Vrathapani: Tree of Salvation

Essence of Vrathapani & Concept 

Story telling is the true essence of Vrathapani art today known as Kalamkari, Keeping this in mind we have showcased the "Tree of Life" which is a "Tree of Salvation" actually based on Mundaka Upnishad.

Upnishads are the doctrine of immense research and experience about the truth of life & Universe discovered by Rishis of ancient India.

Concept of Tree of Salvation

In Mundaka Upnishad the concept of "Karma" related with Jeev (Both man and woman) and Brahm (Ishvar/Supreme consciousness) depicted as two birds sitting on the tree of life.

The jeev is depicted as bird enjoying eating sweet fruits is experiencing the Karma. He/she is bound with the good and the bad results of the action done. The Brahm is depicted as bird sitting calm and seeing other bird eating I.e. jeeva eating fruits. Brahm is not attached or bound with the Karm or action. Seeing everything as "Sakshibhav" (Silently witnessing) as a supreme being.

When bird eating fruits understand and feel the pure consciousness while deattached itself with all Karma (Fruits of action) lives in pure bliss. He/she not get affected with the sorrow or happiness in the world just feel the pure bliss better known as "Sat chit anand".

Vrathapani: An ancient Indian Temple Art Becomes Wearable Craft

 Vrathapani: A Craft Jewel of India

A temple tradition of having more than 3000 years old history of narrating history and religious stories through hand drawing and painting on clothes become wall hanging in the temples. These wall hangings were created to guide and generate interest about history for the coming generations through visuals.

Vrathapani literally means writing work becomes Kalamkari when influenced by the Persian King reign, when they usurped the Golkunda region during 14th - 15h century. Kalamkari is a Persian word, kalam means "Pen" and Kari means "Artwork".

This beautiful hand work is a classic example of richness of living Indian handcrafted textile continued by traditional craftsman and artists.

Process

This craft cum art goes through a tedious process of 18 steps to get final product ready. (Detailed process will discuss in another blog.

Motif/Design

Motif or design used in Vrathapani are inspired from epic like "Mahabharat" & :"Ramayan" and other ancient scriptures of India. So various stories inspired from the life of God and Rishis are drawn in this art.

Few of the concepts like "Ardhanarishwar", "Rampattabhishekam", "ShivDarbar", "KrishnLeela" and many others used in wall hanging and Saree pallu mainly. Today motif inspired from nature, birds and rural life also used.

Ram Darbar (Court of king ShriRam)

Floral Design

Past & Present

It's a complete hand drawn and hand painted work. A bamboo pen is used to draw outline and Hand painted using brush with different colors. In past 100% Natural dyed were used today it's a combination of both natural and synthetic dyes are used in the process.

In past mainly incidents related to epic, history and religious texts were drawn. Today various new concepts are used to draw by the artists. In past it was a temple art but today it is converted into wearable craft.

In last but not the least when temple patronized art was on the verge of extinction due to lack of funds with temples unable to support these artists, late Smt. Kamladevi Chatopadhyay came to rescue this temple art. She explored the possibility of this dying temple art to convert it into wearable craft to sustain and reach to the more people. With her efforts we see today Vrathapani is a living textile with few changes in its process and target audience.

Bagh & Bagru Print: Similar process but different traditions

Traditional Process of Syahi -Begar (Alizarin) Printing 

1. Purchase of kora/unbleached fabric

2. Scouring (Cleaning of fabrics locally known as “HariTarana” and soak for 24 hours)

3. Yellow dying in Harda(fruit of myrobalan plant) solutionto make fabric off-white. (Prepare fabric for printing locally called “PeelaKarna” or HardaRangai)

4. Printing (Block printed with alum and iron rust mixed with tamarind seed powder paste which is locally called “Chapai”)

5. Drying of printed fabric locally called “Sukhai”

6. Washing to remove the excess color locally called “Khulai” or "Vichalai"

7. Dyeing or fixing of colors after washing, locally known as “GhanRangai”. In this process printed fabric is dyed with synthetic alizarin to get red color in place of alum printing and black color get fixed. Previously madder roots or al (morinda tinctoria) roots were used in dyeing. 

8. Bleaching of fabric locally known as "Tapai". Previously it was done near river by pouring water on the fabric under sunlight but now a days ready made bleaching powder is used to remove the stains on the dyed fabric.

9. Fabric ready. If required it is again dyed with different synthetic dyes or natural dyes to get different color backgrounds. 

 Difference between Bagh & Bagru Print

Whenever we think of red and black block printing people think about either Bagh or Bagru print but unable to differentiate in between the two. Most of the times craft lovers even consider both are same but in actual both are different and having its own specialty, tradition and beauty. It is very important to keep the differentiation in mind to keep the sanctity of craft tradition.

Apart from similar red and black printing there are few similarities and many simple and technical differences in craft approach, community and motif. Before sharing differences there are few similarities in between two craft are:

Similarities in Bagh & Bagru Print

Printing style	Both are alizarin block printing technique (Combination of red & black printing).
GI	Both the techniques protected under Geographical Indication act.
Process	Almost similar process of washing, printing and dyeing.

These are the similarities in between Bagh and Bagru print then what are differences?

Differences in between Bagh print and Bagru print

Points of difference	Bagh print	Bagru print
Traditional Motif/Pattern	Buta and jaal pattern	Very small buti pattern
State/Location	Madhya Pradesh	Rajasthan
Printing colors (Traditional)	Red, black, Further developed 2 more colors shades by printing black on white background i.e. Ochre & Golden yellow	Red & black. Now a days pigment colors also used in printing.
Background	Generally bleached white background after printing and dyeing. Sometimes over dye with synthetic dyes.	Off white or cream background.
Community	Muslim Khatri	Hindu Namdev Chippa
Washing	All the washing done in flowing river	Washing done in pond
Red color	Vibrant red maroon color comes out with alizarin due to rich copper content in the river.	Orangish red shade is the identity of Bagru.

Present Scenario

Today there is no difference of motif and pattern left due to continuous interaction between the two places. Same block makers are making wooden blocks for the printers of both places. But both the traditions are protected by geographical indication need to be identified and marketed in their respective names. 

Whatever printed in Bagh following the traditional process known as Bagh print and whatever printed in Bagru following the traditional process known as Bagru print. 

Peela karna (Myrobalan dyeing process) in Bagh Village

Black Kachuka (Ferrous sulphate +jaggery mixed with tamarind seed paste)

Red Kachuka (Alum mixed with Tamarind seed powder paste)

Vichalai process in Bagh (Post printing washing) 

 Usman Khati (Bagh Print)

Traditional Bagh Print Saree

 Traditional Small Buti  (Bagru Print)

A printer in Bagru 

Traditional Pharad Print 1st printing is done 

Bagru Print Saree

इस युवा व्यवसायी ने विदेशों में पहुंचाई प्रदेश की नांदना ब्लॉक प्रिंटिंग

Indigo Dye: Organic, Natural synthetic & Complete synthetic

Indigo dye

Indigo is one of the oldest known natural dye used in ancient times to get natural blue extracted from Indigofera tinctoria plant leaves. Indian subcontinent was famous for its cultivation and used in dyeing traditional block printed clothes. It was one of the early known natural dye used in cold form by fermenting the indigo leaves or powder extracted from leaves through as certain process. 

In today's time natural indigo is used by very few dyers in organic form. To prepare a vat or dye pot any plastic drum or underground cemented tank is used. Size of the indigo vat depends upon the use and demand. Traditionally a pitcher is used to prepare a indigo vat. There are 3 variants of Indigo color is available in the market today.

Maheshwari handloom cotton tie dyed with organic natural indigo

Organic Natural Indigo

First we talk about the indigo used to ferment using organic process with natural ingredients. It is very important to use natural ingredients if any dyer is using natural indigo otherwise it is of no use to make a natural indigo vat. The natural ingredients used in preparing organic natural indigo vat are:

1. Water

2. Natural indigo cake or powder

Indigo cake

3. Cassia tora seeds (It attracts bacteria to fasten the fermenting process and extracting the color from indigo powder)

Cassia tora seeds

4. Lime (To make water alkaline and maintaining the ph value of the vat)

Lime in crystal form

5. Jaggery or sugar (A natural source of fructose works as a reducing agent)

Jaggery crystal

By mixing all the natural and organic ingredients in water with indigo powder a natural indigo vat get prepared.

Organic natural indigo vat by EcoFab

Using all these natural and organic ingredients in preparing organic natural indigo vat requires 12 to 24 hours in activation. It also depends upon the weather and use of ingredients in proportion.

Natural Indigo with synthetic process

Natural indigo is prepared using natural indigo with synthetic chemical ingredients. Ingredients used in preparing natural chemical indigo vat are:

1. Natural indigo cake or powder

2. Lime

3. Caustic soda (Heavy chemical with toxic property)

4. Sodium hydrosulphite (Heavy chemical with toxic property)

If some dyer is using synthetic chemical ingredients as a reducing agent in preparing natural indigo then it is of no use because the natural herbal properties of indigo got nullified while using heavy synthetic chemical based reducing agents in preparing the vat. 

Why people use synthetic chemical ingredients in natural indigo?

1. It get activated within 30 minutes of preparing vat

2. Easy to maintain using chemical ingredients

3. Non- availability of cassia tora seeds or unaware about it

4. Sometimes no access to knowledge of preparing organic indigo vat

Synthetic Indigo 

Most of the indigo products available in the market are flooded with synthetic chemical indigo dyed products marketed as natural indigo dyed products. After introduction of synthetic version of indigo in the market every hand block printing cluster is using synthetic (chemical) indigo to dye the fabrics. 

Synthetic indigo vat get prepared using synthetic chemical ingredients only.

Ingredients used in preparing synthetic chemical indigo vat are:

1. Synthetic/chemical Indigo known as German indigo

2. Lime

3. Caustic soda (Heavy chemical with toxic property)

4. Sodium hydrosulphite (Heavy chemical with toxic property)

Why hand block printers or dyers use chemical indigo?

1. Pricing of synthetic chemical indigo is 2 to 3 times cheaper than natural indigo

2. Maintenance of chemical indigo vat is easy

3. Quick demand 

4. Lack of  knowledge about preparing natural organic indigo vat

Now the million dollar question is how to identify the difference in between synthetic chemical & natural indigo?

It is not easy to identify the difference of shades in between organic natural, natural chemical and chemical indigo dyed fabrics initially. It all depends upon the level of honesty and transparency of block printer, dyer or marketing company to mention it.