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Kalmkari is one of the oldest forms of visual arts of
South India. This school of art had its genesis more
than 3000 years ago in Andhra Pradesh in a place
called as Sri Kalahasti. Sri Kalahasti is a small town
closer to the more popular city of Tirupathi. The word
Kalamkari originates from the meaning Kalam (Pen) and
Kari (to work), in other words "Pen-Work". In the
earlier years these paintings rendered on cotton cloth
essentially depicted murals based on themes drawn from
Hindu mythology. The art received a lot of patronage
from the temples. The temple walls were decorated with
Kalamakri wall hangings telling the stories of Puranas
and Hindu epics. The learned men in the earlier days
used these paintings as visuals for narrating the
stories. Since the art form gave the artists to render
the paintings on large formats, they indulged in
making large murals with lot of details in fine forms.
Due to lack of appreciation of the themes based on
religion, especially by art connoisseurs abroad, an
attempt was made by the traditional artists in
Kalahasti to introduce contemporary variations in the
forms of trees, birds, animals etc. One of the works,
which gained immense popularity, was the "Tree of
Life". In fact there are also evidences where
Kalamkari was used for creating murals based on
Christian subjects.
The process of making Kalamkari is laborious and also
involves a lot of attention on fineness. A cotton cloth
forms the base on which the work is carried out.
Preparation of the Cloth: The cloth is normally
washed in clean flowing river water for removing the starch
and dried. Young unripe myrobalan fruits (a tannin-containing
pod) are soaked in water for a few hours and made into
a paste. The myrobalan paste is dissolved in a vessel
containing cows' milk and the cloth is soaked in it and
dried. The colour of the cloth turns pale yellow.
Sketching: The artist, after deciding what needs to be
drawn, makes out a sketch with the help of burnt
tamarind tree twigs. Meanwhile an iron solution is
prepared by keeping some rusted iron pieces inside a
solution of water dissolved with cooking jaggery and
palm jaggery in an earthen pot for 15 days. The
solution is normally clear when being used and takes
the black colour when it gets in touch with cloth
treated with myrobalan. The drawing is made with a
bamboo stick sharpened at one end with a knife. The
stick is wound with a thread, which absorbs the ink
and lets it down while the drawing is done. The line
drawing is done to perfection detailing all the key
and sub elements of the work.
Colouring: Once the line drawing is completed, colours
are added. The colours, which are normally added, are
red(maroon), yellow and blue. To obtain red(maroon),
an alum solution is painted on those areas where
red(maroon) is required and is dried for a day. This
is normally done in the background areas leaving the
figures. The excess mordant is washed in flowing
water. The cloth is then boiled with a mixture of
madder (root-"surul pattai") and "seveli kodi". For
this purpose the "seveli kodi" which is in the stick
form and "surul pattai" is dried and powdered. These
powders are mixed in a vessel containing water and
boiled along with the cloth. The red colour penetrates
only those areas, which have been earlier treated with
alum. However there will be some smudging of this
colour in other areas. Cow dung is used for cleaning
these areas. This is normally done by soaking the
cloth in a vessel containing water dissolved with cow
dung and allowing it to remain over night. The next
morning the cloth is cleaned in flowing river water
and dried by spreading it on the dry riverbed. The
cloth is sprinkled with water at frequent intervals as
and when it keeps drying. The same process of drying
is done for the rear side of the cloth as well. After
this process the rest of the area where "maroon" is
not intended to be coloured becomes clean. Finally the
cloth is once again dipped in cow's milk and dried.
For colouring yellow, myrobalan flower is dried,
powdered and dissolved in clean drinking water. It is
subsequently boiled and stirred well. The solution
turns yellow and this is used for colouring yellow.
Once the yellow colouring is completed, the cloth is
dried and once again cleaned and rinsed in flowing
river water and dried. Similarly the rest of the
colours are added using natural vegetable dyes:
"katha" for body colour(brown), "seveli" for rose and
"indigo" for blue. Green is obtained by mixing yellow
and blue. The cloth is finally washed in flowing water
and dried.
The dried piece of artwork is normally stretched,
framed and wall hung. The Kalamkari work adds
aesthetics and beauty to the interiors, with its
resplendent colours and intricacy.
Like in many other traditional art or craft forms,
there are families who are engaged in this profession
traditionally. The entire family is involved in the
various processes. Usually the head of the family
happens to be the master craft-person or artist and he
decides on the themes to be drawn. He is supported by
others in the family for completing the work.
Under the current context of issues like global
warming and acid rains, Kalamkari is one of the
traditional art form which is extremely environment
friendly using only natural products as input
materials.
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