Kalamkari Sarees have been in India for about 2000 years or more. It is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton or silk textile. The name Kalamkari is derived from a combination of two Persian words, Kalam meaning a pen and Kari meaning craftsmanship.

Kalamkari is known to be a healing fabric, as the colours, motifs and design inspirations of magical forms create an aura that heals an individual physically and spiritually.

Nowadays, this art is primarily used to produce Kalamkari sarees.

History of Kalamkari Sarees

Dating back to the period between the 13th and 19th centuries, especially in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, groups of singers, musicians and painters, called Chitrakattis kept moving from village to village only to propagate the stories of Hindu mythologies in the form of street plays. They went on spreading these tales to generate income for their living. The Chitrakattis slowly came up with new ideas to help the people understand better what they were trying to tell. So, they painted the stories right where they staged their plays on large bolts of canvas with the basic means and dyes extracted from plants. It is said that these storytellers travelled from village to village with huge canvas rolls, painted with natural colours and dyes that had these storyboards showing scenes from epics and cultural texts. They also had classical dance forms like Kathakali along with the Kalamkari canvas to help narrate these stories.

Kalamkari is said to be known as Pattachitra originally. Pattachitra, where Patta means cloth and Chitra means picture, is an art form still found in Odisha and many parts of India and Nepal. There are mentions of paintings made on fabrics and fabric scrolls in many Hindu, Buddhist and Jain literature. But, during the middle ages, under the patronage of the Golconda Sultanate in Hyderabad, this art form found a wealthy peak. The Pedana Kalamkari craft evolved under the patronage of the Mughals and the Golconda sultanate. It was made in Pedana, nearby Machilipatnam in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. Persian art had an influence on this school of Kalamkari craft under Islamic rule.

What are the Types of Kalamkari Sarees?

There are two identifiable styles of Kalamkari art in India: (i) Machilipatnam style and (ii) the Srikalahasti style.

(i) Machilipatnam style of Kalamkari: In this style, the motifs are hand-carved on traditional wooden blocks. Then these blocks are used to print the motifs on the fabric. The intricate details of the motifs are hand-painted with a kalam or pen.

(ii) Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari: On the other hand, this style drew inspiration from Hindu mythology. It described scenes from epics and folklore in the drawings. Because of its origin in the temples, this style has a strong connection to religion.

In recent times, two other styles of Kalamkari art have also emerged based on the states where it originated. Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh are two prime states in India, where these two new styles have emerged.

• The Andhra Kalamkari style uses designs and motifs like that of animals and birds along with the motifs inspired by the forts, palaces and temples of India.
• The Gujarat Kalamkari style majorly depicts motifs inspired from the mythological characters like Krishna-Arjuna from Mahabharata, Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha, Lord Buddha etc.

What is the Process of making Kalamkari Sarees?

There are about 23 steps involved in the making of a Kalamkari piece. The entire procedure is a process that requires precision and an eye for detailing, starting from the natural process of bleaching the fabric, softening it, sun drying, preparing natural dyes, hand painting, to the ways of air-drying and washing.

• First, the cotton fabric used for Kalamkari is treated with a solution of cow dung and bleach. The cloth is kept in this solution for hours to give it a uniform off-white colour.
• Then, the cotton fabric is immersed and kept in buffalo milk and Myrobalans solution. This is done to avoid smudging of dyes in the cloth when painted with natural dyes.
• After this, the fabric is washed under running water to get rid of the odour of buffalo milk. The cloth is washed in this process and then dried under the sun about twenty times.
• Once the fabric is ready for painting, artists sketch the motifs and designs on them.
• After the sketching is done, the Kalamkari artists prepare natural dyes using natural sources to fill colours in the drawings.
• To incorporate the minute details, the Kalamkars use a tamarind twig, a bamboo or date palm stick that has a pointed end. A bundle of fine hair is attached to this pointed end that serves as the brush or pen.

They sketch beautiful motifs of Krishna Raas-Leela, Indian gods and goddesses like Parvati, Vishnu, Shri Jaganath and scenes from the Hindu epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana. They would also make designs inspired by flora and fauna like lotuses, peacocks etc.

What is the Current Scenario of Kalamkari Sarees?

How is the demand of the Kalamkari Craft?

Kalamkari art has come a long way, from its first representation of a religious painting to the process of gaining recognition during the reign of the Mughal dynasty and to the present day when Andhra Pradesh is the largest producer of this art.

In the past decade, Kalamkari art was getting lost due to the tedious technique involved in its making. But, the emergence of high-tech machine looms and printed textiles escalated the extinction process of this art.

Yet, it was the fashion designers of the Indian fashion industry who helped the artisans who were practising this art in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and helped revive this art. Designers and creative minds like Gaurang Shah, Ayush Kejriwal and many others beautifully portrayed Kalamkari sarees on the fashion runways, bringing the limelight back on this immortal art.

Duplicate copies of Kalamkari Sarees

With the growing popularity of Kalamkari in India as well as abroad, residents of Pedana wanted a faster way to make Kalamkari fabrics.

People started looking for loopholes in the process that could make the best ways of cost-cutting.

• They started using chemical colours, eliminating the long process of making natural colours.
• They started using screen printing techniques and sell them as original Kalamkari.
• There is a big difference in the cost, the tedious process involved in the making of an original hand block printed Kalamkari fabric costs more than that of the screen-printed fabric. The hand block printed fabrics cost at least Rs 120-150 a metre meanwhile the same metre for screen-printed fabric costs only Rs 50-70.

How is the Kalamkari Craft Preserved?

Pedana Kalamkari has the Geographical Indications (GI) tag. In 2012, under the GI of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act of 1999, Pedana Kalamkari was included in the Geographical Indications Registry (GIR).

Any product having a GI tag means that the production processes of that particular art form are protected from being copied as that particular art form is recognised for being from the region. However, the process of screen printed Kalamkari violates the very process that Pedana Kalamkari is associated with, thus violating the GI tag.

What are the Environmental Effects of fake Kalamkari Sarees?

The fake versions of Kalamkari that use screen printing techniques and chemical dyes have more effects than just affecting the original art form. The screen-printed Kalamkaris, when washed in the pond, pollute the water. The toxic effluents that are let out by the chemical dyes used in the screen-printed Kalamkaris contaminate the water table as well.