Bagh Print Introduction
Bagh print is one of the famous hand blocks printing craft of India,
practiced in tribal village “Bagh” situated at the banks of Baghini River. Minerals found in the Baghini river water gave natural color more
vibrancy and increase its fastness. Due to this local specialty Bagh print got
geographical indicated brand status in the year 2009. Some 400 years ago few families of "Khatri Community" migrated from Sindh province in today’s Pakistan to Manavar and then
Bagh. Another theory says few families of "Khatri" community from "Bherogarh" Village near Ujjain migrated to Manavar and then Bagh in search of new market to continue the tradition of hand block printing.
National awardee late Ismail Sulemanji Khatri made Bagh print famous by experimenting with urban outfits and variety of
designs. Before 1960 hand block printers from Bagh were known as alizarin
printers because of use of alizarin in the dyeing process but now it is known as Bagh print to the world.
Traditionally a combination of buta (flower) and buti (small flower) pattern is used in Bagh prints but today EcoFab introduced other design and patterns in this craft. Bagh print is basically a kind of alizarin & direct hand block printing practiced in various parts of India including Rajasthan and Gujarat. In this craft of hand block printing alizarin is used to fix red and black color printed on cotton or silk using wooden blocks.
In Bagh print a combination of only two colors red and black is used
in printing. First alum (Occurs red in place of alum when dyed with alizarin) to
get red and vegetable black is printed. To get
the red color from
alizarin dye alum is printed as a mordant. Black colour is prepared by keeping
corrosion of iron with jaggery solution in a pot for 10-15 days. Now a day
readily available “Kashish” made from iron rust is also used to increase the
fastness of black color. Few decades back natural alizarin were used extracted
from the roots of "Al" tree but today synthetic alizarin replaced the
natural one. In Bagh print except use of synthetic alizarin rest of the process still followed by Bagh printers.
Sometimes khakhi color is used in printing by processing black color with harada powder (Myrobalan) and golden
yellow by processing with caustic soda but these two colors can’t be over dyed with any other dye. Bagh
printing requires 12-15 days to produce a lot of 300 meters fabric.
Bagh Print Designs
"Genda" or Marigold flower design
Traditional "Buta" or flower design
Manjishtha or Madder over-dyed Sarees
Printing Process
Story Behind Naming Bagh Print
Bagh print is one
of the mordant and direct techniques of hand block printing practiced in the
Bagh village of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh. The Bagh printers were
previously known as “Alizarin printers” due to use of alizarin for getting red
color and to fix the printed black color on the fabric. After Late Martand
Singh called alizarin printers of Bagh as “Bagh Printers”, since then Alizarin
printers of Bagh known as “Bagh Printers” to the world.
Other Attractions
Apart from bagh prints you can find other attractions in Bagh are:
1. Maa Bagheshwari Temple
One of the famous Devi (Goddess) temple in the region and a “Siddh Peeth”. Name of the village named after this very age old temple. “Bagheshwari” literally means the Goddess sitting on the tiger.
2. Bagh Caves (Locally known as Pandav Caves)
You can find beautiful cave paintings inside the caves and also in the museum located outside the caves.
3. Dinosaurs Fossils
6.5 Crore years old fossils of Dinosaurs found in this village. One of the biggest fossil
park in the state is under planning. As per the local source till date more
than 6000 fossil in the form of egg found in this area.
For Craft tour or to visit this area you can contact us at
Email: ecofabricindia@gmail.com
Mobile: +91 9993091955
For Bagh Print collection
you can check
