Eternal India Encyclopedia

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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 the 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
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
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