VISIT TO NATIONAL HANDICRAFTS & HANDLOOMS

MUSEUM

SALONIE AGRAWAL

Institute of Apparel Management

Apparel Design and Merchandising (14-17)

INTRODUCTION

The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (NHHM)

commonly known as National Crafts Museum in New Delhi is one of

the largest crafts museums in India. It is run by the Ministry of Textiles,

Government of India. The museum is situated on the corner of the

Pragati Maidan, facing the Purana Qila complex.

The Museum’s collection of about 35,000 objects, covers a range of

bronze images, lamps and incense burners; ritual accessories; utensils

and other items of everyday use; wood and stone carving; paper mache;

ivories, dolls, toys, puppets and masks; jewelry; decorative metal ware

including bidri work; paintings; terracotta and cane and bamboo work.

The Museum’s rare collections include the 250-300-year-old, Bhoota

Collection from Karnataka, rare Kashmiri 300-year-old ‘dushalas’,

handkerchiefs from Chamba, known for their unique embroidery, rare

brocade and Baluchari saris, Kutch embroidery, precious metal

jewellery; tribal bronzes from Chhattisgarh; carved wooden

architecture of Gujarat represented by a whole haveli (traditional

house), jharokha (balcony) and a palatial facade; embroidered, beaded

and printed wall hangings; saris employing techniques of ikat, jamdani,

tie-and-dye, etc.

The Craft

Madhubani painting or Mithila painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila

region of Bihar state, India, and the adjoining parts of Terai in Nepal

The Mithila region, from which the name Mithila art is derived, is believed to have been the

kingdom of King Janak. The exact location of it lies in present day Janakpur of Nepal.

Its Origin

The exact time when Mithila art originated is not known. According to local mythology, the

origin can be traced to the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak of Nepal ordered his

kingdom to decorate the town for the wedding of his daughter, Sita, to Lord Rama. The ancient

tradition of elaborate wall paintings in Nepal and Bihar played a major role in the emergence

of this new art form. The original inspiration for Madhubani art emerged from women’s craving

for religiousness and an intense desire to be one with God. With the belief that painting

something divine would achieve that desire, women began to paint pictures of gods and

goddesses with an interpretation so divine that captured the hearts of many. The paintings were

originally done on walls coated with mud and cow dung.

Materials, Colors and Motifs

The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now

they are also done on cloth, handmade paper and canvas with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens,

and matchsticks, using natural dyes, pigments and rice ground paste. Charcoal and soot is used

for black, rice powder for white, turmeric for yellow, sandalwood for red, indigo for blue, and

so on.

Generally Madhubani painting are identified by the fact that there is no space in the

painting/canvas left uncovered. Typically the paintings will also have a margin or a border, but

this too will be embellished with geometrical patterns, or flowers, or other motifs. The colors

are bright, vibrant and eye catching. There is very little shading in the paintings, though not

entirely absent.

Madhubani paintings mostly depict the men & its association with nature and the scenes &

deity from the ancient epics. Popular motifs were - the sun, the moon, flowers, fish, trees,

animals, birds, geometric patterns and religious plants like basil along with scenes from the

royal court and social events like weddings. Traditionally, painting was one of the skills that

was passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila Region, mainly

by women.

Picture Gallery

Figure 1: ram- sita swayamwar Figure 2: Fortune Fish

Figure 3: Ardhnareshwar Figure 4: Nataraj

Figure 5: A scene of Local Festival

IKAT

The Craft

Ikat, or Ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process

on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.

In ikat the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping

applied in the desired pattern. The yarns are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered to

create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another colour. This process may be

repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is

finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth.

A characteristic of ikat textiles is an apparent "blurriness" to the design. The blurriness is a

result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes

out perfectly in the finished cloth. The blurriness can be reduced by using finer yarns or by the

skill of the craftsperson. Ikats with little blurriness, multiple colors and complicated patterns

are more difficult to create and therefore often more expensive. However, the blurriness that is

so characteristic of ikat is often prized by textile collectors.

Types

In WARP IKAT it is only the warp yarns that are dyed using the ikat technique. The weft

yarns are dyed a solid colour. The ikat pattern is clearly visible in the warp yarns wound onto

the loom even before the weft is woven in.

In WEFT IKAT it is the weaving or weft yarn that carries the dyed patterns. Therefore, the

pattern only appears as the weaving proceeds. Weft ikats are much slower to weave than warp

ikat because the weft yarns must be carefully adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to

maintain the clarity of the design.

DOUBLE IKAT is a technique in which both warp and the weft are resist-dyed prior to

weaving. Obviously it is the most difficult to make and the most expensive. Double ikat is only

produced in three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. The double ikat made in Patan, Gujarat

in India is the most complicated. Called "patola," it is made using fine silk yarns and many

colours. It may be patterned with a small motif that is repeated many times across the length

of a six-meter sari. Sometimes the Patan double ikat is pictorial with no repeats across its

length. That is, each small design element in each colour was individually tied in the warp and

weft yarns. It's an extraordinary achievement in the textile arts.

Picture Gallery

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Figure 1: Sambalpuri Ikat saree Figure 2: Ikat silk fabric

Figure 3: Ikat Saris Figure 4 Various Ikat Products

Figure 5: Patola Saree