Tradition · block-printing craft · India
Kutch Ajrakh, Ajrakhpur
Also known as Ajrakhpur, Ajrakhpur, Kutch, Ismail Mohammed Khatri lineage, Kutch, Kutch Ajrakh, Kutch Ajrakh — Ajrakhpur
The Ajrakh block-printing tradition at Ajrakhpur village (relocated 2001 after the Bhuj earthquake destroyed the original Dhamadka village) in Kutch district, Gujarat — the 500-year-old resist-block-printing tradition on cotton using 16 natural dyes (indigo, red madder, pomegranate, iron, rust, lac, henna, pomegranate rind and other plant/mineral dyes). The Ajrakh (meaning 'blue' in Arabic) tradition traces to the 10-century Umayyad period in Sindh and was brought to Kutch by the Khatri Muslim community migrating from Sindh in the 16-century. The tradition requires 16-23 separate stages of printing-dyeing-washing over 2-3 weeks per fabric. The main patterns are the Jalebi, Kajarkoat, Thulharb, Dhabu and Mina Khatri — geometric Islamic-inspired designs. GI tag 2010 for Kutch Ajrakh. The 2001 Bhuj earthquake destroyed Dhamadka village; master craftsman Dr Ismail Mohamed Khatri rebuilt the industry at new Ajrakhpur village.
- Function
- Trade & production
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 23.167, 69.667
Connections (4)
- Craft tradition ofPatan patola
Gujarat holds the two most technically demanding textile processes in India: Patan's double ikat, in which warp and weft are both tie-dyed to the finished design before weaving so the pattern has to register on the loom, and Kutch's ajrakh, printed and washed through as many as sixteen stages with natural indigo and madder, resist-printed on both faces. Three or four families still do the first, and the second moved village after the 2001 earthquake.
- Craft tradition ofRogan painting, Nirona
Kutch carries an unusual density of textile-surface crafts within a few dozen kilometres — Ajrakh block printing at Ajrakhpur, bandhani tying, Rabari and Ahir embroidery, and Rogan painting at Nirona — all of them practised by Khatri and other Muslim artisan families who came into the region from Sindh. What they share is a client base of pastoral communities whose wealth was carried on the body, and a market that the 2001 earthquake and the relief economy afterwards reorganised completely.
- Craft tradition ofJamnagar Bandhani
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.
- Craft tradition ofRann Utsav
Ajrakhpur exists because of an earthquake and now sells at a tent city. The Khatri block-printers moved there after 2001 destroyed Dhamadka's water, and their resist-printed indigo and madder cloth is among the things Rann Utsav brings buyers for each winter. The relationship is worth stating plainly: a state-run tourist season is now a significant part of the market for a craft whose technique is four centuries old and whose village is twenty-five years old.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kutch district”. Geographical Indications Registry (Government of India) filings; Ministry of Textiles and Sangeet Natak Akademi craft documentation.
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