BAGRU – BEAUTY OF RAJASTHAN

Rajasthan – Land of Kings, Rajputs, is a jewel in India’s crown. This place is known for its brave kings, magnificent monuments, & beautiful colorful festivals. Textile is the specific expressions of the culture & heritage of Rajasthan. Many Designers draw their inspiration from the beautiful textile of Rajasthan which includes different patterns & prints.
The patterns & prints of Rajasthan are world famous. People come from different corners of the world to purchase these beautiful traditional pieces of work.
One of such beautiful prints is Bagru Print. This beautiful printing technique is developed by Chippa community in a small village of Rajasthan located at a distance of approximately 32Km east of Jaipur around 350 years back. Bagru is known for its natural dyes & indigo dyeing and wooden hand block printing over textile articles.


How traditional bagru printing is being done:
Printing Bagru is a long & tedious process; let’s try to get knowledge on how to this beautiful work takes its desired shape.
  • First, the fabric is pre-washed & soaked for 24hrs to remove all stains, oil, starch or dust in order to make fabric contamination free. Traditionally it was done with cow dung & water mixture but now cow dung is replaced by soap as it is more convenient. This process is called as Hari Sarana.
  • When the fabric is completely contamination free, it is treated in Harda solution which has tannic acid in it. Harda is a natural ingredient which is extracted from Myrobalan fruit & has been used in ayurvedic medicines for its digestive healing properties. It gives a yellowish cream tone to the fabric & also the tannic acid of harda gives black with ink of block which is the USP of Bagru printing technique. It is locally called as Peela Karna
  • The fabric is now ready for printing. It is spread on large printing tables, where block printing will take place. Main colors used in Bagru are black, red & maroon. All these colors are extracted from natural sources like –
    • Black from worn out iron horse or camel shoes soaked in water
    • Red is derived from Gum Paste & phit karri i.e. alum
    • Maroon is combination of red & black
    • Apart from these natural dyes are also used to get different patterns & designs these are – pomegranate, turmeric, madder etc.
  • Motifs are hand carved on wooden blocks by people who are the specialist in this. Main motifs used are
    • Patashi – small flowers with buds, leaves & stems
    • Jhad—intervening tendrils & distinctive border lines
    • Hathi— elephant
    • Other designs are – flower, geometrical prints etc.
  •  After completion of printing, the fabric is dried for 3-4 days in order to get colors penetrate into the fabric.  This process is called as Sukhai by old veterans of this art.
  • After Sukhai now is the time for some Dhulai. Dried fabric is washed in running water, so that the extra color should come out & does not stick to the cloth.
  • Once dhulai is done Fabric is then boiled up in a large copper pot with water, alizarin & dhawadi flowers which are used for dye by locals of Rajasthan. This whole process is called as Ghan rangai.
  • After Ghan rangai now it’s time for Tapai, which means the fabric is once again washed to remove excess durt or dye & laid on a flat surface to get dried by the sun rays.
  • Once Tapai is completed Bagru Printed fabric is ready to be used.
Bagru prints are used in both traditional as well as modern fabrics.
Shree is known for its ethnic wear & fusions wear which is a great combination of traditional methods with the modern concept.
Upcoming collection of Shree is inspired by Bagru Prints. It has beautiful Bagru print Kurtis, kurtas. Shree has used the style of Angrakha Kurta in Bagru print with the modern touch of beaded tassels; it gives a very fresh & elegant look to whole attire.

Read More....

Comments