Kalamkari is the process
of hand-painting or block-printing on fabric. The two major centres of
kalamkari art are Sri kalahasti and Machilipatnam in the state of Andhra
Pradesh, India. Natural dyes are used in this painting. Kalamkari printing is
beautiful and done on various fabrics like cotton, silk, georgette, chiffon,
crape and supernet. Trees, creepers, flowers, leaf and birds are some of the
popular motifs. Kalamkari patch work over other fabrics is fashion and in
demand.Fancy kalamkari printing on south pure cotton sari is a refreshing
attire of whole day. Appealing kalamkari hand painted on chanderi silk saree is
eye-catching. And are apt to wedding, bridal occasions, corporate office,
traditional festivals like sankranthi, diwali, dussehra, pongal. Designerembroidered sico sarees of kalamkari patch border with an elegant pallu are a
wonderful party wear.
The Machilipatnam Kalamkari craft made at Pedana near by Machilipatnam in Krishna
district, Andhra
Pradesh, evolved with patronage of the Mughalsand
the Golconda
sultanate. There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in
India - one, the Srikalahasti style and the other,
the Machilipatnam style of art. The
Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, wherein the "kalam" or pen is used
for free hand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely
hand worked. This style flowered around temples and their patronage and so had
an almost religious identity - scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like, depicted deities
and scenes taken from the great Hindu epics - Ramayana.
Mahabarata, Puranas and the mythological classics. This
style owes its present status to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay who popularised
the art as the first Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari and it involves
seventeen painstaking steps.The beginnings of Kalamkari
probably rest in South India and grew out of the need to illustrate some of the
temple rituals. The temples commissioned large religious themed cloths.
It is also true that with the advent
of carbon dating, we are continually finding evidence of very old Indiantextiles excavated in places like Fostat in Egypt, and Mohenjodaro and Harappa
now in Pakistan. A number of heirloom cloths, which are quite old, have been
discovered in Indonesia. A good number of these cloths came from the west of
India, from Gujarat and Surat. Many of the cloths were block printed, some were
painted cloths and there is also some evidence of Kalamkari as we know it.
Sri
Kalahasti is near the temple town of Tirupathi. It is some 80 miles north of
Chennai (Madras). I bought this cloth there when I visited the home of the
artist Sri Gurrappa Chetty in 1994. He is the father of another well known
Kalamkari artist Sri Niranjan and the entire family is engaged one way or
another in this work. I remember being interested in the fact that their
working conditions were quite simple but suited their needs. And in fact a lot
of it is done on the floor. In terms of this piece I was particularly drawn to
was because of the colors and the wonderful depictions of elephants.
In the Sri Kalahasti style of
Kalamkari they use 2 different Kalams(Pens). One has a pointed sharp tip and is
used for the outlines and the other is round and flat and is used for filling
in the colors. Halfway up the kalam there is a dye reservoir made of hair or
sometimes felt that holds the dye materials. Some of the other pieces he had
for sale at that time were those showing scenes from the life of Christ and
others from the life of Buddha. All of his pieces were done freehand in a very
pleasing and flowing style. Many of the writers on this subject feel that this
is the true form of Kalamkari. But, as with many other textile questions,
others disagree.
UnnatiSilks, has trendy designs, attractive patterns, in pleasing colours and
combinations in its wide collection of kalamkari work salwar suits and Sarees, at very reasonable
prices.
Unnati
is one of the largest Indian ethnic online websites with over 300 varieties of
traditional sarees and salwar kameez.Dispatch is within 24 hours of order. Free
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almost all countries across the world.
Contact:
UNNATI
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M.G.Road, Hyderabad-500003.AP,India. 040-64555251 or 97000 57744.
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