaka trees in the township may have given it its name. Khandalawala, K., In: Ohri, V.C. and Khanna, A.N. (eds) (1989), 2-3.
The earliest wooden temples are dated to 10th -12th century. Ibid, 9.
The magnificent brass Ganesha and bronze bull images at Brahmapura and brass Sakti Devi images at Chhatrarhi are dated to the first half of 8th century. They give the name of the sculptor, Gugga.
According to an inscription preserved in the temple of Devi Koti, the murals on the walls of the palace were painted in 1754. From time to time changes occurred. Rang Mahal was beautifully painted with several paintings and it is believed that some rooms of Rang Mahal were painted by the painters Durga and Mahgru. Some of the wall paintings were moved to the National Museum, New Delhi in 1962-64. Other painted palaces were the Arkhand Chandi palace painted by Main Tara Singh and Obi Dharmasala. Mittal, J. (1952 -1953), 11-18.
Umed Singh and his son gave patronage to Mughal court artists around the 18^TH century. Ranjha Ram La: Ram Sahari was a court painter who worked at Raja Singh's court. Ohri, V. C. (2001).
The State Museum, Lucknow has a Bhagavata Purana painting depicting young wives of Brahmins of Mathura who are shown holding plates covered with rumal. The wedding of Rama and his brothers depicts a lady with a rumal covering that was published in painted version by Goswamy, B.N. (1999), 250-251.
This hanging is preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Sharma, K.P. (2009), 143.
Goswamy, B.N. (1999), 10-12; Bhattacharya, A.K. (1975), 77.
Aryan, S. (1976), 13; Aryan, S. (2005), 181.
Pathak. A (2009), 137, pl, 19.3.
Pathak, A. (2002), 1-29.
Khurshid, Z. (1988), 3.

Ohri, V.C. and Khanna, A.N. (eds) (1989), 13. '
(1904), Chamba State Gazetteer, Punjab (Pakistan), 114.
Raja Bhuri Singh and J. P. Vogel, British officials, were the main instrument for establishing the museum in Chamba in 1904, which was named after Raja.
Watts, Sir, G. (1903), 379.
Hall, M. (1999), 83-97.
Bhattacharya, A.K. (1968), 34.
Jain, J. and Aggrawal, A. (1989), 152.
Pathak, A. (1989), 136-138.
Pathak, A. (2004), 52-56.
Pathak, A. (2009), 138.
(1945-1946), An early Bushell Chamba rumal, 35-42.
The liana Parva of Mahabharata refers to the story of Kiratarjuni that one day Maharishi Vyas visited the Pandavas during their exile period. Maharishi advised them that Arjuna should go to Indra and do tapas (penance) for the powerful ayudh (weapons). So Arjuna went to Indrakila hill, which is in the north of the Himalayan region and did taps (meditation). After some time the God Indra came to Arjuna in the ascetic form and asked him why he was doing tapas. "Are you doing it for moksha ?" Arjuna replied that he was not doing it for moksha, but that such deep meditation was to get the special weapons, so that he could take revenge on Kauravas. Then lndra revealed his original form and advised him to do penance for Lord Siva to get the grace of the Lord. 'Then Arjuna started doing very rigorous tapas, he stopped taking meals and water and stood on one foot for months together. All the sages who were meditating in the forest were perturbed by Arjuna's tapas and went to Lord Shiva for help. Shiva assured them that soon he would find a way to help them. Thereupon Shiva and Parvati, dressed in kirata (hunter) and kirati (huntress) form, went to the place where Arjuna was doing tapas. As they were approaching Arjuna they saw that the demon mukadanava, in the form of a wild boar, was rushing towards Arjuna, who became disturbed and took his bow and arrow to shoot the animal. Just then the kirata arrived on the scene and contested Arjuna's right to shoot the arrow, as the animal was his lawful prey. Both shot an arrow and the wild boar fell down dead. A battle of words and a physical duel then started between the kirata and Arjuna. First they fought with arrows, then bows, later with swords, stones, trees and other things. However, to Arjuna's surprise everything was in vain.When finally they started to wrestle, Arjuna was defeated and became unconscious. When Arjuna recovered and realized that his opponent was more than a mortal, he immediately made a day shivalinga and started worshipping. When Arjuna offered flowers and garland to the shivalinga, which at once went to kirata, then Arjuna understood that the kirata is not mortal but divine, and none other than the Lord himself, whom he was worshipping Immediately he fell at his feet, begged his forgiveness and apologized for his daring deed. Shiva said he was testing him, and then all the gods came and gave the magical (powerful) weapons to Arjuna.
Nagaraja Rao, (1979), 81.
Singh M.G. (1983),113.
For all pictures the author is grateful to photographers Shri Suresh Mehto and Shri Snil Jain.

First published in Annals of the Naprstek Museum published by the National Museum

Amongst the rich repertoire of embroideries known and practiced in India, the Chamba Rumal , a narrative style of embroidery, stands apart as being unusual and striking both visually as well as in the beauty of its concept. It takes its name from the historic city of Chamba, in Himachal Pradesh, where it is still commonly practiced. Chamba is a small picturesque town perched on a hilly ridge rising above the gushing waters of the river Ravi (Irawati). Embroidery was practiced in these regions from early times. Women were known to embroider their cholis (blouses) and embroidered scarves, which were also called rumals, were worn around the neck of the men folk. This practice was widely spread in this entire region which included the neighbouring towns of Guler, Nurpur and Basohli. It is interesting to note that these towns also became associated with their special ateliers of miniature painting. However, it was the Rajas (rulers) of Chamba who in the 18^th and 19^th centuries fostered and encouraged this particular style of embroidery which then came to be known as the Chamba Rumal. Rumal means a kerchief, in this case a square piece of embroidered cloth. It was used as wrappings for auspicious gifts and as coverings for ceremonial dishes. Even today, during marriages in Chamba, rumals are exchanged between families of the bride and groom as a token of goodwill. Pahari miniature paintings of this period are replete with imagery which show the embroidered rumal being used in this manner. It was an important social custom of the region which continues to the present day. In some of the paintings the rumals are shown as being used as part of the costumes in the form of a patka or sash. Dating back to the 16th century, the oldest known rumal is attributed to Bebe Nanki, the sister of Guru Nanak, and is preserved in the Sikh shrine in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. The full flowering of this art however owes much to the enlightened and artistically inclined Rajas (rulers) of Chamba in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. At this time miniature artists fleeing from the disintegrating courts of the Moghul Empire were given sanctuary and patronage by the rulers in Chamba. The Pahari style of miniature painting that emerged combined with the local tradition of embroidery gave birth to the rumal. For a century and a half, exquisite rumals were being produced in Chamba, most of these can now be found in museum collections. For example, in the 18th century it is recorded that Raja Gopal Singh presented a rumal with the unusual theme of the battle of Kurukshetra to the British authorities. This rumal is now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Raja Bhuri Singh (1904- 1919) is also reputed to have been a great patron of this art. He is said to have presented several chamba rumals to important personages during the Delhi Durbars of 1907 and 1911 where they seem to have been much admired. He was greatly influenced by the Dutch scholar Dr. J. Ph. Vogel who not only encouraged him in supporting this art but also helped him make an important collection of rumals. In 1909 Raja Bhuri Singh opened the Chamba Museum in Chamba and the collection was displayed to the public for the first time. The museum has now been renamed the Bhuri Singh Museum and presently has one of the most extensive collections of chamba rumals in the world. Fine specimens of chamba rumals can also be found in other museums like the National Museum, New Delhi, the Calico Museum, Ahmedabad, The Indian Museum, Kolkata, the Crafts Museum, New Delhi as well as well known museums abroad. Rich in detail, the distinctive appeal of the Chamba rumal lies in the fact that it is an artistic intertwining of two highly developed arts, that of miniature painting and embroidery. ‘The two can in so many ways be seen as sahodara, born of the same womb' says the art historian Dr. B.N. Goswamy. Both these skills were and are well developed in this region. The remarkable idea of combining them to produce the rumal can be attributed to the high caliber of artistic and creative imagination which seems to have prevailed during the 18^th and 19^th centuries in Chamba under the discerning eye of the Rajas. It is usually a miniature artist from the Pahari School of painting who makes a free hand drawing in ink on the fabric for the embroidery. Although the themes for the rumals are both secular and religious in character, the most favourite theme is the life and legends of Lord Krishna specially the Raas Leela. Perhaps the circular format of the raas lends itself conveniently to the square format of the rumal and thus continued to be one the most popular themes. Other legends of Lord Krishna which are depicted included the beautiful Godhuli, Daan Leela, Parijat Haran,Rukmini Haran, Ashtanayika and Geet Govind. Stories from religious texts featuring fables from the life of Lord Shiva and Ganesh were also embroidered in great profusion. The secular themes included games and pastimes of the nobility like the Chaupad (dice) and Shikar (hunting). Besides miniature painting, the inspiration for the style of drawings found in the rumals is also attributed by some historians to a series of mural paintings done on the walls of the Rang Mahal (ladies chambers) in the main palace at Chamba. The palace was built during the reign of Raja Umaid Singh in the mid 18^th century. There were over a hundred and thirty paintings in various sizes including smaller ones set into recesses and surrounded by heavy floral borders. These murals, now on permanent display at the National Museum in New Delhi, could also have had a strong influence on the drawings done for the rumals. After the drawing is completed, the rumal is embroidered by the local women of this region. Traditionally the skill of doing this embroidery with its special repertoire of stitches is passed on from mother to daughter. At one time, women of the royal family also practiced this art extensively. The earlier rumals were typically embroidered on unbleached hand-spun muslin fabric using untwisted silk floss dyed in natural colours. The main stitch used is a double satin stitch known as do-rukha, this ensured the exact duplication of the embroidery on the reverse of the cloth. Although laborious, this stitch can also be used to cover large areas of the fabric in different colours which appear flat and textured when viewed. The outlines and other details are worked in a double running stitch; silver wires or threads are used very sparingly but effectively to high light details such as crowns, jewellery and weapons. A simpler style of rumals can also be found in which the drawing is done by the women embroiderers themselves and which has simpler motifs and themes. These drawings depict everyday events and the idyllic natural beauty of the region. Some experts call these the ‘folk style’ of rumals. In the more ‘classical’ style of rumals , the elaborate floral borders, ornamentation, and the sophisticated portrayal of figures and animals as found in miniature paintings are some of the notable and distinctive features. The tiny details of the facial features of the figures and their clothing as drawn by the artist are picked out with unusual skill by the embroiderers and are another exquisite feature of this embroidery. Infused with the beauty of miniature paintings, Chamba Rumals have been aptly called ‘paintings in embroidery’ by art historians and scholars like Dr. Stella Kramrisch. Exquisite specimens of chamba rumals were being made up till the early part of the twentieth century, however, towards the later part, the patronage extended by the rulers of Chamba slowly dwindled and ceased because of the political turmoil which preceded the struggle for independence. Without discerning patrons and an appreciative audience there was inevitably a notable decline in the quality of this famed art form. After independence, Kamaldevi Chattopadhyay took a very keen interest in reviving the Chamba rumal. Under her direction a training centre was set up by the government. Unfortunately it could not be sustained for long due to the usual problems of official apathy and disinterest. In 1992, Delhi Crafts Council (DCC), under the guidance of Usha Bhagat, took up the revival of the Chamba Rumal as one of its projects. For more than two decades, DCC has continually striven through numerous exhibitions and workshops to spread and enhance the level of awareness about this art amongst a wider audience all over the country. Since 2003 a centre has been established in Chamba to guide and train the embroiderers in improving the quality of their embroidery as well as in the use of appropriate colours. Marketing the Rumals is an aspect to which DCC has paid special attention. Attractive packaging and information about each individual rumal that is sold has been specially designed by the Council. It is heartening that other individuals and organizations, perhaps due to increased visibility on the social media, have also recently contributed to an increased level of awareness about this rare art form. As in most traditional arts, the social milieu in which they were created is changing at an unprecedented pace. It is therefore, imperative to raise issues about their relevance and continuity. This is specially so in a revival project such as this one. Thus, reviving the rumal in the technical aspects, though challenging, is only the beginning of the journey. At DCC we have realized that what is also critical is how to keep a fresh impetus flowing into the designs, both in drawing and embroidery. Keeping this in mind new experiments have been carefully undertaken by the Council in the last couple of years. The debate and discourse we have engaged in this aspect of the project must and hopefully will continue. What is clear is that there can be no single or easy answer about the direction this special heritage art form will take in the future. [gallery ids="167017,167018,167019,167020,167021"] References: Raas, The Chamba Rumal , Life to a Dying Art , catalogue published in 1999 by Delhi Crafts Council. Marg, March 1964 issue ( page 19) Rasamandal – in Indian Textiles, by Anamika Pathak from the National Museum Bulletin No 9, Delhi 2002. Life to A Dying art of Embroidery, by Nonika Rajkumar in House Calls, Vol 2, Issue 1, March/April 2000. Chamba Wall Paintings, from the Times of India Annual 1966.

The Project: Reviving the embroidered art of the Chamba Rumal NGO: Delhi Craft Council Location: Chamba, Himachal Pradesh Duration: Started In 1995 and is continuing Sponsors: Delhi Crafts Council Project Coordinates: Usha Bhagat, Purnima Rai, Manjari Nirula of Delhi Crafts Council
Background The embroidered art of Chamba rumals emerged in the princely hill states of Chamba, Basoli,Kangra and adjacent areas in present day Himachal Pradesh. Though practiced throughout the region, it came to be associated with Chamba because of the continued patronage by its rulers and the style and colors of the rumal which were influenced by the miniature painting traditions of Chamba. The rumal is the image of the painting in embroidery.
	It is apparent from the rumals which have existed dating back to the 18th and 19th century that the drawings were made by the miniature artists and embroidered by women of the nobility who developed a high level of sophistication and stylization. The themes of the rumal were mainly religious, with special favor given to the raasmandal and scenes from the life of Krishna. The fabric was usually handspun or hand woven unbleached mulmul or fine khaddar. The embroidery was done in a double satin stitch using untwisted pure silk yarn. The rumals were used as covers for offerings made at weddings, festive and religious occasions.
Chamba rumals were being made till early the 20th century but suffered with the decline of the feudal system of patronage. The original designs and colours were lost, the rumals were being embroidered on low grade fabric with chemically dyed threads. The embroidery was of bad quality and it had degenerated to calendar art.Objectives of the Project To revive the art form by attempting to recreate the quality and finesse of the originals by replicating rumals housed in various museum collections. To launch a sustained revival program which would include training of the craftswomen and a sustained marketing effort. Phase 1 Several visits were made by the DCC to Chamba to not only to study the work currently being done but also to acquaint themselves to the area and to develop a working relationship with the embroiderers. On surveying the existing situation the DCC identified the drawbacks and the positive aspects of the rumals being embroidered at that time - The base cloth used was mill made polyester not the original mulmul or fine hand woven fabric used traditionally. This fabric with its machine finished sheen did not add value to the embroidered piece unlike the hand woven fabric that provided a pleasing dimension. The embroidery thread required was untwisted floss silk. Due to its unavailability the embroiderers were using twisted yarn after untwisting. The effect of this was unseemly. The yarn colours used were garish and lacked balance and harmony. The rumals, no longer inspired by the original patterns were cruder in their design and execution, losing their unique connection with the miniature painting tradition. On the positive side women had not lost the skill of the specialized Chamba embroidery and artists continued to draw the patterns. Embroidery continued to be a popular pastime for the women who now were selling them made on ordinary items like pillowcases etc. Phase 2 Sixteen designs from various museums, including the National Museum, New Delhi, Buri Singh Museum, Chamba, Indian Museum, Kolkatta, Crafts Museum, New Delhi and the Victoria & Albert Museum, London were identified and photographed. The next step was to source the material used to make the rumals. With changed times and machine made materials having replaced the hand made it was difficult. A close substitute - hand woven fabric/ khadi as the base cloth - was selected. For the embroidery yarn the local markets were scoured. It was a failed attempt to source naturally dyed untwisted floss silk yarn. An alternative of untwisted but synthetic yarn dyed in a wide range of colors was eventually found in a local market in N. Delhi. Now that the patterns, the fabric and the yarn were finalized, a few women embroiderers and a miniature artist in Chamba were chosen to execute the rumals. Due to distance , lack of communication facilities between Chamba and Delhi and initial teething problems the pace of work was slow. However eventually the concept, the quality standards required, the level of excellence expected from the embroiderers and the artist was achieved and over a period of 3 to 4 years,16 rumals were produced. Phase 3 In 1999 the Delhi Crafts Council organized an exhibition of the rumals at the Crafts Museum, New Delhi. The revived rumals were received with universal acclaim from visitors and critics alike. The exhibition was accompanied by a catalogue and an indepth discussion on the future of the rumals and thoughts on the next phase. It was unanimously agreed to maintain the high museum quality standards of the rumal rather then popularize and cheapen it, to promote the rumals as works of art and to accept orders and monitor the production and quality. Phase 4 The Delhi Crafts Council decided to take orders on the created pieces. They are expensive and it takes up to 2 to 4 months to make one piece. The rumals have been exhibited in important cities like Mumbai, Kokata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and others between 200-2004. An important breakthrough came in Mumbai where an order of 20 rumals was placed for a Museum in Surat. Following this demand, the DCC established a Centre in Chamba. They rented one room, hired a person to oversee the work of the embroiders who also initially trained other young girls. The trainees were given a stipend and the embroiderers were paid for their work by the DCC. The Centre is still in the process of evolution and efforts are on to involve local people to take an interest and participate in helping it to grow.

Future Plans The DCC is reexamining their marketing strategy to identify new markets and new methods of distributions of the rumals. Their next attempt is going to be to organize i exhibitions outside the country as well to promote the artistic, social and cultural worth of this exclusive art of Chamba rumal embroidery.

https://youtu.be/W4VvL93TVjY

Chhau dance is a tradition from eastern India that enacts episodes from the great epics like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, local folklore and abstract themes. Its three distinct styles hail from the regions of Seraikella, Purulia and Mayurbhanj, the first two using masks. Chhau dance is closely connected to regional festivals, notably the spring festival Chaitra Parva, celebrated in April every year. The festival lasts for thirteen days in which the whole community participates. Its origin is traceable to indigenous forms of dance and martial practices. Its vocabulary of movement includes mock combat techniques, stylized gaits of birds and animals and movements modeled on the chores of village housewives. Chhau is taught to male dancers from families of traditional artists or from local communities. The usage of stylized masks and costumery is an important component of Seraikella and Purulia Chhau dance styles, requiring skilled craftsmanship which is practiced and preserved by its community. The knowledge of dance, music and mask-making is transmitted orally.

The dance is performed at night in an open space to traditional and folk melodies, played on the reed pipes with a variety of drums as part of the accompanying music ensemble. Chhau is an integral part of the culture of these communities. It binds together people from different social strata and ethnic background with diverse social practices, beliefs, professions and languages. However, increasing industrialization, economic pressures and new media are leading to a decrease in collective participation with communities becoming disconnected from their roots. Prevalent in the tribal belt of the bordering areas of the provinces of Orissa, Jharkhand and West- Bengal in Eastern India.

Seraikella Chhau of Jharkhand state
Mayurbhanj Chhau of Orissa state
Purulia Chhau of West Bengal state

Three ICH domains are represented by Chhau dance - Performing Arts; Social Practices, Rituals and Festive Events, and Traditional Craftsmanship. Photo Credit: http/BanglaNatak.com

Lucknow, in Uttar Pradesh, was and still is the centre of Chikan embroidery, renowned for its gossamer delicacy and timeless grace, a skill more than 200 years old - exploited, commercialised but not dead; in fact wonderfully alive and struggling to regain some of its former beauty and elegance. Chikan embroidery is done on fine cotton fabric, the design of which is printed with wooden blocks in fugitive colours, which are commonly made by mixing a glue and indigo with water. The garments are first stitched and then embroidered, whereas skirts, saris, and table linen are first embroidered and then finished.

Craft Tradition A study of the origin of Chikan reveals that this form of embroidery is supposed to have come to India from Persia with Noor Jehan - the queen of the Mughal emperor, Jehangir. The word 'chikan' is a derivative of the Persian word 'chikaan', meaning drapery. However, opinions vary. Some insist that the craft migrated from Bengal. What we know is that chikankari came to the erstwhile Oudh, now Lucknow, when Mughal power declined. The artisans moved to the Oudh durbars seeking employment and patronage.The craft flourished under the benign nawabi influence. The ladies of the harem vied with each other in making white embroidered caps for the nawabs in order to be noticed and favoured. The early garments were so fragile that they had to be discarded after two or three washes - this is why early samples of Chikan garments are not available in Lucknow. With British influence, designs became more formal and items other than ethnic apparel such as tablecloths, house linen began to be created. This brought a formalisation of designs to a large extent, a change that resulted in an export market. Several kinds of Chikan items - specimens of which are still available - found a place in prestigious homes in Europe and England. The bel or creeper was the most commonly used design and individual motifs or butis of animals and flowers were also made. Fish (mahi) was a very common motif in Lucknow and widely used because it was the emblem of the Court of Oudh.

Materials Used The design to be embroidered is printed on the fabric with wooden blocks, using fugitive colours that are commonly made by mixing a glue and indigo with water. The proportion in which the three ingredients are mixed is important to maintain the right consistency. For extra fine designs, brass blocks are sometimes used.Earlier, only fine stranded white cotton - bleached or unbleached - sold in hanks, was used. For a single thread, often yarn from the selvedge of the fabric was drawn, as it was considered to be stronger than the kaccha dhaga or fragile thread purchased on hanks. Hanks are now available in all colours and in better qualities. Mercerised cotton skeins are also used to maintain colour fastness and quality of thread. Number 8 steel needles are used for Chikan embroidery, with thimbles for protecting the fingers, and frames to maintain the right tension and uniformity of stitches.

Process and Technique There is a discipline and method in the application of the stitches. The darn stitch is worked on rough surfaced cotton fabric to fill in angular designs and to cover the surface of the fabric, while the satin stitch is done exclusively on delicate fabric(s) like silk, muslin or linen.Some stitches are worked from the wrong side of the fabric while others are worked from the right side. What is interesting (and unique) is that stitches designated for a particular purpose are only used for that purpose: they are not replaced by others. Thus, the chain stitch (zanjeera) will only be used for the final outline of a leaf or petal or stem.Craftspersons specialise in different stitches. For example, open work or jaali is not done by embroiderers who do the filling work - each worker completes their bit and the fabric is then sent to the next embroiderer, who completes his/her part and brings it back for finishing. The wages for each job are fixed separately.

Repertoire of Stitches Chikan embroidery has a repertoire of around 40 stitches, of which about 30 are still being used. These can be divided broadly under three heads - flat stitches, raised and embossed stitches, and the open trellis-like jaali work. Some of these have equivalents in other embroideries; the rest involve manipulations that make them distinctive and unique. Almost all the kinds of embroidery stitches used in the country are included in Chikan work. The names are both interesting and descriptive. The main flat stitches with their traditional names are: - Taipchi: This is a running stitch worked on the right side of the fabric. It is occasionally done within parallel rows to fill petals and leaves in a motif, called ghaspatti. Sometimes Taipchi is used to make the bel buti design all over the fabric. This is the simplest Chikan stitch and often serves as a basis for further embellishment. It resembles jamdani work and is considered the cheapest and quickest stitch. - Pechni: Taipchi is sometime used as a base for working other variations, like pechni. Here the Taipchi is covered by entwining the thread over it in a regular manner to provide the effect of a lever spring and is always done on the right side on the cloth. - Pashni: This is the minute vertical satin stitches worked over the taipchi (which is used to outline motifs). - Bakhia: It is the most common stitch and is often referred to as shadow work. It is of two types: (i) Ulta Bakhia: The floats lie on the reverse of the fabric underneath the motif. The transparent muslin becomes opaque and provides a beautiful effect of light and shade. (ii) Sidhi Bakhia: Satin stitch with a criss-crossing of individual threads. The floats of thread lie on the surface of the fabric. This is used to fill the forms and there is no light or shade effect. - Khatao, Khatava or Katava: This is cutwork or appliqué - more a technique than a stitch. - Gitti: This is a combination of buttonhole and long satin stitch, usually used to make a wheel-like motif. - Jangira: This is a chain stitch usually used as outlines in combination with a line of pechni or thick taipchi.

There are other bolder or knottier stitches. The common ones are: - Murri: A very minute satin stitch in which a knot is formed over already outlined taipchi stitches.- Phanda: This is a smaller, shortened form of the murri. The knots are spherical and very small; not pear shaped as in murri. This is a difficult stitch and requires very good craftsmanship.- Jaalis: The jaalis or trellises that are created in chikankari are a speciality of this craft. The holes are made by manipulating the needle without cutting or drawing the thread. The threads of the fabric are teased apart to make neat regular holes or jaalis. In other centres where jaalis are done, the threads have to be drawn out. In chikankari, this is not the case.The names of jaali techniques - like Madrasi jaali or Bengali jaali -suggest the place where they originated from, or possibly the place of demand of that particular kind of jaali work. The basic manner in which jaalis are created is by pushing aside wrap and weft threads in a fashion that creates minute openings in the cloth. The shape of openings and the stitches used distinguish one jaali from another.

Designs The source of most of the design motifs in chikankari is Mughal. Several historical references attribute the invention of Chikan embroidery and the enrichment of designs to Empress Noor Jehan, who was a connoisseur of the arts. In fact, the introduction of jaalis in Chikan embroidery has often been attributed to Noor Jehan's personal preference and desire to replicate the Turkish architectural openwork designs.The designs, in Chikan, are graded and used according to the stitches employed - murri ka buta, tepchi ka jaal, though terms like hathi (elephant), and kairi (mango) are also used to signify the shape of the motif. However, predominantly, it is the stitch employed that establishes the nomenclature.

Production Process The production of a Chikan garment, assuming it is a kurta (long, dress-like shirt) goes through several processes. In each process a different person is involved. The final responsibility, however, is that of the person ordering the manufacture of the garment (who is also usually the seller as well).The stages that a garment goes through are as follows: 1) Cutting of the fabric by the tailor into the required garment shape. 2) Basic pre-embroidery stitching, to ensure that the correct shape is available to the block printer to plan the placement of the design. 3) Printing of the design on the semi-stitched garment with fugitive colours. 4) Embroidery of the garment with clear instructions about stitches and colours. Often more than one person is involved, depending on whether jaali work is included or not. 5) Completion of stitching by the tailor. 6) Checking. Most defects can be detected but the finer flaws surface only after washing. By the time the garment has changed five hands it is so dirty that even the quality of embroidery cannot be assessed, leave alone finding the defects. 7) Washing and ironing. This is done by the dhobi, who use the age-old method for cleaning called bhatti. The garment is then starched and ironed. 8) The garment is returned to the seller for grading, packaging and dispatch to the retailer. The whole cycle can take from one to six months and entails tremendous follow-up at every stage of production. Originally Chikan embroidery was done with white thread on white soft cotton fabric like muslin or cambric. It was sometimes done on net to produce a kind of lace. Today chikanwork is not only done with coloured threads but also on all kinds of fabrics like silk, crêpe, organdies, terry-cotton, chiffons, tassars and cotton to make high fashion garments and linen.

Issue #007, Winter, 2021 ISSN: 2581- 9410

A finished chikan product is the realization of an artist’s vision, carefully designed and embroidered to create the desired effect. Chikan embroidery is itself so intricate and breathtaking, that the block makers and printers who create the foundation of this embroidery are often unacknowledged. The process starts with the selection of an appropriate block, the printing of the pattern on the garment and finally the choice of stitches that will give the final finish to the design.

Printing with fugitive colour before the embroidery is done

The process of chikan embroidery starts with block making and printing. It is fascinating to watch a printer at work as he sits cross legged at a low table with the fabric spread out in front of him. With years of practice, his arm movements have acquired a rhythm of their own as he dips the block, just so, into the tray of indigo dye and swiftly and surely presses it onto the fabric. The plain fabric comes alive with the blue design, the borders and pallus begin to take shape, the pattern of paisleys and booties acquire a life of their own. It is a busy day at Mohammad Ali’s karkhana, in purana Lucknow. The ‘thud’, ‘thud’ of the printers at work is clearly audible. Mohd Ali’s father started the printing business in the mid- 50s and, as his son claims, he revolutionized the printing technique. Earlier, the printer would place a small quantity of pink dye on the palm of one hand and press the block on it with the other and then proceed to print the fabric. This tedious process was replaced with a more efficient method by his father Riyaz Ali. Riyaz Saheb introduced a system of shallow enamel trays which were layered with a bamboo lattice at the bottom, laid over with two pieces of thick woollen fabric and finally covered with coarse cotton cloth. The fugitive blue ink was then poured over this, just enough quantity to soak all the layers. This arrangement avoided splashing and allowed the block to absorb just the right quantity of dye from the soaked fabric. In a printer’s terminology this system is called tari and it revolutionized the scale at which printing could be done.

Tari - printing tray

Printing with fugitive colour before the embroidery is done

Printing is a complex process. The printer has to understand the customer’s requirement. So, the blocks have to be selected keeping in mind the design, the number of strands of thread that are going to be used in the embroidery and the kind of stitches that are going in to create the design. The average customers generally choose from the blocks and layout suggested by the printer. The designers come with their own vision, looking at trends in fashion and requirements from high end customers, so often the blocks have to be made to suit their needs. In a highly competitive business and to keep his designs away from prying eyes, Mohd Ali sometimes employs block-makers to work in the privacy of his home. But most of the time he places his orders with Gyan, a master block-maker.

Tracing on butter paper

Not all chikankari uses block printing as a base. In a few cases, tracings on butter paper are made and transferred onto the fabric. Giving the example of a tree, Mohd. Ali explains that a block will never be able to create the living, flowing look of a tree. The loch can only be achieved by a tracing.

Block making for different chikankari stitches

Block making is a craft practiced by many, but excelled by few. Gyan is a master block-maker, customizes blocks for his clients and makes them for his own stock as well. An idea of a motif suggested on a rough tracing, is transformed by him into a fair picture. Upon approval, Gyan proceeds to make the block. He chooses sheesham wood, a sturdy and cheaper option to saagoan. The wooden block is levelled using sand and scraped with a stone to create a smooth, level surface. The final tracing is placed over the block and the outline of the pattern is created with a chisel and hammer. The tracing is then removed and the pattern chiselled in, using a fine iron qalam cast at the local iron-monger’s. It takes about 15 days to create an intricate design on a 9” by 9” block of wood. Blocks come in all sizes. Small ones fit into the palm of the hand but the larger ones have a knob on the opposite surface so that the printer can hold it easily during the printing process. Gyan’s experience has taught him to identify which stitches of chikankari can be created on a particular block. And his understanding of fashion trends helps him to design his own blocks. It is heartening to see that Gyan and Mohd Ali have been able to sustain, as only master craftsmen can do so. Both have involved the next generation into their business. Mamta Varma of Bhairavi, an outlet known for its fine quality chikan work, says that craft practitioners have realized that education and craft skills go hand in hand. Gyan’s fifteen year old son apprentices with him after school and is fast becoming as skilled as his father. Mohd Ali worked with his father and now his sons have completed their education and joined the family business. The family has also entered the chikan embroidery business and there is additional income from properties they have developed. Gyan however, remains a block-maker only. He has survived hard times, but there is enough work coming his way, for him and his son. Attention to detail makes these craftsmen masters of their craft. Gyan invests in time while meeting his customers during the process of finalizing the design for a new block. He will not proceed with his work till the customer is fully satisfied and until he himself has completely understood the nuances of the design. Mohd Ali is very possessive about the maintenance of his blocks. He washes them regularly, brushes them with mustard oil and keeps them aside for some time. This keeps the blocks clean and the outlines sharp so that embroidery can be done properly. Patti khul jaati hai, as he puts it. Success has come with hard work. Gyan is in his 50s now, first tried his hand at pakki chapai and moved locations many times- Mumbai, Calcutta, Varanasi, Jaipur, Farrukhabad and finally settled down some 20 years ago to making blocks for chikan embroidery in Lucknow. His vast experience and exposure to other craft forms have made him the master craftsman that he is today. Mohd Ali’s father belonged to Faizabad, worked as a printer for pakki chapai in Tanda and Mumbai. Father and son took regular exhibitions to the Nauchandi Mela in Meerut and to the Urs at Ajmer Sharif and finally settled down to a chikan printing business in Lucknow. Lucknow is a markaz for fine craft and that is perhaps why these two crafts persons had their calling in this city.

Issue #10, 2023 ISSN: 2581- 9410 The Chilote Shoes is a disruptive co-creation model which empowers artisan women to maintain their unique culture and communities preserving crafts for future generations in rural Patagonia, Chile. Chilote Shoes operations are completely distributed and integrated by design into the participants' lifestyles. We have a community based production model where our artisan partners set their own schedules and do not need to commute to larger cities allowing them to remain within their family while earning a reliable income. This human network creates an organic value chain of sourcing, crafting, consolidation, and distribution connecting independent women craft makers from rural Patagonia to ethical consumers worldwide. The business model and strategic design of the project leverages renewable local materials, a unique existing craft capability, and a life-centered co-creation approach.

We never manage the exact number as it is something each group organizes depending on their time/availability and our necessities. Each group has a "natural leader" that has the responsibility to make sure everything is done according to the "order" and timing. We sent them all the raw materials and specifications so the ladies know what they have to craft and then the leader consolidates the production, makes a second quality control before sending everything to Osorno (my home town - where our workshop and my sister are - we export from there).

But our network has more than 50+ beautiful artisan ladies that are always ready to knit. We work hand in hand with indigenous vulnerable artisan women who live in isolated rural areas of Chilean Patagonia. We primarily work with 3 different communities, apart one from the other. Same region, but different location (driving around 3 hours apart). The region's name is "Región de Los Lagos" - belonging to the north part of Patagonia. The communities we work with are from: -Calcurrupe - primary group - 70% of the shoes are made there -Puerto Varas. -Frutillar. The majority belongs to an indigenous etnie "Mapuches". The tradition of Mapuche crafts/arts remains in force because it expresses traditional meanings and fundamental cultural values for the Mapuche people, who today live in cities and rural communities.

A textile garment constitutes an essential artistic medium in the representation of the Mapuche ethnic identity, because it is part of a powerful network of social and symbolic relations typical of this culture. Each pair of wool slippers is unique and handcrafted “slow” with care and pride by a network of independent artisan women doing what they know and love – knitting from home, preserving traditional knitting techniques that have been passed down through generations.

..."In a slow craft sense, it means in the crafts that are passed from generation to generation as a continuity of knowledge, belonging, social and cultural contexts. They are acts of dedication. We want to keep these crafts alive and make them competitive through social, environmental and economic sustainability. For me it is important because it enables rural women to improve their quality of life through something meaningful that they love doing and that represents them.

The slippers are constructed from natural raw sheep wool and upcycled leather (upcycled salmon leather and vegetable tanned saddle leather), both locally sourced, repurposed and upcycled in Patagonia. Each pair features a unique QR that links to specific details of the group of artisan who crafted your pair and includes an extra leather and wool kit to personalize and/or repair if needed.

Each pair is a textile work, a cultural heritage that means hours of work, dedication and in this case, love. We enable work in places where there are obstacles to employability for women, due to the geographical location of their homes, cultural barriers, and in most cases, school dropout and early maternity. These same women, given their cultural heritage and close relationship with the craft of weaving with a stick (two needles), have unique qualities and conditions in this technique. They are experts in a manual craft, representative and highly valued in countries with developed economies.

The main inspiration for Chilote Shoes was the local social and a material resource available in the Chilean Patagonia. We could not have co-designed this product in a studio in any major city as the discoveries and opportunities identified a direct result of our interaction and relationship with the local culture, communities, and industry.

Until recently the general view of the future of handlooms was gloomy. Though people saw the production of cloth on the handloom in India as a matter of pride in its heritage, they also saw it as an aberration in an industrializing economy. It will inevitably decline, was the general view. However, even today handlooms still produce twelve percent of the country’s cloth, while the share of the mills is only around fourpercent. Ninety-five percent of the world’s handloom fabric comes from India. The handloom industry even today is one of the largest employers in the country, certainly in rural India the largest after agriculture. In the last few years there has been a surge of interest in the handloom, and new ways of looking at it. New initiatives, new support organizations have sprung up, seminars and workshops are being held, hand weaving is finding new constituencies, particularly among the young. These fresh viewpoints are contesting the gloomy picture of decline that in the last century hung like a dark cloud over the handloom industry. Perhaps the prophecies of doom were premature: Today at a time when climate change and the energy crisis are pressing concerns, when mass production is losing its glamour, the handloomcan be seen as an ecological, energy-efficient way of making cloth rather than an anachronistic remnant of pre-industrial manufacture, a sunrise, rather than a sunset, industry. My own experience in the field of handloom weaving is twenty-seven years long. It began when I met the cotton and tassar weavers of south eastern Adilabad district. As I watched them at their looms I realised how important itwas to have the least possible distance between the different stages of cloth making, andhow nature, industry and society could be in harmony if these were close to each other. In Adilabad the yarn for tassar fabric was made in villages near the tassar looms, but cotton yarn for cotton weaving came from far away. Cotton fields were all around but the cotton was taken away to be spun in distant spinning mills. My colleagues and I listened to the stories of our weaver friends and tried to put the different bits together to make a picture. There were weaver families in Bhimaram village who had given up weaving when the import of cotton yarn from England stopped in the Second World War.Until then all the cloth needed by local families had been made here. A few families still wove what people wanted –thick cotton coverings for winter, bedsheets and sarees, but the yarn for all these came from far away. "You have to know the past to understand the present and shape the future" as the saying goes. The weaver families of Adilabadgave us our first glimpse into the past world of local cloth making for local use. Their memories were one part of the larger jigsaw of the history of the Indian cotton textile industry. From history books we learnt how the cloth that ‘clothed the world’ began its journey from the cotton fields to millions of spinning and weaving households, passing through small weekly markets, carried by traders to the big trading posts from where it went East and West all over the ancient world. We began to look at the whole chain of cotton cloth making, starting with the plant. We learnt how local cotton cloth making which had once flourished had now almost disappeared. We learnt how the American variety of cotton had replaced the desito suit the spinning machinery that replaced hand-spinning, andhow that machinery broke the close relations between cotton cultivation and textile production. And we began to understand how these changes had almost destroyed what had been the primary industry of the subcontinent for thousands of years. We wondered: surely there were lessons for the future in the small-scale, low-energy local cotton cloth making of the past? Does the making of cloth on the man-or-woman-worked loom have a place in India’s future, not just as a reminder of our glorious tradition, but as the anchor of a dispersed, decentralized, people-owned industrializationthat bypasses the need for fossil-fuelled electric power?A model of industrialization that would capitalize on ‘Indianness’, the mix of characteristics and circumstances that are unique to India? As for example Japan capitalized on its heritage skill of miniaturization? Isn’t the wooden hand-loom the quintessential expression of the Indian genius for incorporating flexibility and diversity in large-scale manufacture? Today, in a world where the engines of growth of high-energy industry are sputtering to an end, the handloom as part of an alternative mode of industrialization looks like a serious possibility. People seem to think so. The handloom industry is finding vigorous support among civil society. People have been roused to activism to stave off anti-handloom measures, providing a voice for the industry which otherwise lacks the means to counter propaganda by the powerful lobbies of the textile mill and powerloom sectors.A recent example of the new activism was the campaign in April of this year to convince the Government of India not to repeal the Handloom Reservation Act of 1985. This is how it began: A post on Malkha’s Facebook page on April 7 alerted people to an effort by powerloom interests to invade the space reserved for handwoven products, through repeal of the Handloom Reservation Act. “This Act” the post said, “ is the only protection handlooms have against their designs being unethically copied by powerlooms and sold as handlooms! Request all handloom supporters to raise their voices”. The post was rapidly shared on 60 other Facebook pages.Dastkar put up apetition on change.org ‘Save Handlooms - Don't Repeal the Handloom Reservation Act!’ asking for signatures and in a matter of days 17,449 people signed. Responses such as these to the petition came from all over the country and from Holland, Estonia, Germany & the UK:

“Each weave has a cultural tradition and a story, each linking us to our social and cultural roots. If we remove the protection and incentives for handloom weavers to continue weaving their traditional products and saris, we would suddenly be bereft of both our past and our future”.

“India's traditional textiles are a national treasure and one of the reasons why I always want to return to India”.

“Don't repeal this act, that allows India to produce incredible textile works of art. As a nation you should be proud of the skill of your weavers and should protect and promote them and their work”.

“I'm signing this because the handlooms textiles make India unique in the world, and they are one of the main reasons why I have taken group after group of foreign tourists to your country since 1997. It is an irreplaceable part of your culture”.

BJP Member of Parliament KirronKher made a passionate intervention in Parliament on behalf of handlooms, echoed by a letter to the Prime Minister on Malkha’s Facebook page:

“Dear Prime Minister, Minister,Textiles and Secretary, Textiles, Government of India:

We, handloom supporters, handloom wearers, believers in a bright future for handlooms, weavers of handloom fabrics, and the sizers, winders, warpers and others who depend on handlooms, await a statement from you that you will NOT change the Handloom Reservation Act. About 15,000 - yes fifteen thousand - of us have signed a petition online for this, and more are signing every day. Ms KirronKher has raised the issue in Parliament.

Public opinion is clearly in support of handlooms.Yet there is no formal assurance from you that you are not planning to take away this protection from the Handloom Industry of India. If big corporate industries have the right to protection of their brands, why not handlooms?

Please make a statement urgently: are you for or against the handloom industry?”

Well, there was no response from the Prime Minister or the Minister for Textiles, but on the sixth of May the Press Information Bureau issued a statement on behalf of the Ministry with the heading “No change in items Reserved for Production by Handlooms”. Relief and satisfaction was shared on social media and in comments on the change.org petition: “This is a vote to protect culturally important and environmentally friendly methods of production from being hijacked by big business for big profits. Glad to hear the bill will not be repealed for now - keep fighting!” This was only the latest battle in a long and continuing war for the rights of the hand weaving industry. Throughout the twentieth century,and in the opening years of the twenty-first,handlooms have come under attack by mills and powerlooms. Wealthy mill-owners openly campaign against it and powerlooms cannibalise handloom markets by faking handloom products. In the later years of the century anti-handloom policies were been enacted by the State, particularly the NationalTextile Policy of 1985. Hearsay has it that this policy was written at the behest of a powerful business house, whose interests in synthetic yarn have long clashed with the interests of the handloom. The policy was fiercely criticised. Lakshmi Chand Jain called it ‘perverse’ and accused it of sounding the death-knell of handlooms. K Srinivasulu, reviewing the policy in 1996 in the Economic and Political Weeklylambasted it. But the anti-handloom trend of State policy continued in the new Textile Policy of 2000. As Asha Krishnakumar wrote in Frontline magazine in 2001 “The latest Textile Policy has its roots in the 1985 exercise which was a clear departure from the policy followed since Independence, which recognised the employment potential of handlooms and provided it adequate safeguards from the mill and powerloom sectors. The 1985 policy made a significant departure from this ...”Asha Krishnakumar is one of the journalists and academics who have pointed out the folly of such short-sighted policy initiatives in articles and papers. However, it seems that such criticism can be, like water off the proverbial duck’s back,easily brushed off by policy makers. Perhaps it is the absence of representation of the handloom industry in Parliament allows anti-handloom policies to be passed. Since the death of PragadaKotaiah, Member of Parliament and firebrand handloom activist, the handloom industry has been without a spokesperson among policy makers, leaving the field open to lobbying by influential interests. ‘Lobbying’ is defined by Wikipedia as ‘ the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in a government, most often legislators’. Lobbying is an expensive activity, where obviously the handloom industry is at a disadvantage. While the handloom community fails in lobbying, even its successful campaigns cannot seem to turn the policy tide in its favour. In 1999, protesting against anti-handloom recommendations of the Sathyam Committee which was set up by Parliament to form the basis of a new Textile policy, a large rally of weavers from Andhra Pradesh,Kerala, Tamil Nadu and U.P.led by the RashtriyaChenethaKarmikaSamakhya (the Weavers Union ofAndhra Pradesh)reached Delhi. In response the Prime Minister of the time, AtalBihari Vajpayee, in a statement in Parliament, assured the weavers that the committee’s recommendations would be rejected. They were not. The Textile Policy of 2000 further eroded the rights of the handloom to a level playing field. The handloom industry’s struggle for its rights and entitlements is one side of the picture, and it’s true that the numbers of looms has declined by almost a third in recent years. On the other side is the undeniable fact that the handloom industry remains today one of the largest employers in the country. There are pockets of thriving handloom activity and new initiatives.Public figures such as Sonia Gandhi and ShabanaAzmi have always appeared in handloom fabrics while a younger generation takes a cue from VidyaBalan and Priyanka Gandhi. These women represent the classic Indian middle class woman, a strong supporter of handloom fabrics. School teachers, college professors, women in corporate offices and in the public sector prefer to wear handloom fabrics. The nature of the market itself has changed with internet, and for busy working women there are a host of websites offering genuine handloom products. Campaigns for handloom have been taken up on Twitter and Facebook. New ideas are sprouting. The Malkha initiative produces cotton yarnspecifically for hand-weaving in small, decentralised spinning mills usingunbaled cotton lint, and is woven into the iconic Malkha fabric. Motivating young persons from weaver backgrounds, The Handloom School in Maheshwaroffers a ‘work-study program ...in design, textile technology, business, and sustainability’. The program enables young weavers to see that they can ’earn a dignified and equitable livelihood’ at their looms.RtaKapurChisti runs well-attended classes for young women in how to wear handloom sarees. Gunjan Jain and Sanjay Garg have brought a contemporary design sensibility into traditional handloom fabrics. A new alliance keeps the looms working; markets and civil society are voting for the handloom.Handloom support organizations and weavers’ own collectives have sprung up in the last twenty years such as Desi and Charaka in Karnataka, Malkha, Dastkar Andhra, Kargha and Chitrika in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, Vriksh in Odisha, Womenweave in Madhya Pradesh, Khamir in Kachch, UrmulMarusthaliBunkar Vikas Samitiin Rajasthan. These new entities have rejuvenated earlier weaver cooperatives or made new ones. They’ve bridged the gap between production and market, setting up attractive shops and providing research, design, promotion and training for handloom producers. Together with weavers themselves and with concerned people they have joined up to form active movements in support of the loom. Students, people associated with the ‘green’ movement, academics and ordinary Indians from all walks of life are looking for informationon the history and present situation of the industry. Friends of Handloom and Handloom Now have recently held seminars and workshops which have been surprisingly well attended. The sound of the shuttle racing from side to side on the wooden loom can still be heard all over the country. “There is nothing more exhilarating for a fabric-lover to enter a village for the first time and hear the vibrant sound of looms clicking away into the 21st century”, wrote Katherine Joseph in 2010. That sound bridges the past and present of the handloom industry and signals its relevance to the future. It was the clatter of the looms ofAdilabadthat started the trend of thought that led eventually to decentralised cotton yarn making specifically for the handloom, the first time it’s ever been done. Malkha fabric is the result, woven on what is possibly the most efficient cloth making technology ever invented: the traditional handloom. First published in the Financial Chronicle, December 2015.

Art in handicraft has been regarded as timeless and dateless. Clay and terracotta figures have been existing continuously from pre-historic times. There have been an implicit continuity in the traditional knowledge and technology of making artefacts of clay by adding several materials and if required, firing the artefacts thus made. The fired clay was called burnt clay or terracotta. Clay as a base material for hand crafted item has been used all over India for several types of finished products. There has been a variety of materials added to the clay, techniques and equipments for making several forms and decorating these forms across the length and breadth of the country. The paper discusses the variety of the clay components, shaping and firing techniques used to create variety of forms.

Decoration on the clay and terracotta objects is limited to adding pigment motifs, getting textural effects at the time of firing or making appliquéd motifs with clay itself. In unique instances, the clay core becomes the primary source for the decorations to be obtained on the metallic object. The core clay is decorated with threads or sheets of wax or resin. These take impression on the upper layer of clay mixed with rice husk. The molten metal takes the design of the wax or resin on middle layer of clay. The remains of terracotta vessels, sculptures, beads, blocks, seals and tools found in every section of Indian history from Indus Valley Civilization, i.e. 3500 BC to the beginning of twentieth century are similar to those used today by the craftsperson as the living practice. Therefore there is continuity in the knowledge of materials, the techniques used to shape various forms. The paper is an attempt to bring this traditional knowledge with a contemporary variation into a sequence. Clay and terracotta was extensively used in the Harrappa times for making the seals, sealings, figurines, toys, dices for the board games. Archaeologists on discovery of more than 3000 seals, throughout the Indus Empire particularly in the industrial and commercial centres like Mohanjodaro, Harappa, Lothal, Chanhudaro and Kalibangan have opined that the seals were used for sealing the outgoing cargo in the warehouse of the major port of Indus empire. There is symmetry of scenes engraved on these seals. Minute muscular details, moods of the animals, both domesticated and wild speak of the skill of the art of engraving of the seal engravers. The realistic rendering of bull, goat, elephant, tiger. Rhinoceros, water buffalo, etc. also speaks of the familiarity of the people of these times with such animals. It is opined by the archaeologists that the label of wet clay covering packages containing: various materials for export were impressed with the seals for authentication of the content. The wet clay, on the margin of the seal impressions was further pressed with fingers. The manufacture of seal seems to have disappeared in the late Harappan times perhaps because of the decline in long distance trade from these ports. Other significant account of clay materials has been found in the Harappan cemeteries, where a large number of burials have been excavated including the pot burial (Fig. 11). A large number of clay pots and items of everyday use were kept along with body. These distinctly speak of the abundant use of clay materials in every day human life. Female figurines of clay popularly called mother goddesses of the Indus Valley are crudely modelled female forms adorned with necklace over the prominent breast, wearing a loin cloth and a girdle. Apart from these human figurines, clay and terracotta articles found in Indus Valley include several animals such as bull, monkey, buffalo, dog, horse, rhinoceros, ram, etc. Several wild animals and toy carts are also excavated.

A very particular excavation mentions the dice use for play games similar to chess along with the chess men produced in terracotta. The dice discovered at Lothal has markings 1 opposite 2, 3 opposite 4, and 5 opposite 6. Game boards of terracotta and bricks have been found at Lothal, Harappa and Mohanjodaro. Terracotta animal and human figures with limbs that could be manipulated with stings are suggestive of puppets. Terracotta masks were also found in Mohanjodaro. The cultures excavated and nomenclature as Indus Valley civilization stretch from Mohanjodaro in Sind to Ropar in Punjab to Lothal in Gujarat and Banawali in Haryana. Dholavira: a Harappan City, Gujarat, district Kachchh, currently a world heritage site depicts a series of mounds, located between two rain-water channels, viz. the Manhar and the Mansar, is about one Km Northwest of the village of Dholavira and covers an area of more than 100 ha. The remains consist of two parts, i.e. the fortified city and the cemetery. In its heyday, the city was a multi-divisional settlement consisting of a citadel (castle and bailey), a middle town, a lower town, a large stadium, a small stadium and a series of reservoirs surrounding them. All these were set within an outer fortification designed like a parallelogram. Dholavira site is one among the 5 largest Harappan cities in the subcontinent; Dholavira has yielded many firsts in respect of Indus civilization. Fourteen field seasons of excavation through an enormous deposit caused by the successive settlements at the site for over 1,500 yrs during all through the 3rd millennium and up to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC have revealed 7 significant cultural stages documenting the rise and fall of the Indus civilization in addition to bringing to light a major, a model city, which is remarkable for its exquisite planning, monumental structures, aesthetic architecture, amazing water harvesting system and a variety in funerary architecture. The excavations at this particular site reveal the clay and terracotta technology, the people were familiar over the continuous period. For the first time, three square steatite seals much smaller and lighter and furnished with figures but without inscriptions appeared in addition to a potsherd bearing Indus signs, and also a cubical weight. Besides, a good number of classical Harappan pottery forms with painted motifs made their debut. Banawali, the site in Haryana has also given large excavated material in clay and terracotta. Banawali is located 15 km Norhwest of Fatehabad, on the left bank of dried up bed of the Saraswati. The excavation at Banawali reveals three Periods. Period I (c. 2500-2300 BC) is indicated by the existence of well-planned houses made of kiln-burnt and moulded brick. In technique, decoration and general appearance the pottery may be divided into two broad groups: one is thin and light in fabric with pink or buff’ colour and is elaborately painted in black. White pigment has been used to give prominence to the principal motifs. The shapes comprise the vase and jar. The second group represents a finer variety of pottery marked by a superior texture and surface treatment. It is probably made on fast wheel and is comparable with the Harappa ceramics in fineness. The pottery assemblage is quite similar to the assemblage of Kalibangan I. The main finds comprise beads of gold, semiprecious stones, terracotta and steatite and bangles made of clay, shell, and faience. In Period II (c. 2300-1700 BC), a well-planned fortified township laid in the typical Harappa chess-board pattern was established. The red ware is typically of Harappa and has a sophisticated finish. The shapes comprise the dish-on-stand, fruit-stand, S-shaped jar, storage or refuse jar, perforated jar, vase, cooking handis, beaker, basin, goblet, chalice cup, handled cup, etc. They are painted with animal and floral designs. Period III (c. 1700-1500/1450 BC) represents the BARA ware culture, the remains of which are traceable in the pits cut into the Harappa levels of the mound. The ceramics of Periods II and Ill are different form each other in respect of fabric, slip, potting technique and painting, though certain Harappa traditions continue in pottery, terracotta nodules and cakes. The excavation makes it clear that the Harappa brought with them their mature and well-developed traditions and lived side by side with the earlier residents. The Bara ware may be termed as post-Harappa or at best a late contemporary of the Harappa. Materials Clay is one of the cheapest materials, which requires very few unsophisticated tools and easy to handle but the imaginative skills of the artisans transform this simple material into an aesthetic art. Any clay is not used as found in nature. There are different varieties of clay obtained from river bed and fallow land. These are different in their texture colour and composition. The clay is first cleaned by removing pebbles, fine gravels, roots and other impedimental materials. This requires fine sieving of the clay (Figs 1-3). Apart from mixing two or more variety of the clay is also improved by adding tempers such as ash, sand and cattle dung. The temper counteracts excessive shrinkage, warping or splitting which may occur in sun drying or firing. Donkey dung is mixed in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the black cotton soil area. Ash or sand is mixed in the desert area of Rajasthan. The proportion of temper mixed in clay varies according to the requirement of a particular surface area. Two different proportions of clay and sand are among the types used for preparation of a single pot and cooking pot. This practice is prevalent in Rajasthan and Kashmir, where a mixture of 50% sand and clay is used for the bottom of the pot and 10% sand, 90% clay for the upper body. Kneading by hands and feet is important process to increase the elasticity of the clay. Before preparing the dough, the powered clay and the temper are finally mixed. Water is added to this mixture to prepare dough. Dough is needed by hands and feet (Figs 4-7). Clay is repeatedly cut with knife in the fine vertical slices to ensure removal of any foreign material. This needed repeated rotary movement of palm and feet. The content of the clay used for making artefacts varies from region to region. The clay found in Manipur of Northeast India is hard like stone, which is finally powdered and mixed with another variety of clay.

Techniques The techniques primarily used to create forms are

Hand moulding, and
Wheel throwing

Hand moulding Hand is the most important tool for creating any forms from clay. Four important processes of hand mouldings are pressing, moulding, strip method and smearing. Smearing is processes, where clay mixed with cattle dung is used to reconsolidate the walls, floors, storage containers, hearth, etc. in a traditional Indian home. The process, known as lipaee was essential to the every day living in an Indian village. Even today, many of the rural houses smear different courtyards of their houses and decorate with drawings as part of the every day cleaning activity. Pressing Lump of clay is pressed in hand between the thumbs and fingers to create forms. This technique has been followed by Handakia potter of Almora, Hatere potters of Bundelkhand (Figs 15, 16), Bhonid potters of Maharashtra, Molela potters of Rajasthan and Manipur and women potters of Goalpara of Assam.

Hand moulding Plaster of Paris or red flay biscuit mould is generally the base support, on which a pump of clay rolled into a sheet is placed. This sheet is spread by pressing with hands on the mould to take the desired shape of the mould. Several containers, such as dalias and surahis are hand moulded in Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, etc. The clay sheet, which takes the shape of the mould is sun dried and removed from the mould; designs which required are appliqu0d on the body. Strip method The base is prepared by flattening a rolled sheet and moulding its edges inwards to create a bowl like shape. The height of the object is raised by sticking separate strips of clay one after other and pressed with hand to unite. The strip may be flat or rolled. This technique is also called coil pottery. Revolving base or Lumnette This technique is uniquely popular in North Eastern India, particularly Gwalpara and Manipur (Fig. 8). The craftswomen of Gwalpara (Assam) use bowl as the mould. The clay lump is rolled into a cylinder and press down. This spread out into a circular slab, is split into the bowl shaped mould. This entire structure is continuously turned by the freehand like a wheel throughout the shaping of the object. Outer surface of clay slab expands slightly while remaining in direct contact with the bowl giving it an interesting texture. The pot is sun dried and then another layer of clay is added. Very large pots are also made by this technique using hemispherical on the ground as mould. The pots are upturned after making and left in a flat pan to sun dry. <table border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="3"

In India, the art of toy making is practised in almost every region of the country. What varies is the type of toy crafted and the material used. Apart from being used for play, toys are also made specially for ritual and auspicious occasions. Clay toys from Lucknow flourished in the past under royal and aristocratic patronage; today, however, this craft has only a limited market. What is unusual about these toys is that they are made and sold as sets based on a theme: for instance, there are sets on the leaders of India, on the brides of India, a set of bhangra dancers, a band of musicians, and several other varied and interesting themes.

Materials and Process Special black clay is used for making these toys. This clay is procured from the mittivalas/mud collectors who source it from a special area of Lucknow called the Kala Pahad (black mountain).The most difficult part of this process is the making of moulds for the different toys. The moulds are either of clay or of Plaster of Paris and are crafted by the artisans themselves or by specialists in clay modelling. The making of a mould is an expensive and time-consuming process requiring detailed and painstaking work; these toys are in miniature form and getting the right expression, the correct stance and individual detailing requires careful attention and immense skill. Most artisans pay great attention to the making of the mould since this is the basis of their craft. Once the moulds are baked, they usually last a lifetime. Clay moulds are made one size larger than the desired size of the toy. According to Mahesh Kumar, a Lucknow clay toy artisan, 'for day-to-day use, and to reduce costs, most artisans make Plaster of Paris moulds from the original clay mould, thereby preserving the clay mould'.

Plaster of Paris moulds do not need to be one size larger as is the case with clay ones. However, they lose their fineness after some time and have to be replaced. Also, if the clay is too wet, the figure does not separate cleanly from the Plaster of Paris mould(s). Such problems do not arise with clay moulds. Once the Plaster of Paris mould is ready, a small piece of clay - about one inch in diameter and two inches in length - is rolled and placed in the moulds. This is firmly pressed and a figure is formed. The figure is only of the upper part of the body; the limbs are attached separately. A flat, scalpel like instrument called kalam (like a pen) is used to give the final touches to the body and to the costume: like the folds of a dhoti, loincloth or turban.

The limbs of the figure are modelled by hand and not part of the mould. Before making the arms and legs, the artisan thoroughly washes his hands to ensure a smooth finish. Small pieces of clay are deftly crafted to form the arms suitable to the figure being crafted. For example, in the Gandhiji figure, one arm is bent to hold the stick. The arms are attached by simply wetting the clay and fusing the limb(s) to the main body. The legs are made in the same way but have a wire running through their centre. One end of this wire helps to fix the legs to the body and the other end fits into a stand on which the figure rests. This wire is not affected during firing. The mould for the stand is separate. It is crafted following the same technique as that used for the main figure. The toys are then left to dry in the sun for two days.

Most toy makers bake the clay toys themselves. The kilns used are of two types, depending on their size. The choice of kiln depends on the number of toys to be fired. Larger kilns can bake about 1,000 -1,200 pieces at a time. Wood is used as the fuel in the large kiln, and the firing time is about three hours. The temperature and the height of the flames are closely monitored during firing to ensure that all the toys are baked evenly, especially those placed at higher levels in the kiln. 'Mistakes do occur,' is the candid response of Mahesh Kumar, an artisan interviewed by us, and in the absence of any temperature gauges the heat and the temperature of the kiln is measured by the height reached by the flames. The smaller kiln uses cowdung cakes as fuel. These are used to cover the toys on all the sides except the centre, which is left free for the fire. After baking, all the toy and figures are painted a skin colour. The eyes are painted first, after which other features are painted - either white like Gandhiji's stick or black for the hair - and then the stand for the figure(s) is completed. The lips are coloured red and the costumes with complete details are painted on last. The brushes and paints used are the ones commonly available in the market. The colours are however mixed with dhoo ki gond, a locally made glue, before being used.

Products The toy sets include series on the sadhus of India, the people of India, musicians of India, national leaders of the freedom struggles and brides of India, among others. Vegetables, fruits and musical instruments for decorative purposes are also being fashioned out of clay. Most of these items are retailed through hotel shops, government emporiums or exhibitions.This is a craft whose traditions are lost in antiquity but like a number of other crafts its market is dwindling with fewer people appreciating the work and purchasing the products.

End Notes

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4