Tradition · bandhani tie-dye craft · India
Jamnagar Bandhani
Also known as Bandhani tie, Bandhani tie-dye, Jamnagar, dye
The Jamnagar Bandhani (tie-dye) tradition at Jamnagar in Gujarat — the 600-year-old tie-dyeing tradition that produces the distinctive patterned saris and odhnis of Rajasthan-Gujarat. The Bandhani involves tying tiny knots in the fabric (each knot producing one circular dyed spot) before dyeing — the finest Jamnagar Bandhani can have over 10,000 knots per sari, each tied individually by hand. The tradition came to Jamnagar in the 15-century with the Khatri Muslim community migration from Sindh. The classic Jamnagar Bandhani colours are red, maroon, yellow, green, blue and black. The three major pattern types are Ekdali (single-dot), Shikari (hunting scene) and Khambhi (five-dot cluster). GI tag 2010 for Jamnagar Bandhani. The modern tradition has about 1,500 artisan families at Jamnagar. The 2015 Jamnagar Bandhani Mahotsav annual festival celebrates the tradition.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 22.470, 70.070
Connections (2)
- Craft tradition ofKutch Ajrakh, Ajrakhpur
Bandhani tying at Jamnagar and Ajrakh block printing at Ajrakhpur are the two halves of Kutch and Saurashtra's textile economy, both worked by Khatri families who came into Gujarat from Sindh and both dyed with the same indigo and madder. Bandhani is resist by knot and Ajrakh resist by paste, and the clientele divided by community: bandhani odhnis for Rabari and Ahir women, Ajrakh lungis and shoulder cloths largely for Muslim herders.
- Trade routeSurat
Gujarat's tied and printed cottons left through Surat and Khambhat for Arabia, East Africa and Southeast Asia, and the medieval block-printed fragments excavated at Fustat in Egypt — thousands of them, in Gujarati patterns — are the physical proof of how large that trade was. Jamnagar's bandhani belongs to the inland end of it, dyed in a town whose water was held to fix the colour better than anywhere else.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Jamnagar”. Geographical Indications Registry (Government of India) filings; Ministry of Textiles and Sangeet Natak Akademi craft documentation.
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