INDIAN CHINTZ-CRAFT IDENTIFICATION AS AN EXQUISITE HAND-PAINTED TRADITIONAL TEXTILE

Abstract

The present social and environmental contexts are very importantly governed by the interplay of crafts, fashion, and sustainability. Their efficient combination contributes to employment generation and the creation of new economic avenues for the country. This is the key focus issue that research studies should attempt to achieve. There is a need to understand “craft”, with a perspective that exerts strength, glory, social and cultural connections. In present times, “Kalamkari” is an extremely popular Indian traditional textile craft in which, patterns are drawn with bamboo sticks called “kalam” on cotton fabric. This is a derivative of patterning the fabric with resist and mordant painting and then natural dyeing to pattern them. In relation to this painting tradition, the word “Chintz,” is a popular terminology from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the world of textiles. The term according to the researcher is referred to a textile, as well as a technique, involving the mordant and resist painting with natural dyes on cotton fabrics only. This textile, with its awestruck designs, revolutionized global trade and made India popular globally. During that period, the Chintz were exported to various countries like Japan, Thailand, Africa, and most importantly to European countries. The Indian Chintz export to European countries reached immense popularity, revolutionizing the “Chintz Craze” with drastically increased demand. During the industrial revolution in Europe, these beautiful hand-crafted textiles created a threat to the European textile Industry. Hence the chintz export from India was banned, which led to the downfall in their demand and the gradual extinction of these textiles along with the meticulously perfected techniques involved in making them. In 1958, Kamala Devi Chattopadhyay tried to revive this technique (mordant and resist painting with a bamboo pen) and termed it “Kalamkari”. This led to the evolution of two different forms related to this ancient craft based on the place it was revived, namely Kalamkari from Sri-Kalahasti and Machilipatnam. This paper is an attempt to retrieve the rich history of the Indian Chintz, with its main characteristic features, technique, and find differences between the present styles with the ancient traditional forms of mordant and resist painting technique with natural dyes. The researcher has made an earnest effort in establishing and retrieving the lost identity of this textile. It was also observed that there is a difference between the traditional style and revived forms (Sri-kalahasti and Machilipatnam) styles with respect to the materials, motifs, colors, and workmanship, as observed from painted pieces that were studied.