It is interesting to note the role of commerce and the linkages established through trade. Gujarat was the entrepot for the trade in black pepper of which Kerala was the sole producer. It was from Gujarat  that its circulation in West Asia took place. It is possible that it was through this trade that  Patan patola was introduced into Kerala. Not only is this much in evidence in the mural paintings of Mattancherry Palace, Cochin, but it also entered into the category of textiles given as a mark of honour by the monarch, the veeralipattu. There is no tradition of ikat weaving in Kerala and samples were brought in through trade. 

Dr. Pathak: What is the earliest evidence of ikat in India? Is there any connection between ikat and plangi?

Dr. Varadarajan:  As has already been stated the ikat tradition has been associated with the speakers of the Austronesian group. The Benaki Museum, Athens, has Yemeni ikat textiles of the tiraz category the earliest being dated to the 9th century. This technique could have been introduced to Yemen from Gujarat through trade contacts. The Central Asian tradition appears to have been derived from Yemen where it underwent further transformation.  The twin processes of ikat and plangi are based essentially on the reserve technique. The processes found in western India include ikat, plangi and painted and printed textiles. In ikat the yarn is tie died prior to being woven. In plangi the fabric is first woven and then tie-dyed. The two techniques are quite different.

Dr. Pathak: What is the difference between the kalamkari practiced in South India and that in the Western region?

Dr. Varadarajan:  Both are practised on cotton, which is cellulose fibre and thus resistant to dye. The constitution of this fibre is changed by the application of a mordant. The mordant can be introduced either by the block, which is generally true of Gujarat or it may be applied through the pen or qalam associated with South India. Mordant provides reasonable depth and permanence of colour. The major difference between the kalamkari of South India and Gujarat is that, in the case of the first the cotton fabric is fine, while in Gujarat it is generally done on thicker cloth. Usage of each was related to specific processes and techniques. Gujarat has a 12th century reference by Hemachandra to printing being carried out.   

Dr. Pathak: Different techniques of pigment painting and their centres?

Dr. Varadarajan:  Pigment painting is found in the khari painting of Gujarat and some of the pichhwais painted in Nathwada in Rajasthan and later in the Deccan.

Dr. Pathak: How much do we know about our past tradition?

Dr. Varadarajan:  The find of a mordant dyed yarn in a cord to hold a necklace at Moherjodaro indicates the antiquity of mordant dyeing in South Asia. Ochre was one of the few colours, which cotton could absorb without mordant. As has been already stated to achieve the dyeing of cotton fabric in many hues, the fabric had to be initially treated with a mordant, which set up a chemical reaction in the fibre allowing the absorption of the desired hue. Mordant could be uniformly applied over the entire fabric or it could be placed on a restricted area. There was little respect for old textiles in India and fragments from archaeological sites are missing. Some information with regard to weaves can be gathered from impressions of fabric left on terracotta vessels. However, there is much ethnological evidence, which can be used.

Dr. Pathak: Have we found samples of painted textiles among the cloth fragments at Fustat? 

Dr. Varadarajan: There appear to be some samples of Gujarat origin painted textiles at Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt as stated by Ruth Barnes in her work, Indian Block Printed Textiles in Egypt, the Newberry Collection in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, Vol. 1, Oxford, 1997. Quseir al Qadim is synchronous with Fustat, Old Cairo, Egypt and both sites have yielded similar fragments. However, the majority of the India derived cotton fragments found at Fustat is of the printed variety. The Benaki Museum, Athens has a large collection of such textiles. The tradition of printed textiles is also to be found in Mamluke Egypt, Turkey and parts of Eastern Europe, which were under Ottoman rule. The Indian tradition was, however, the most complex.

Dr. Pathak: How were such textiles used in the domestic market?

Dr. Varadarajan: Such textiles could be used for decorative hangings in domestic and monumental structures, as wrapping and covering material (rumals) or in costume.  

Dr. Pathak: Does royalty patronize it or did it serve others as well? 

Dr. Varadarajan: It was patronized by both the privileged as well as by others including the temples in South India. In the absence of written records and paucity of archaeological finds we have to depend more on ethnological evidence.  

Dr. Pathak: What are the differences between the old and contemporary items?

Dr. Varadarajan:  The old pieces are of much finer and more precise workmanship but at the time of their production the pricing mechanism had not been worked out. The price was calculated on the basis of the price of the cloth the cost of items used in its manufacture. The cost of labour and the artistry involved were not paid for. 

Dr. Pathak: What inspired your interest in this subject?

Dr. Varadarajan: I was not satisfied only with trade statistics but was also wanted to investigate the technology involved and the craftsmanship. I found that the ethnological approach was more appropriate for the kind of investigations I wished to make.

Dr. Pathak: Do you have any thoughts on the future of the crafts?

Dr. Varadarajan: I feel that mechanization will increasingly replace work by hand. Therefore this sector has to concentrate on what cannot be done by machines. I see this sector as one of great vibrancy as only the traditional workers can envision new horizons rather than designers or specialists from outside. I strongly believe that a system of education specifically by and for the craftsmen has to be established rather than one based on western models.

These mythical creatures stand around rock style arrangement are having maker-mukha (Crocodile face), looking backwards, while body is very thin, like dog’s body. Centre panel is the most striking one, show gandaberunda, (3) the double headed eagle; the mythical creature, swoops down and grips two miniature elephants, whose only traces are left. We see the underside of bird’s body with its claws clenched and wings tucked in a steep dive, stylized feathers swoop out of the body and fill the space in an outstanding pattern. Apart from these main features, the remaining portion of qanat panels are filled with flowers, birds, butterflies, fruits, leaves, geometric motifs etc. A tent with two panels done in similar composition and style is in Victoria and Albert museum London. (4) Motifs worked in maroon, white, green and blue colours have come out well on the off-white cotton base fabric, which has two joints. The loosely woven cotton lining has three joints and all joints are hand stitched.         These qanats are one of the most important items of furnishing, which were often got mention in literature, (5) in bahi’s (6) and portray in miniature paintings (7).  Ain-i-Akbari, the Akbar period manuscript, written by Abul Fazl devote a chapter on Farrash Khana, department specially dedicated to tents since emperors have used these tents at the time of war or hunting. This department was maintained by Farrash, whose sole occupation was the physical care of the tents. The text mentions about the types of tent, their size, double storied tent, different names of tents, persons involved in construction of tents and many interesting information. (8) 

The imperial palace tents were the encampments of leading nobles, all arranged according to rank and established protocol as mentioned in Bernier’s account also. (9) Several Mughal paintings also portrays the majestic tents; whether the submission of Rana Amar Singh I (10) or Krishna Enthroned. (11) 

Sometimes these tents have been shown very prominently as depict in a Mewar school mid-18th century painting.

It shows a large camp of Maharana Sangram Singh II, where he is receiving Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh of Jaipur. The tent and canopy has been done in double layer; inner layer show floral pattern under an arch on white background, while outer wall is of plain red colour. The entrance gate side has additional tent wall, which is of deep mahroon colour decorated with gold printed/painted floral pattern. Yet another painting show Akbar hunting a qamargah (enclosure), here circular tent show panels with cypress tree and flower vase arranged alternatively under an ach on the red background. (13) Although number of painted, printed or embroidered tent panels are in various collections, but it is difficult to find such artistically created royal complete tentage.

Still there are few worth mentioning complete tent, which are known for their exquisite workmanship. The famous ones are ‘Lal Dera’ of Mehrangarh in Jodhpur museum, ‘Man Singh’ of Jaipur in City Palace museum, Jaipur, Rajasthan and ‘Tipu Sultan tent’ of Mysore in Clive museum, Powis, United Kingdom. (14)

With the good line work, powerful illustration of gandabarunda, lion hunting, stylized tree filled with flowers, leaves, birds, butterflies etc makes this National Museum tent panel an excellent example, whose artists are not known.   

Bibliography

1. Varadrajan, L., ‘South Indian Tradition of Kalamkari, Ahmedabad, National Institute of Design, 1982; Guy, J. Woven Cargoes Indian Textiles in the East”, Thames and Hudson, Singapore, 1998,pp-22-23.
2. Portuguese took pineapple to Brazil and then to India in around 1550.
3. Gandaberunda; the mythical creature is more visible in Deccani iconography and found in stone or bronze sculptures and has state emblem of Karnataka also.
4. Sardar. M. in Sultans of Deccan India 1500-1700 Opulence and Fantasy (ed) Haidar N.N and Sardar M., Metropolitan Museum of art, New York, USA, 2015, p-276, pl-165.
5. Especially in Mughal and sometimes in European’s traveller’s account
6. Day to day accounts of royal holdings.
7. Beach. M.C., Mughal Tents in Orientations, vol-16. No-1, 1985, pp-32-43.
8. Abu L Fazal., Ain-i-Akbari, tr. H. Blochmann, New Delhi, 1965, pp-55-57
9. Bernier, Travels in the Mughal Empire AD 1656-1668, England, 1891, pp-366-67.
10. Beach, op. cite, Fig-1, p-33. It is in Padshah-nama manuscript, Mughal, c.1640, The Royal Library, Windsor.
11. Beach, op. cite, Fig-4, p-36. It is in Razm-nama manuscript, Mughal, c.1582-4.
12. Crill. R, The Fabric of India, London 2015, pl-135, p-130
13. Crill, op.cite, pl-117, p-114. It is folio from Akbarnama Manuscript in Victoria and Albert museum London.
14. Rahul Jain, Textiles and Garments at the Jaipur Court, Delhi, 2016, pp: 126-129

The m.l.r taken was 1:40. The grounded dye particles were dissolved in little water (approximately 50 ml) at room temperature to form a dye solution. This solution was sieved and added to required quantity of water to make up the dye bath. The pre-soaked cotton fabric was entered into the dye bath at room temperature for 45 minutes with intermittent stirring. After dyeing, the fabric was rinsed in cold water and soaped with a mild detergent.

Dyeing of embroidery yarn

Five ply untwisted mulberry silk yarns was used for experiments. The traditional color palette was developed using different pre mordanting and post mordanting procedures using selected natural dyes. The dyes used were turmeric 50% (curcuma longa), Heena 50% (Lawsonia inermis), Ratanjot 100% (Arnebia nobilis reichb.f.), Manjistha 100% (Rubia cordifolia), Tesu 100% (Butea monosperma), Pomegranate rinds 100% (Punicum granatum), red onion skin 100% (allium cepa), wood bark of 80% (Pinus sabiniana), Cone of 80% (Pinus sabiniana), Katha 50% (Acasia katechu), Calcium carbonate + turmeric 5%, 12%, 20% (1:1). The mordants used were Phitkari (Alum), Ferrous sulphate and Copper sulphate. For premordanting 10% of these foresaid mordants were used and for postmordanting 1% quantity of these mordants was used. The procedure for dyeing with Tesu has been shown below. The same procedure was followed for all the dyes.

Preparation of yarn for dyeing

The silk yarns were degummed in a solution containing 3% soap and 0.5% of soda ash using 2.5 litres for 100 gms of yarn at 80°c temperature for 45 minutes (figure 1). After treating the yarns for 45 minutes, the yarns were removed from the solution and hung vertically to drain out excess of water. The yarns were subsequently washed in cold water thoroughly. 

Collection and preparation of dye material

Dyes were obtained in the form of powder (turmeric, heena, and combination of calcium carbonate+ turmeric (1:1)), peel (ratanjot) as well as in solid form (katha, manjistha, pomegranate rind, pine tree bark).the solid pieces of the dye were manually broken into smaller pieces which were used for dye extraction.

Extraction of the dye

The extraction of all the natural dyes in the study was carried out in aqueous medium. The amount of natural dyes used for extraction of dyes is given earlier. The required amount of dye was added into 2.5 liters of water and boiled for 20 minutes at 100°c temperature with constant stirring. Extracted dye was sieved through a strainer. 

Pre mordanting 

Mordanting was carried out by dissolving the required amount of mordant in water using 2.5 litres for 100 gms of yarn. The yarns were immersed in the mordant solution for 60 minutes at room temperature. At the intervals of 10 minutes each, the yarns were lifted out of the solution, rotated and immersed in the solution again. All the layers of yarns in the hank were exposed to the mordant solution by changing direction of yarns from inside out and vice versa. The samples were squeezed and dried without washing.