Abstract

Art and Craft in Indian Textiles

 India is known for its rich heritage and diversified crafts with its own authenticity

 India may be a land of famers but equally land of artisans

 Indian art and craft is the sheer hard work of thousands of unknown unvalued artisians
and craft persons who create magic with their trick

 Craft making is an integral part of Indian culture and traditions, which has withstood the
test of time, and this tradition has passed on from generation to generation.

 In india,art is like an energy booster.Its mystical force, which gives shape to the vision of
the artist.

 For the indian artists their crafts are not pulse less object but full of life, carrying their
passion and exactness

 The Indian craftsmen are adept in manufacturing diverse crafts, which have attracted the
attention of connoisseurs of craft all over the world.

 Crafts of Indian states are innumerable and have attained commercial proportions
globally.

 There are so many different beautiful authentic textiles in India like bhandhini, ikkat,
kashida, phulkari etc. These textiles are weaved or knitted, painted, printed, dyed or
embroidered.

 Some of the woven textiles are Banarasi, kanjeevaram, pochampally, ikkat, paithani and
many more

 Some of the painted and printed textiles are kalamkari, dabhu printing, ajrak printing

 Some of the dyed textiles are bhandhini, garcholas, leharia, batik

Among these hundreds of native textiles let us get to know about paithani.

Paithani is considered to be royalty among sarees, Paithani sarees hold a treasured place
in the trousseau of a Maharashtrian bride. Symbolizing the spirit of true Maharashtrian
culture. Paithani is the ‘Queen of Silks’ it is called so rightly because only royals and
aristocrats once wore it.

o The Paithani weave is done by tapestry weaving technique with silk and zari
threads
o Paithani weaving is very time consuming process that could take anywhere from a
month to two years to create a saree
o The saree weigh from 500 to 900 grams.
o The raw silk threads are dyed using natural dyes obtained from vegetables,
minerals, plants .
o Usually paithani will be in basic colours like red, yellow, sky blue, magenta,
green, peach-pink and purple. Each saree usually has two dominating colours –
one on the saree and the other on the border and pallu
o Motifs used will be like peacock, bangadi mor (bangle with four peacocks and
lotus), munia/ tota-maina (parrot-maina), Ajanta lotus, asavali (vines and
flowers), koyari (mango shape) and akruti (almond shape). It also has motifs of
musical instruments like tabla, shehnai, sambal and tanpura on Paithani sarees.