Eternal India Encyclopedia

HANDICRAFTS

Eternal India encyclopedia

Embroidery is done with white cotton on a fine white muslin base. Chikan uses the running stitch, back stitch, satin stitch, stem stitch, herring bone stitch and button hole stitch, together with several knotted stitches resulting in a raised surface. One speciality of chikan is th e jali in which a net effect is produced by making holes in the fabric and tightening the ends to give the appearance of a net. Shadow work in chikan is particularly delicate. Many fine stitches go into the wrong side of the material which is so fine and transparent that the design shows on the right side as a delicate shadow, white on white. Noorjahan, the Mughal queen, is believed to have introduced chikan embroidery to Lucknow. Bengal Kantha: "Patched Cloth" Kantha embroidery by the women of Bengal makes imaginative use of discarded sarees and dhotis. Rags are sewn in the base with simple running stitches which flow in differ- ent directions to form motifs. ZARI Long before the East India Company started its operations in India in the 17th century zari (gold thread) and zari goods were being exported to China, Arabia, Tur- key, Egypt, Holland, France and England. Traders from these countries had their warehouses near Surat and traded in zari brocades, zari scarves, dress material, belts and shoes. Today zari is used to embroider sarees, evening bags, footwear and belts and brocades. Gold and silver wire is used in zari work as a special weft twisted along with silk. The brocades and saris for which Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh is so renowned are closely-woven silk fabrics with the designs worked out in gold and silver. Surat is the biggest zari thread-making centre in the country followed by Varanasi. Varanasi is a big centre for the manufacture of superior quality real zari thread, zari tex- tiles and zari brocades. Imitation zari thread using copper is made in Surat. INDIAN IVORY Through the ages, India has been a land of ivory, nurturing its trade, history, culture and tradition and most important of all, its intricate art and craft. Ivory was one of the precious commodities exported from India as early as the 6th Century B.C. Egyptian inscriptions talk about receiving India’s ivory through the merchants of Abyssinia

plaques are purely Indian in inspiration and they were either imported from India proper or made by craftsmen who had learnt their trade from Indian masters. The figures are outlined with deep-cut lines, and although only lightly modelled, give a wonderful im- pression of depth. Their delicacy and grace are unexcelled in any work of art of ancient India. The art of ivory carving has continued down to the present day both in India and Ceylon, but it has never again produced works as lovely as these." (The Wonder that was India — by A.L. Basham.) Over the centuries, ivory carving in India has assumed many forms and shapes. Commencing from utilitarian articles like rods and points (Lothal 2300 to 1750 B.C.), seals and impressions (Ruper c.600-200 B.C.), hairpins, combs, ear-cleaner (comb- headed hair pin-Taxila-Kusana-1st century A.D.), ear, hand, foot ornaments just to cite a few, the art acquired a versatility to pro- duce some of the most exquisite opulence in human figures, gods and goddesses. Each region of India developed a speciality of its own in ivory carving, catering to popular demand and local tradition. Ivory work in Delhi shows the influence of the Mughal princes under whom the art flourished. Flo- ral motifs and intricate geometrical patterns worked in fine jali lattice-work are charac- teristic of the artists. The craftsman also produces the elephants, complete with a howdah and chains of ivory and jewellery such as beaded necklaces where each bead is worked in the form of a rose bud or chry- santhemum with the leaves in the back- ground carved in an intricate jali. Carved ivory bangles, ear-studs, paper knives, ivory cuff links and buttons are some of the other items etc., Listed below are only a few objects d’art treasured in museums in India and abroad. * Ivory mirror handle excavated from the ruins of Pompeii (Italy) — Malwa — 1st B.C. * Plaque showing Yaksha carrying Pur- naghata — Begram, Kabul — 1st Cen- tury A.D. * The temptation of Buddha, Karkota, 7th Century A.D. * Avalokiteswara — Kashmir — 8th Cen- tury A.D. * Bodhisattva in a wooden frame— Ka- shmir — 8th Century A.D. • * King riding an elephant — 9 A.D. — In the collection of Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, France — With an Aihole

and Somalia in the 2nd century A.D. Greek, Latin, Arabian and Chinese litera- ture contain refer- ences indicating ivory trade with India. Our literature and our epics too bespeak volumes about the in- tricate beauty of ivory objects. While in the Ramayana, Hanuman describes the Royal Chamber of Ravana with its ivory bed- stead and about ivory planquins, chariots,

flywhisks etc., in the Mahabharata as in the Rig Veda, there are ample references about the use of ivory in various forms. The Arthashastra of Kautilya indicates the de- mand for ivory by providing information about ivory collection and its price. Buddhist literature attests to the setting up of an ivory bazaar in Varanasi. The Silappa- dikaram eulogises the rich tradition of ivory carving and stipulates that tusks be brought as gifts to the king. In the Kamasutra, Vatsayana lists earrings made of ivory among the 64 decorative arts. The art of ivory carving finds pride of place in the narratives of foreign travellers like Numiz, Paes etc. who had paid visits to the court of the Vijayanagara empire. Paes describes a wealthy trader’s house : “In this house there is a room with pillars of carved stone. This room is all of ivory as well as the chamber and the walls, from top to bottom and the pillars of the cross timbers at the top had roses and flowers of lotuses all of ivory and all well executed so that there could not be better - it is so rich and beautiful that you would hardly find any- where another such. (A Forgotten Empire by Robert Sewell). “Though little survives, much beautiful work was done in ivory. Of surviving ivory work the most interesting if not the most beautiful specimen is a small statuette of a goddess, found at Herculaneum (Greece) and no doubt imported from India with spices and fine textiles via Egypt. More beautiful are the ivory plaques, originally fastened to the lids and sides of furniture and boxes found at the Kusana site of Be- gram, some fifty miles west of Kabul. Though discovered in the region most open to Western influence, the designs of these