The Kalamkari Tradition

Kalamkari is a textile art; you could also define it as a style of painting on fabric; yet its basic techniques such as the resist wax process are not unlike those used in batik. On its very own, Kalamkari is a different art tradition – distinctive, detailed and any specimen a result of a painstakingly long chain of elaborate efforts. The name given to this style is deceptively simple – ‘Kalamkari’, ‘the work of the pen’, as it literally translates.

Let us examine the inspirations and influences of this art, practiced as it is in Machilipatnam (or, Masulipatnam) and Srikalahasti in Andhra Pradesh, India. At one time, both these places may have shared a common tradition; in fact Machilipatnam as the older site seems to have inspired the beginnings of the Kalamkari tradition in Srikalahasti. However, there has always been a difference in the design concepts of these two places. Whereas Srikalahasti is famous for its religious friezes depicting events from the two great Hindu epics – the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; Machilipatnam also produced the very elegant ‘Tree of Life’. The reasons for these variations are not difficult to discover for the locations of these two sites has played an important role in determining the evolution of their Kalamkari traditions.

Machilipatnam was since centuries a thriving port city on the eastern coast of the subcontinent until Visakhapatnam overtook it in importance. Srikalahasti on the other hand is a famous temple town thronged by pilgrims. It is also very close to Tirumala – Tirupati, the most important holy shrine in the whole of South India, and is therefore part of the beaten route temple track. Also, the distance of nearly 350 km between Machilipatnam and Srikalahasti has ensured that the Kalamkari traditions of both these centers have evolved independent of each other, thus each centre has a distinctive style of its own, even though interaction of influences has definitely taken place.

Being an important port-of-call, Machilipatnam was better equipped to assimilate influences from other lands; also, it was more receptive than Srikalahasti to the changes in the fields of both technique and design – it is interesting to note that there are many Persian carpet motifs to be found in Machilipatnam Kalamkaris. Since Machilipatnam exported its Kalamkaris to various countries, it catered to the specialized requirements in design for a particular region.

The Srikalahasti market presented a completely different scene. Religious friezes depicting the many deities of the Hindu pantheon found favor with the Srikalahasti artisans since these found a ready indigenous market in the pilgrims who come here. Here kalamkaris are seen as objects of reverence rather than those of utility. They are hung in puja-rooms and are of the same class as the Nathdwara picchwais or the Jagannath Puri pattachitras. Superb specimens of such kalamkaris can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Salarjung Museum, Hyderabad.

Let us now discover what is it that goes into the making of a single kalamkari piece? It is significant to note that only vegetable and no chemical dyes are used as the coloring agents in the kalamkari tradition. These dyes provide the brilliant, rustic look to the finished product, so typical of a kalamkari specimen. The main basic colors which predominate any kalamkari are black, red, yellow and blue. Other colors such as the earthy red, brown and green are achieved as a result of over-dyeing; for example, green being effected by the result of dyeing yellow over blue.

The grey kora cloths traditionally used in kalamkari are first soaked overnight in a solution of sheep or buffalo dung, dissolved in water. It is interesting to note that a solution of cattle dung rather than a chemical bleaching powder is used to obtain the bleached effect. After the bleaching is completed, the fabric is thoroughly washed in a flowing stream or river. After drying in the sun, it is to be soaked in a solution of the myrobalam (tannin) fruit in water. Great care is taken to ensure that the juice of myrobalam penetrates the cloth completely as this solution provides the base without which the black color in a design would fail to develop.

Now the cloth is ready for the outlining of the main design. In Machilipatnam, blocks come handy to print the outlines –they save a lot of time apart from giving the finished material a professional look. However, in Srikalahasti, the entire outline work is done by the kalam, or the pen in a style that has remained unchanged since ages – these kalams are made locally with balls of yarn tied around a bamboo stylus which forms a point at one end. The yarn soaks the color or the dye and the skilled artisans dexterously manipulates it to release the right amount of the pigment from the yarn to achieve a uniformly thick or thin line that constitutes the outline. These outlines are now marked freehand. Thus each Srikalahasti kalamkari is a singular piece of art which can never be replicated. Machilipatnam kalamkaris on the other hand can be mass produced.

The kalams or in other instances, the blocks are saturated with the required amount of an iron acetate (kasim) solution and the tracings are transferred using these onto the fabric. The kalams can be used as earlier described, whereas blocks are easily stamped over the surface of the prepared cloth to leave an imprint of the required design.

Next, using alum (karam) solution, which acts as a mordant for the color red, the desired areas are colored in more or less the same fashion as before. The cloths are now kept aside for two or three days to allow proper fixation, after which they are washed again in flowing water. Now these are ready for a dip in the color cauldron.

A vegetable dye made from leaves and roots is now prepared. Mainly jajakku leaves and the root of the madder are boiled in water to obtain their natural coloring pigments. The traced cloths are now dipped into and saturated with this dye solution. Vibrant and myriad shades of red, vermilion, black, brown and sienna are obtained after the dip due to simple variations in techniques. Only the areas covered with the mordants are fixed; in other parts the coloring is a temporary phenomenon. The cloths are again thoroughly washed in flowing water. The cattle dung bleaching procedure is repeated once more and the unfixed areas regain their neutral colors. This stage is an important point in the complete kalamkari process. Nowadays, quite often, the process can end here. However, most kalamkaris undergo further dyeing in both yellow and blue before they can be classified as completed.

If the process is to continue, a starch is prepared from boiled rice water and buffalo milk. This is applied on the cloth to make it stiff and to whiten the neutral areas. Beeswax is melted and then applied using the kalam onto the portions where the next color, i.e. blue is not to penetrate. In this particular stage, the similarities between batik and kalamkari are outstanding. It cannot be disregarded that at one time, batik in Indonesia and kalamkari in Machilipatnam may have influenced each other. In fact, at that time, Machilipatnam was on many of the important trade routes that traversed the Bay of Bengal. Modern day batik uses the mixture of paraffin wax and beeswax and it is to their combined use that it owes its characteristic crackle finish. This crackle finish is absent in kalamkari due to the use of pure beeswax.

Coming back to the process of the kalamkari, after the wax has dried over the cloth, the cloth is dipped into an indigo dye, which imparts the color blue to the kalamkari. The cloths are now fully dried in the sun and then the entire beeswax is removed from them by dipping the cloth into boiling water which melts out the wax from its surface. This wax can be reused again.

The bleaching and then the starching process has to be done all over again. It is this laborious procedure of so many steps that makes the evolution of a kalamkari piece such an exclusive heritage. Altogether, about fifteen various procedures are involved in completing a single kalamkari specimen.

After the cloths have been re-starched, they are ready for a dip in the yellow dye. The yellow color is imparted to the dye by boiling myrobalam flowers in water. On coming into contact with the yellow dye, the blues turn green and the reds turn into vermilion. However, the blues can be retained by covering the blue areas with melted beeswax, which after dipping in the yellow dye and consequently drying is removed in the same way as explained earlier. In many instances, a dip into the final yellow dye may not be required, since it is left to the imagination of the artisan and finally to the choice of the customers, who may prefer monochromatic shades and color schemes.

The choice of further bleaching the cloth yet again in the dung solution is also optional. Bleaching provides a white background, but many people seem to prefer the fawn colored background attained by omitting the bleaching process in the final stage.

Contemporary kalamkari differs in a few ways from the traditional kalamkari. Today’s artisans are more open to subtle changes in the process thus attaining a spectrum of varied effects. This presents a completely changed scenario in comparison to times not so long ago when it was considered almost sacrilegious to make even a slight variation in the procedure. This added flexibility provides fresh business acumen to the artisans as well. Much of this change was achieved by the efforts of a few dedicated people and the cooperative societies formed by the artisans. However, it would be premature to opine that kalamkari has finally come of age and can withstand pressures from elsewhere. In recent years, screen printed kalamkari prints using chemical dyes have invaded the market. These identical specimens of the same mimeograph have neither the freshness nor the vitality of the original. Original kalamkaris need to be marketed as exclusive designer products. All these years, the kalamkari tradition has been accorded the run-of-the-mill status rather than exclusivity. Efforts in the right direction include the introduction of kalamkari table covers and mats, furnishings, dress materials, etc. Also the traditional religious friezes today adorn living rooms and corporate interiors apart from their rightful places in the puja rooms.

At one time, there used to be tents made for royal entourages from kalamkari cloths; also kalamkari friezes were used as educational visuals. Whether these uses can be received seems to be a very poor and remote possibility indeed. Also, whether various steps being taken are taking kalamkari in the right direction is uncertain to state; but, yes, it can be surely said that they are providing a new vision to the once-dying craft of kalamkari.

Finally, it is true about kalamkari like it is true about any other craft tradition; that to be constantly evolving is to survive, and to be stagnant in perfection can be suicidal.

Filed Under: Craft
Tagged as: Craft, Design, India, Kalamkari, Motif, Pattern

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