After a long time, I took a vacation and my trip to Bhuj, Rann and Dholavira consisted of 6 days of which 2 days where spent traveling. From Chennai, you can either go to Ahmedabad by flight and then to Bhuj by train/bus or go via Mumbai. I travelled by both the Ahmedabad and Mumbai routes. Both are equally long and expensive, more so due to all the recent flight cancellations and delays. Though this was a short trip, I had several new experiences, many of which are hard to condense into a single post. This particular one is about my tour of craft villages of Bhuj.
The Craft villages of Bhuj and beyond
Travelling as a design educator and a craft enthusiast, I prioritised visiting craft villages, speaking to craftspeople, visiting local houses, and eating simple local food. I visited villages such as Ajrakpur, Bujodi, Ramdevra Nagar, Gandhi Nu Gaam, Nirona and Dholavira.
At the present it is possible to buy everything online or at a craft market near my house. Therefore, I saw no point in paying for excess baggage and I must say, the artisans respected that. Most of the artisans whom I met, were willing to talk to me, spend time with me, without any anticipation of me buying from them. Still, I ended up shopping at a couple of places.
Ajrakpur
Ajrak is a traditional block printed textile which traces its roots to Mohenja-Daro, Dholavira and other Indus civilisation settlements. There are three types of Ajrak textiles – Kutchi, Barmeri and Sindhi depending on where they were historically made. The dyers migrated from Sidh to Kutch in India in 1634 CE to Bela initially and then to Dhamadka in search of water that was suitable for dyeing. The Hindu Brahmin Khatri dyers converted to Islam over the course of 2-3 generations and relocated to Ajrakpur after the 2001 earthquake.
Azrak (meaning indigo) is a resist print technique with natural dyes. “Aaj rakh” also means to wait for a day or two – so that the colours develop. The most common colours are indigo and madder red, developed into rich shades using alizarin. You can also see green when the (gajh) mix of alum and mud is washed in plain water without the alizarian treatment. The fabric is washed multiple times to facilitate different processes such as dyeing, resist removal and printing. While the fabric used to be printed on both sides (Bo-Pori), it is increasingly printed only on one side at the present to save time and costs. The bead carvings and etchings on carnelian beads found in Harappan civilisation influenced the design ajrakh blocks and is used even today
While prints were originally done only on cotton, silk and mashru (silk satin with a cotton backing), modal is increasingly used to reduce costs. What is worse is people sell modal as vegan silk, use synthetic dyes and they screen print using motifs similar to the ajrak blocks. Please avoid it at all costs.
The Living and Learning Design Centre – LLDC
When in Ajrakpur, do not miss the LLDC Srujan museum, dedicated to the textiles and fashion of the local communities. More than the embroidered artefacts, I loved how the museum was curated. It not only had stories about the embroideries and the lifestyle of the local communities but of the researchers and the decisions that they took in the field. It was oral history visualised and represented.
The Museum is open from 10AM to 6 PM, has a canteen for food, and is closed on Mondays. You can do hands-on activities like block printing, tie and dye and PoP tile making there.
The significance of embroidery in the Kutch region
Embroidery was the most significant part of material culture for not just the Rabari community but also those such as Jats and Ahirs. Girls learnt to embroider as children and created their own trousseau to take to their in-laws house apart from making decorative throws and covers for their homes, camels and shawls for their husbands. They could not get married until they completed their pieces. When the government banned child labour and made primary schooling compulsory, the girls took more time to embroider and as a result got married only in their 40s. Both family life and education suffered. They could not sell the pieces for it was sinful.
Therefore, the community elders decided to put a stop to this practice. Girls started reusing old patches or machine embroidered work ( in the recent years) in their clothing. They stopped embroidering and lost several stitches in the process. It was only when NGOs convinced the women that they were selling their time and labour and not their embroidered clothing, they agreed to relearn embroidery to make and sell. I will post an IG video retelling a story that I learnt at LLDC soon.
Khamir
Khamir is not a village but an artisan residency where artisans practice weaving, pottery, knife making, and leather work. Since I went on a Sunday, it was closed except for the store which is a good place to shop for quality items. I met a lovely woman there who introduced me to her sons who are weavers in Bujodi.
Bujodi
The brothers had recently completed a course on inspiration based design, and they were so excited to meet a design professor. They sat me down and told me their entire design process. They showed me their inspiration board, colour theory practice sheets, their branding, and the collections that they have developed. I felt like a graduation project jury member evaluating a design collection. But it felt satisfying to know that there are artisans who truly benefit from design input.
Bujodi, which was once a tiny hamlet, has grown into a completely commercialised area thanks to the Vande Mataram memorial and and Hira lakshmi park. It is light beautiful after 6:30 pm and if you don’t mind staying till 8:30 PM, you can also watch a sound and light show. There are many stores to shop from with a lot of authentic handmade products hidden amidst touristy crap. So sift carefully before you buy. There are several shops throughout the village where you can get everything from woven shawls (in wool or silk) to beaded jewellery. I picked up some beaded jewellery and a cotton shawl, which I wore the next day.
Ramdev Nagar (Near Birandiyara) and Gandhi nu Gaam
During my journey to Rann and Dholavira, I told my car driver that I wanted to visit a village where mirror work is done. He took me to a non-descript cluster of houses where women sold embroidered items in the center area and lived in the houses at the periphery. They were all dressed traditionally wearing spectacular jewellery such as Saari – round gold nose rings, kaamp – round gold earrings and warladi – earlobe earrings. But, I was not allowed to take any photographs of them. Here is an image from IFAM, indicating the size and shape of teh nose ring and earrings. However, the women whom I met, wore gold jewellery enamelled in orange colour.
They laid out their colourful wares on rope cots and told me stories of the familial relationships in the village. Alongside hand embroidered items such as jewellery, keychains, charms, belts and dolls (gudiya) they also sold items made using machine embroidered laces and patches. When questioned, they spoke about how the middlemen urge them to make low cost items for tourist trade and that they have learnt to set aside their pride.
I asked if they had any vintage components or clothing that they would sell and soon came out a bag with bits and bobs of pot metal jewellery. One woman laid out her entire collection of hand embroidered clothes that were 20-30 years old and soon the all the women gathered around and urged me to try on the outfits. They initially laughed at me, then at themselves, and then laughed with me. We spoke about being a woman in this day and age and though we were all not fluent in the same language, our sentiment was the same. I ended up buying a traditional backless apron-blouse with beaded tassels and mirror work for 2 times its price. I am not sure when and where I will wear it but I had a lot of fun in the process.
After having lunch at a local hotel, I went to Gandhi nu Gaam, a known shopping village. The traders were rude and cold, the items though cheap had no soul. Therefore, in contrast to my experience at the previous village, it felt like a complete waste of time.
Nirona
Nirona is famous for its copper bell making craft and the Persian art of fabric painting known as Rogan. Historically, used to decorate thick cotton skirts and blouses worn by the local tribal women, the craft is now used to create wall hangings, stoles and gift articles. The paint is prepared using castor oil and powder pigments and applied with a metal stylus on fabric that is stretched on the frame. I had the good fortune of visiting the workshop of Mr. Abulgaffer (seen in the video below) and interacting with him and his staff. While I did not see the process of making the paint, I saw the process of painting.
I was told the story of how the Tree of Life motif, once a contemporary motif, now synonymous with the art form as a “traditional motif” was introduced at the suggestion of art historian, Jotinder Jain. I was also shown their contemporary collaborations with design students and received so much respect and warmth as a design educator.
The other village that I wanted to visit but could not was Zikdi village. At Zikdi, live the talented Punaiben Ahir and her cohort who niftly hand embroider items. They are effectively marketed by Subhadra Ahir, on her Instagram page – Kutchi hand Embroidery. I have bought (online) several items – clothing, belt and jewellery from them in the past and even wore a few during this vacation. However, the village was distant from every route that I travelled on, so I gave it a miss.
That concludes my blog tour of Craft villages around Bhuj. While I stayed in Dholavira, I did not explore it beyond the site and the museum. Therefore, I will cover it in my upcoming posts on my Trip to Bhuj, Rann and Dholavira.
Until then, do check out my previous craft tour posts here – Chiang Mai, Kashmir, Orissa and Karnataka.
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
What do you think?