Rogan painting is an art of cloth printing practiced in Gujarat, Peshawar and Sindh. In this craft, paint made from boiled castor oil or linseed oil and vegetable dyes is laid down on fabric using a stylus.
Rogan painting is an art of cloth printing practiced in Gujarat, Peshawar and Sindh. In this craft, paint made from boiled castor oil or linseed oil and vegetable dyes is laid down on fabric using a stylus.
The process of applying this oil based paint to fabric began among the Khatris community in Gujarat. [1] Although the name rogan (and some of the traditional designs) suggests an origin in Indian culture, there are no reliable historical records to prove this. [2]
Rogan painting was initially practiced in several locations in the Gujarat region. The painted fabric was mostly purchased by women of the Hindu lower castes who wanted to decorate clothing for their weddings. [3] It was therefore a seasonal art, with most of the work taking place during the months when most weddings take place. During the rest of the year, the artisans would switch to other forms of work, such as agriculture.[ citation needed ]
With the rise of cheaper and machine-made textiles in the late 20th century, rogan-painted products became relatively more expensive, and many artists turned to other occupations.[ citation needed ]
In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, several factors came together to bring about a renewed interest in rogan painting, especially painting. First, after the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, when much of the region was devastated, the water and electricity infrastructure was improved, new roads were built, and the number of flights into the region was increased, all of which led to an increase in tourism. [3] Second, local cooperatives and non-profit groups helped local artisans, including roghan artist like Ashish S Kansara [4] to increase their market by selling in urban settings and on-line. Third, many artisans won state and national awards for their craft, thus increasing the prestige of their work. [2] In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the U.S. White House, he gave President Obama two rogan paintings, including a tree of life painted by Abdul Gafur Khatri, a national award winner. [5] Ashish Kansara's family also doing traditional rogan art from Madhapar, Bhuj [6]
Artisans in Gujarat have introduced contemporary products to appeal to tourists, lehengas , wallets, bags, cushion covers, table cloths, wall hanging, pillow covers and Rogan art sarees. The tree of life continues to be a major motif. [7] The number of tourists to the artisans workshop increased steadily in the 2010s to as many as 400 people per day, causing traffic jams in the village. [8] In an attempt to keep up with increased demand of rogan painting, in 2010 the artist Abdulgafur Khatri began to train women for the first time. Previously, it had been feared that women would spread the secrets of the craft when they married out of the family. [7] In 2015, twenty women were working with the Abdulgafur Khatri Padma Shri Award family in Nirona village Kutch Gujarat. [9]
Following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the number of the tourists visiting them dropped significantly and the women working with them were laid off. Only Abdulgafur Khatri family members were left to work on the craft. [10]
Rogan paint [11] is produced by boiling castor oil for about two days and then adding vegetable pigments and a binding agent; the resulting paint is thick and shiny. [12] The cloth that is painted or printed on is usually a dark color, which makes the intense colors stand out.
In rogan printing, the pattern is applied using metal blocks (stylus) with patterns carved into them, whereas in rogan painting, elaborate designs are produced freehand, by trailing thread-like strands of paint off of a stylus. [3] Frequently, half of a design is painted, then the cloth is folded in half, transferring a mirror image to the other half of the fabric. The designs include floral motifs, animals, and local folk art. [2]
Muslin is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It is commonly believed that it gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, however, originally it comes from Dhaki.
The Great Rann of Kutch is a salt marsh in the Thar Desert in the Kutch District of Gujarat, India. It is about 7500 km2 in area and is reputed to be one of the largest salt deserts in the world. This area has been inhabited by the Kutchi people.
Khatri is a caste originating from the Malwa and Majha areas of Punjab region of South Asia that is predominantly found in India, but also in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Khatris claim they are warriors who took to trade. In the Indian subcontinent, they were mostly engaged in mercantile professions such as banking and trade. They were the dominant commercial and financial administration class of late-medieval India. Some in Punjab often belonged to hereditary agriculturalist land-holding lineages, while others were engaged in artisanal occupations such as silk production and weaving.
Kutch district, officially spelled Kachchh, is a district of Gujarat state in western India, with its headquarters (capital) at Bhuj. Covering an area of 45,674 km2, it is the largest district of India. The area of Kutch is larger than the entire area of other Indian states like Haryana (44,212 km2) and Kerala (38,863 km2), as well as the country of Estonia (45,335 km2). The population of Kutch is about 2,092,371. It has 10 talukas, 939 villages and 6 municipalities. The Kutch district is home to the Kutchi people who speak the Kutchi language.
Bhuj is a city and the headquarters of Kutch district in the Indian state of Gujarat.
Bandhani is a type of tie-dye textile decorated by plucking the cloth with the fingernails into many tiny bindings that form a figurative design. Today, most Bandhani making centers are situated in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sindh, Punjab region and in Tamil Nadu where it is known as Sungudi. It is known as chunri in Pakistan. Earliest evidence of Bandhani dates back to Indus Valley civilization where dyeing was done as early as 4000 B.C. The earliest example of the most pervasive type of Bandhani dots can be seen in the 6th century paintings depicting the life of Buddha found on the wall of Cave at Ajanta. Bandhani is also known as Bandhej Saree, Bandhni, Piliya, and Chungidi in Tamil and regional dialects. Other tying techniques include Mothra, Ekdali and Shikari depending on the manner in which the cloth is tied. The final products are known with various names including Khombi, Ghar Chola, Patori and Chandrokhani.
Madhapar is a village located in Kachchh district
Embroidery in India includes dozens of embroidery styles that vary by region and clothing styles. Designs in Indian embroidery are formed on the basis of the texture and the design of the fabric and the stitch. The dot and the alternate dot, the circle, the square, the triangle, and permutations and combinations of these constitute the design.
Ghagra choli is a type of ethnic clothing for women from the Indian Subcontinent, notably in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, as well as in the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh. In Punjab, the lehenga is traditionally worn with a kurti. It is a combination of the gagra or lehenga and the choli (blouse), however in contemporary and modern usage lehenga choli is the more popular and widely accepted term by fashion designers, trend setters, and boutiques in South Asia, since ghagra is synonymous with the half-slip (petticoat) worn as an undergarment below the sari.
The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (NHHM) commonly known as National Crafts Museum in New Delhi is one of the largest crafts museums in India. It is run by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India. The museum is situated on the corner of the Pragati Maidan, facing the Purana Quila complex. In 2015, the Government of India announced that a Hastkala (handicrafts) Academy would be established in the museum premises, converting some galleries into classrooms. Initial renovations destroyed one of the museum's most well-known artifacts, a room of murals painted by Madhubani artist Ganga Devi, leading to widespread criticism. As of 2019, renovations are still ongoing.
Weaving and cloth trading communities of Western India particularly of Gujarat are called Vankar/Wankar/Vaniya. The four major woven fabrics produced by these communities are cotton, silk, khadi and linen. Today majority of these community members are not engaged in their ancestral weaving occupation still some population of these community contribute themselves in traditional handloom weaving of famous Patola of Patan, Kachchh shawl of Bhujodi in Kutch, Gharchola and Crotchet of Jamnagar, Zari of Surat, Mashroo of Patan and Mandvi in Kutch, Bandhani of Jamnagar, Anjar and Bhuj, Motif, Leheria, Dhamakda and Ajrak, Nagri sari, Tangaliya Shawl, Dhurrie, Kediyu, Heer Bharat, Abhala, Phento and art of Gudri. Vankar is described as a caste as well as a community.
Kalamkari is a type of hand-painted cotton textile produced in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari, which involves twenty-three steps.
Tera is a historic village in the Kutch District of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is in Abdasa Taluka, located 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from the taluka headquarters, Naliya, and 84 kilometres (52 mi) from the district headquarters, Bhuj.
The crafts of India are diverse, rich in history, culture and religion. The craft of each state in India reflect the influence of different empires. Throughout centuries, crafts have been embedded as a culture and tradition within rural communities.
Gujarat is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about 1,600 km (990 mi) is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, with an area of 196,024 km2 (75,685 sq mi); and the ninth-most populous state, with a population of 60.4 million. It is a popular tourist destination in the country and was visited by 19.5 million domestic tourists and 210 thousand international tourists in 2020.
Laila Tyabji is an Indian social worker, designer, writer, and craft activist. She is one of the founders of Dastkar, a Delhi-based non governmental organization, working for the revival of traditional crafts in India. She was honored by the Government of India in 2012 with the Indian civilian award of Padma Shri. She is the daughter of late Badruddin Tyabji, ICS, who was a senior Indian civil servant and diplomat.
Bagh print is a traditional Indian handicraft originating in Bagh, Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The process is characterised by hand printed wood block relief prints with naturally sourced pigments and dyes. Bagh print motifs are typically geometric, paisley, or floral compositions design, dyed with vegetable colours of red and black over a white background, and is a popular textile printing product. Its name is derived from the village Bagh located on the banks of the Bagh River.
The Kutch Embroidery is a handicraft and textile signature art tradition of the tribal community of Kutch District in Gujarat, India. This embroidery with its rich designs has made a notable contribution to the Indian embroidery traditions. The embroidery, practiced normally by women is generally done on fabrics of cotton, in the form of a net using cotton or silk threads. In certain patterns, it is also crafted over silk and satin. The types of stitches adopted are “square chain, double buttonhole, pattern darning, running stitch, satin and straight stitches”. The signature effect of the colorful embroidery sparkles when small mirrors called abhla are sewn over the geometrically shaped designs. Depending on the tribal sub groups of Rabari, Garasia Jat, and Mutava involved with this craft work many hand embroidered ethnic styles have evolved. These six styles: Suf, khaarek, paako, Rabari, Garasia Jat, and Mutava.
Abdul Gafur Khatri Master is a rogan artist from Nirona village in Kutch district, Gujarat, India.
Block printing in India holds an important part in the country's rich cultural heritage and artistic traditions. Dating back thousands of years, this special ancient technique of textile decoration involves the meticulous carving of intricate designs onto wooden blocks, which are then dipped in natural dyes and stamped onto fabric to create vibrant patterns and motifs. This was a creative outlet for many.