 A Living Portrait of India |
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| Textiles |
| India
had possessed early the knowledge of cotton and fast dyestuff. Dyed and
patterned cotton cloth from India has been exported from pre-Roman times.
Karnataka is famous for dyeing and weaving of silk, Rajasthan for the dyeing of cotton with indigo and alazarin. Gujarat and Rajasthan have especially developed bandhni work (tying-and-dying of pinprick patterns on woollen shawls and fine cotton cloth). Block-printing with the help of wooden blocks and vegetable dyes is another speciality of Sanganer, Bagru, Jodhpur, Kota and other centres in Rajasthan. Gujarat and Orissa are renowned for ikat work (a complex process where, before the cloth is woven, the warp or weft threads, or both, are bundled and bound with bands resisting dye-stuffs, and then repeatedly dyed to create bands of patterns). In Gujarat there used to be a thriving centre of silk patola saris of double ikat work in Ahmedabad, Surat, Patan etc. Sambalpur and Cuttack in Orissa, Pochampalli, Chirala and Puttapaka in Andhra Pradesh are still flourishing centres of ikat textiles. West Bengal has the tradition of exquisitely spun and woven jamdani, baluchari, dhanekhali and shantipuri saris. From Kutch and Kathiawar in Gujarat come embroidery for doorway friezes, bags and garments. From Mathura and Vrindaban in Uttar Pradesh come metal-thread work. North Eastern hill tribes turn out colourful shawls of patterns that
are distintively their own. Kashmir provides the world with finely
embroidered soft woolen shawls and carpets with wonderful designs, both
using the paisley motif as a kind of trademark. |
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