Bagh Printing

February 11, 2021

Bagh Printing

The Exquisite Bagh Caves are in the central state of Madhya Pradesh in India and a Buddhist sacred site.

Legend has it that a certain Buddhist monk named Dataka excavated these caves. The Bagh Caves are not natural caves with engravings & murals but artificially excavated caves built by the Satvahanas. The Bagh Caves have a total number of nine caves of which 5 currently exist All of the caves are a cemetery for Buddhist monks and there is a small central prayer hall.

Bagh Printing - a Benevolance

It is possible that the craft travelled with settlers from Jawad in the Madhya Pradesh state in India or from printers of Rajasthan state. Another possibility is that the Chhipas, or traditional cloth printers, of the Muslim Khatri community who currently practice the craft of Bagh print, travelled to the area around 400 years ago from Larkana in Sindh province, Pakistan, which is known for the Arjak tradition of block printing.

The area's proximity to the Bagh river, which provides the water necessary for washing of fabric and processing of vegetable dyes, could be the attraction. The chemical composition of the water from the Bagh river is unique and enhances the texture of the vegetable, natural, and black dyes, giving them a luminous quality that distinguishes Bagh prints from other prints in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan regions.

The Basis...Many craftsmen abandoned the traditional process of Bagh prints in favour of using synthetic fabrics. However, a number of artisans continue to practice and innovate within the traditional framework of the craft.

In 2011, a Bagh print design was adopted in a tableau theme of the Madhya Pradesh state at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi on 26 January 2011. Featured in the parade was a Shalbhanjika, the celestial apsara ( angel) of the 11th century, draped in Bagh printed clothing.

Bagh Printing Procedure

Includes pre-printing (the washing and pre-dying of the fabric), printing (application of the design) and post-printing (fixing the dyes and applying a fabric finish).

Pre-printing....Pre-printing starts with Khara Karna, the initial washing of the fabric for printing. Cotton is the commonly used fabric; however, other fabrics include the Maheshwari suit material, Kosa silk, bamboo chicks, chiffon, crepe, georgette tissue, and mulberry silk. The Khara Karna washing consists of washing in running water for two hours and beating the fabric on river stones to remove any starch in the fabric to assist with the dyeing process.

Next, the fabric is soaked in a water solution of rock salt, mengni (goat dung), and castor oil, pressed, rinsed and dried three times, which is known as Mengni Karna. Then, the cloth is pre-dyed with Harara to provide an off-white base colour, which also adds a richness to the black and red dyes that will be applied later.

Printing...Bagh prints are made by hand applying natural and vegetable-based dyes using carved wood relief blocks. Red and black dyes are most common, but indigo, mustard, and khaki dyes are also used. New blocks for printing are hand-carved from teak or sheesham wood, but some blocks have been in use for 200 – 300 years. Motifs for the prints are geometric or floral, sometimes inspired by the 1,500-year-old paintings at the Bagh Caves.

Dyes....Dyes for printing are derived from plant sources (plants, fruits, and flowers), and minerals. To make the dyes, pigments like ferrous sulphate and alum are boiled in water and mixed with tamarind seed powder to make a paste, which acts as black and red dyes respectively. Other colours like indigo, mustard, and khaki can be made using indigo leaves, dhavdi leaves, or pomegranate rinds.

Printing blocks....The blocks, known as bilals, are made of intricate and deeply carved teak or sheesham wood and are frequently sourced from Pethapur, Gandhinagar, and Jaipur. The relief blocks can be reused and collected over generations, with some family libraries holding thousands of individual designs. Some blocks are aged up to 300 years old and have been in use for so long that they are known by particular names. New blocks are made approximately every six months to keep up with market demands, but care is taken to ensure that the new design is a variation of a traditionally accepted design. Common motifs include geometric shapes as well as natural forms like jasmine, mushroom, mango, or small dots on a field.

Printing process....In order to apply the correct amount of dye to the printing block, a wooden reservoir, called a palea, is filled with dye. A bamboo mesh (kartali) wrapped in wool is set up to float in the reservoir, soaking up the dye and transferring the colour when the printing block is rested on top. The cloth to be printed is laid over a red sandstone table, called a farsi, which is padded with extra cloth or old clothes to ensure smooth printing. The printing blocks are applied by hand, with an expert craftsman producing five yards of fabric in two to three hours, depending on the complexity of the design. Once the design is fully printed, the cloth rests for 8 to 14 days to allow the dye to fully absorb into the fabric.

Post-printing....Once the fabric has rested, it is brought to the river and rigorously washed for 20 minutes and beaten against river stones to remove excess dye. This process, known as the Bichalna, requires both strength and care, as any smudges or stains that occur from improper washing are permanent. The fabric is then fixed and finished in the Bhatti process, where the fabric is boiled in a mixture of water, Alizarin, and Dhavda flowers. The fabric is constantly shifted and turned with long sticks as the temperature of the solution is slowly increased, which aids in the proper development of the colours. The whole process takes four to six hours. Finally, the fabric is bleached and washed three more times before the fabric is complete.

New Experiments

Initially, the artisans made traditional dresses to meet the needs of various caste groups residing in the tribal region of Bagh. People of different castes and families had different dresses with specific identification tags of the tribal Bhil and Bhilala community. Some of the Katris developed designs to meet contemporary urban taste in the latter part of the 1980s; these designs include sarees, shalwar kameez, covers for cushion and tables, block printed silk saree, tusser silk, silk stoles and scarves. Some created innovative wooden blocks and colours which were accepted in the national and international markets due to their long life. This included craft such as block printing on bamboo chik or mats, leather, jute, and other materials besides cloth.

One such practice pursued was the old technique of reusing the traditional blocks of 200 to 300 years old, which were patterns or designs of paintings in the 1,500-year-old cave paintings in the region.

Some of the block designs cover Nariyal Zaal and Ghevar Zaal based on the Taj Mahal paintings, Saj( utensils), Dakmandwa, chameli or jasmine (flowers), maithir or mushroom, leheriya ( vines) and jurvaria( small dots).

Bagh Culture

Dinner ....A close cousin of the daal baati of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh’s Dhall Bafla. Crispy wheat baked wheat balls soaked in ghee and eaten with spicy daal, pickles or curry.

Breakfast... Poha Jalebi is a popular breakfast dish of Madhya Pradesh. Tangy poha(puffed rice) topped with savouries accompanied by crispy sweet jalebis. This is the height of mixing savoury with sweet and eaten together with Masala Tea ( chai)