IKAT

TEXTILES
OF
INDIA
NAME-TAPASWINI BEHERA
ROLL NO.-32
FD-1V
SESSION-2012-2016
NIFT KOLKATA
INTRODUCTION
• Ikat is otherwise known as tie and dye
textile design known round the world.
• Some experts are of the opinion that the
technology came from far eastern countries
since the term Ikat is a Malayan word.
• But the study reveals that it was started and
developed in India also at least in certain
clusters like Odisha, Gujarat and Andhra
Pradesh and upto certain extent in North
East and North Eastern India.
IKAT TEXTILE: A HISTORICAL
ANALYSIS
• In India Ikat is known as Bandha in Odisha, Bandhani in
Rajasthan, Pochumpalli in Andhra Pradesh. However in
textile term it is commonly known as Ikat.
• The term ikat is a malayan word and introduced on to the
european language by Rouffaer comes from word Mangikat
which means to bind, knot or wind around.
• It is used for yarn tie and dye only as against tie and dye of
fabrics which, in India, is known as Bandhani.
• During early 12th century in Patola of Gujarat this type of
fabric was reported to be used by the royalty .
• In Odisha the art is being practiced in two different clusters –
1. One is Western Odisha having no. of clusters like
Sambalpur, Bolangir, Sonepur,Boudh etc., where ikat is
produced by the communities like Bhuliya assisted by
Kostha and Kuli.
2. The second cluster of villages such as Nuapatna , Tigiria,
Maniabandha, Badamba, Narsinghpur etc., all were ruled
under feudal chief if Tigiria.
THE COUSINES OF THE IKAT
FABRIC
Bandhani is a well known art of Rajasthan.
These fabrics are often called one of the type
of Ikat for two basic reasons:
• Because of its name Bandhani which has
similarity with Bandha.
• Because the desighn is done by Tie and Dye
method similar to Ikat.
THE PATOLA OF GUJARAT
• Traditionally Patola was considered as popular
dress for marraiges, as dress for deites and for
various other rituals since it was considered that
patola brings good luck.
• In the process the design was decided and the
design is drawn as a blue print on a graph paper,
and is then painted with various colors to feel how it
will look like as fabric. Most designs are traditional
like diamond, floral design , moon etc..
• The warp and weft yarns needs to be dyed separatly
such a way that on the loom the adjust to give final
design as drawn on paper earlier.
• According to the size of cloth to be woven are laid
longitudenally , fixing at two ends.
• According to design knots are tied with the help of
small yarns and then the entire yarn complex is
dyed leaving the knotty portion undyed. The knots
THE PATOLA
OF
GUJARAT
Detail of a classic Gujarati
Patola from the early 19th
century.
THE PATOLA OF GUJARAT
• Similarly weft yarns are also dyed . By dyeing both
warp and weft it gives double ikat on the loom thus
ensuring sharper design.
• The traditionally used vegetable and natural but of
late they had to switch over to chemical dyes
• One of the major problem of ikat is its primitive
loom. The loom do not have peddles and thus
adjusting the designs and other operations has to be
done by hand so it takes much more time and thus
the fabric is too costly.
• Bulk of their products are obviously sarees. Besides
ikat designs they also ude gold yarns or gold coated
yarns to make the fabric more attractive.
• It is said that Patola has global demand due to its
unique design.
 POGDUBANDHU OR POCHAMPALLY
OF ANDHRA PRADESH
• Pogdubandhu is a type of ikat art, those are produced in
Andhra Pradesh where it is known as Pochampally, named
after one of the village where it is produced.
• It has its unique character of design, different from either
Patola or Bandhni of Gujarat or Odisha respectively,
however it does not have connection with ritual or worship.
• The craft is produced by weaver community called
Debanga, Dera, or Padmashali.
• As on today the craft survives in two villages like
Pochampally, Koyalgudam, Chowtuppala, Siripuram,
Bhubangiri, Chuigottala and Galteppala and a few villages
around them mostly in Nalgonda district.
• The process begins by creating design on graph paper and
thereafter vacant positions are filled in with colors. In this
Pochampalli silk saree Pochampalli cotton saree
 POGDUBANDHU OR POCHAMPALLY
OF ANDHRA PRADESH
• In single ikat warp is dyed while weft is left either undyed
or entire yarn is dyed as the design demands.
• After drawing designs on paper , the yarns are grouped and
subgrouped and laid longitudnally. According to design ,
knots are made with the help of rubber gutters and then
they are dyed in bunches. This makes entire yarn getting
dyed leaving knotty portion undyed.
• Essential technology of producing ikat fabrics in Andhra
Pradesh is the same as that being adopted in Odisha and
Gujarat. The main feature is grouping warp threads and/or
weft threads and sub grouping warp them for tie and dye by
leasing. In Andhra Pradesh semi circular frames with pegs
are used for preparation of weft and leasing as well as for
tying.
Pochampalli silk saree Pochampally silk saree in
mustard & maroon combination
POGDUBANDHU OR POCHAMPALLY
OF ANDHRA PRADESH
• In silk 20/20 and 16/18 deniers are used.
Acid and direct dyes are often used. Colors
are not fast to washing.
• Weavers use fly shuttle loom for weaving
fabrics, which ensures higher productivity
thus the cost of fabric is much cheaper than
Patola of Gujarat.
• This is the reason why the Andhra ikat is
growing fast but the Patola is dying.
 BANDHA- THE UNIQUE IKAT OF
ODISHA
• Out of different types of ikats produced in India perhaps
“Bandha” of Odisha stands apart. Not only in respect of
designs but the process, its expression and so on can be
summed up as poetry on the loom.
• It is also found different sets of community develop this
form of art by keeping in tune the tradition of land
reflecting the raligious sentiments like Jagannath cult as
well as environmental reflections.
• The art is limited to bhuliya. Kostha communities of
Western Odisha, and Gudiya Patra, Asini Patra and
Sarakha of Eastrn Odisha settled in clusters.
• The pattern is not formed by weaving together yarns of
different colors, nor it is printed on the fabric: it is made by
dyeing warp and weft threads before weaving. Following
Cotton Ikat saree with animal and
leaves motifs

Extra weft cotton saree od

Odisha
 BANDHA- THE UNIQUE IKAT OF
ODISHA
• Before the warp and weft are interlaced to produce the
cloth, the yarns, generally weft and sometimes warps are
tied in portions according to the designs and then dyed
resulting in the untied portions being colored.
• Designs produced in this method differ from printed and
jacquard woven designs.
• Bandha or Ikat design is unique since it does not need extra
yarn and its back and face gives same design. It is again
different since it gives natural motifs.
• Unlike in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, the Odisha Bandha
artsans do not draw the designs before transferring into
yarn rather many experienced artisans straight away
transfer the design from their imagination. That is the
BOMKAI SAREE OF ODISHA
 BANDHA- THE UNIQUE IKAT OF
ODISHA
• It has reflections of Odisha’s tradition, social norms,
cultural and above all the cult of Lord Jagannath which
has influence on every walk of life of people of Odisha .
• Jagannath cult has not only influenced the design but also
the choice of color, since every color used symbolises
certain conceptand norms in accordance to philosophy of
Jagannath cult.
• Traditionally 4 basic colors were used such as white, black,
yellow, and red has deep philosophical meaning
representing certain concept symbolically according to
Jagannath cult.
• Not only colors but also motifs choosen has also influence
from Jagannath cult. ‘Singha Bandha’ or motif of
lionwhich is at the gate of Jagannath temple, Sankha(conch
BANDHA WORK WITH TEMPLE MOTIFS AND
ORGANIC MOTIFS AT BORDER
 BANDHA- THE UNIQUE IKAT OF
ODISHA
• Before obseving the motifs of Ikat texile it is
necessary to divert to divert the attention towards
art of temple architecture. ‘Deuli Bandha’ is a motif
which has resemblence with shape of temple which
is found almost in every saree either on border or
aanchal.
• Between two different regions of bandha textile in
Odisha, Bhulias (Western Odisha) gives better
fabrics with better design from Eastern Odisha as
Bhulias gives Double Ikat.
• However wonder of Odisha being these artists
straight away go for creation without drawing
designs on graph or paper.
BOMKAI SAREES AND
SAMBALPURI SAREES
IKAT OF MADHYA PRADESH
• Madhya Pradesh is considered as the heart of India.
This region is famous for tassar silk and of course
Ikat work which came today perhaps because of
influence of Western Odisha.
• Kosthas are considered as one of the weaver
community though their tradition says they are the
spinners of tassar cocoon.
• The art of ikat of Madhya Pradesh has impact of
Odisha design on it. Same natural motifs like fish,
elephant, horse, lotus, and floral designs.
• The choice of Design motifs though resembles
Odisha , however they are not as organised as that
of Odisha.
JHARNA- THE COMMON INDIAN
IKAT
• It is a general belief that the art of Ikat only
exists in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha ,
and Madhya Pradesh perhaps because of
typical unique designand design expressions.
• The art is basically Ikat and has
resemblence with South European Ikat that
existed during historical era, a few pieces
are still kept in meuseum piece in
Switzerland.
• Since the meaning of Jharna is fountain , the
design is so called because it resembles the
flow of water either in line or in bulk.
• There are also Single and Double Ikat ,
JHARNA- THE COMMON INDIAN
IKAT
• Manipur may be divided geographically and
culturally into two distinct regions, such as hills and
the valley. The production of Jharna is limited to
valley which is limited to cotton yarn producing
lungi, Khudei (towel) upto certain extent.
• In Assam it is practiced in Barak valley and
Brahamaputra valley. Jharna design is used in
cotton textile only in both the regions of Assam
producing lungis , often shirtings too.
• Tripura produce lungi, gamucha, or even shirtings
and were known for their high quality.
JHARNA- THE COMMON INDIAN
IKAT
• West Bengal is well known for prodution of
Jharna both with cotton as well as muslin or
silk jharna. They produce it notably in
Malda and Midanpur
• Odisha is well known for jharna and is
produced almost in entire state. They used
cotton, silk, and muslin to produce their
fabric.
 SWOT OF IKAT FABRICS
To analyze it quickly most modern and effective method is
of course SWOT analysis. Incase of Ikat too there is neet
for these type of analysis of action plan need to be drawn
ultimately.
STRENGTH
• The design itself is unique cannot be imitated so easily.
• The design is equal on both side of the cloth
• There is a social support in certain Ikats since they are
linked with social tradions and rituals.
• The states where Ikats are produced, considers it as a
pride of craft.
• The craft has been produced and the persons are trained
from generation to generations therefore no need of
additional training input
• Being unique it has export demand too.
SWOT OF IKAT FABRICS
WEAKNESS
• Since they are produced in traditional loom, so
the productivity.
• The weavers are conservative thus do not accept
new design. Thus repeatation of design causes
erosion of local market.
• The weavers are not organised lot. Thus they are
often exploited by traders and do not get value
they deserve. This causes desertation of weavers
from the profession.
• Being produced in low productive loom cost of
fabric become abnormally high often beyond
buying capacity of common customers . Therefore
customers switch over to cheap imitations.
• Dyes they use often not standard . Since fast dye is
SWOT OF IKAT FABRICS
OPPORTUNITY
• The uniqueness of design has great
opportunity in future if design are suitably
developed according to customers choice.
• Using dress material shall fetch greater
opportunity for market growth if customer
friendly readymade garments be made.
• Due to uniqueness in design, fabrics have
opportunity in interior decoration.
• If design be combined with other traditional
weaving , scope of market can further be
enhanced.
SWOT OF IKAT FABRICS
THREAT
• Due to comparative high price and production
of imitation prints of ikat in mill sector the
market is threatened.
• Due to corruption in high places there is
possibility of sabotage even in Khadi and
Handloom sectors in favour of multinationals
• Due to social changes with change in social
value use of Ikat in ritual and in tradition may
be forgotten.
• If conservative approach of weavers continued
and there is resistance in change of design there
may be erosion in market demand.
• If standard yarn or dye are not made available,
the fabric automatically shall earn bad name
ECONOMY OF IKAT
• It is one of the difficult subject to discuss at
present level of technology in various Ikat
clusters
• Technology of Patola of Gujarat ia at the
lowest level.
• Pochampally cluster of Andhra Pradesh is
certainly better economically than that of
Gujarat
• In case of Nuapatna belt of Odisha, the
situation is almost parallel to Andhra
Pradesh. In Western Odisha the weavers
weave 8 sarees at a time. Thus their
 CONCLUSION
Ikat textiles right from jharna design to various
complicated motifs may be termed as pride of India.
Various scholars give various concepts regarding its
origin. Many scholars feel it originated in Far East, the
term Ikat being of Malayan origin. There is no doubt
that Malya and Indonesia were the countries which
are considered as father of textile designs particularly
printing designs. However in respect of Ikat .
Irrespective of the origin of term it can not be
definitely said where the Art actually originated. The
design motifs of various clusters in India were
developed in their own way.
The art is a pride if India, it is a symbol of “Swadesi”.
That is the reason we must patronise it and necessary
action plan be drawn for its growth. Not only every
citizen of India must patronise it, there is also a need
BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Ikat Textiles of India by G.K. Ghosh
and Shukla Ghosh
• Images from google.co.in