REPORT ON KALAMKARI

We went for a trip to Surajkund Fair to visit the artisans of handicrafts, arts and many
more who came from all over India and even from out of India. We were given a
topic to research on Kalamkari for which we went to visit a stall of Kalamkari which
was stall no. 929 and their we met a man named Vishwanath Reddy, son of Munni
Reddy who was of 27 years and is a national awardee. He is from a small place of
Srikalahasti, Chitoor District, Aragham, Project Street, Andhra Pradesh living with a
family of 5 members. He is having his own house which is a pucca house. Mr.
Vishwanath is totally associated with Kalamkari as he learnt this craft from his
ancestors as his father has been doing this craft since 40 years and now he is a
helping hand to his father since he is capable of doing this craft and even females
are also doing this craft. He is a graduate but yes he used to do this craft since his
childhood time. Their monthly income ranges from 20,000- 25,000 from which they
have to pay their artisans working under them.
Vishwanath told us about Kalamkari that they used to do on a cotton cloth using
natural dyes. Their works are inspired from the epic Hindu mythology and even they
used flower motifs. Their main concentration of work is on the Hindu deities as they
derive stories from their lives and then paint them on their ranges of products. They
work on one design round the clock which means 24*7 and it takes 20-25 days for
them to complete one saree. September- November are the best months for them to
work on this craft as they need a suitable climate for their paints to dry. The most
common colors they used are Black for outline which they extracted from kohl, White
was extracted from conch shell, Red colour was extracted from Indian madder,
Yellow colour was extracted from turmeric powder, Blue colour was extracted from
indigo plant, Green was extracted from the mixture of yellow and blue at a certain
ratio. This artisan won the national award for the Ramayana story which he depicted

on a saree which took him 9 months to complete it. They are working totally on
traditional design and the designs are created by them only. The artisan decide the
cost price according to their design they make. They have made many products and
most of them were saree, odhnis, stoles and now they introduced new products such
as wall hangings, lamp shades, blouse etc.
They want to train their coming generation in this field as they dont want their
tradition and dedication to this craft to detoriate with the coming generations. So, the
artisan wants to continue it with their respective children along with their education.

Motif of Peacock

Motifs of Deities

Motif of Flowers and Leaves

Motifs of Deities

REPORT ON PATTACHITRA FROM ORRISA

We went on our trip to Surajkund to visit the artisans practicing handicrafts from all
over the world. We were asked to conduct a research on Pattachitra from Orissa so
we went to stall no. 784. We came across an artisan named Ganesh Sahu, aged 28,
son of Bhaskar Sahu. He was from heritage village, Raghurajpur, (P.O.) Chandanpur,
Puri, Orrisa, where he owns a pakka house in which he lives with 9 members of his
family dependent on him. His educational qualification is higher secondary and this
craft has been practiced by his family for 25 years now and both male and female
members of his family actively participate in this craft, which was started by their
ancestors. They give their 16-17 hrs to this craft per day. They work for around 5-6
months and then for selling, September to march is the best time of the year. There
are around 50-60 societies that are under this handicraft. They are not dependent on
any other occupation as this particular craft is their only living to support their
families. Their monthly income ranges from 25000-30000 from which they have to
pay other artisans working under them. Also, they have no savings account or any
other account for depositing their money.
They practice the traditional ways of doing the Pattachitra paintings. Their works are
inspired from old designs which have been practiced for several decades. Apart from
the paintings, they also have started working for home decor like lamp shades,
vases, candle stands, wall decor etc. The raw materials used for their paintings are
all derived from the nature, developed at home or some materials are bought from
the local market as done by their ancestors and so they cause no harm. They have
not adopted any new ways. For example, brick red colour is derived from the geru,
yellow from the haritali stone or the turmeric, vermilion from the hingol stone, black

from an oil based soot or kajal, white from the conch shell etc. The tools used are
Iron pen and brushes are made from the hair of rat. Paintings nowadays are also
done on palm leaves, woods, cotton cloth, handmade papers, cane bamboos etc.
The motifs used are generally derived from the stories of Ramayana, Mahabharata,
lives of Radha and Krishna and most importantly the Jagannath puri temple including
the divine trio of Jagannath, Balabhadra and Subhadra.
The paintings prices are decided by the work done per day, for example, 2 daysRs. 500, 3 days- Rs. 700 etc. Cost of making one product is about Rs. 300
depending on the size. They use computers and laptops and he also owns a smart
phone and most of the dealings are done on whatsapp itself.
On asking about the caste-barriers, we came to know that only the Hindu artisans
are involved in this handicraft. Muslims dont practice Pattachitra.
The artisans also told that they have not received any training from any specific
place. Its either inherited or developed under practice over the years. They all are
self-employed. The framings done on the paintings are usually done by bamboo
sticks and the farming part is also done by them only. Even the bamboo weaving is
done by the artisans involved in this craft. The vases are made by covering the
bottles and then doing the pattachitra paintings on them.
The artisan (Ganesh Sahu) also stated that their coming generations will also
continue this handicraft along with their education as they dont want this craft to
become obsolete and fade away.

Pattachitra on Palm leaves

Pattachitra Design on Handmade

paper

Pattachitra arts on Vase