Kalamkari

KALAMKARI
OF ANDHRA PRADESH
Nijhum Patra
Nilesh Dave
FD V
NIFT Mumbai
INTRODUCTION TO KALAMKARI PAINTING
•India is rich in art and craft and

Kalamkari which is painted on cloth
is done in several parts of India and
Iran.
•In Andhra Pradesh, both the

Masulipatnam and Srikalahasti village
are recognized as major centers for
Kalamkari painting.
•Kalamkari as practiced in
Masulipatnam is different from the
Kalamkari practiced in
•Srikalahasti.
HISTORY OF KALAMKARI PAINTING
•Kalamkari is an exquisite ancient craft of painted and printedfabrics.
•It derives it’s name from Kalam meaning Pen, and Kari meaning work, literally
Pen-work. It is a hand painting as well as blockprinting with vegetable dyes.
Kalamkari art has evolved through trial and error over the last 3000 years.
•Techniques of craftsmanship in Kalamkari were handed down with in the

families from generation to generation.
•Originated in Andhra Pradesh
•Three eminent Telugu writers: Sri Nannaya, Sri Thikkana Sri Errapragada
translated verses of the Mahabharata from the original Sanskrit into telugu and
used remarkable paintings on cloth to depuct important scenes and sequences
from those epics
•This art knew its apogee in the wealthy Golconda sultanate, Hyderabad, in the
Middle Ages.
•Kalamkari had a certain decline, then it was revived in India and abroad for its
craftsmanship.
•The archaeological evidences tell us that the hand painting on resists – dyed
cloth was discovered in the eighth century.
•The popularity of this art was found in the old writings of the French traveler,
Francois Bernies.
STYLES OF KALAMKARI
•KALAMKARI – a general term for painted or printed cloth
•VRATHAPANI – kalam or pen drawn and painted cloth, produced in

SRIKALAHASTI area (Hindu community)
•ADDAKAMU – block printed cloth, produced in the MASULIPATNAM area

(Muslim community)
•In the early seventeenth century, the Golconda cotton paintings as they were
known, came from Chennai Golconda, and Masulipatnam became a well-known
center.
•As Golconda was under Muslim rule, the artistic designs produced in
Masulipatnam catered to Persian taste.
•As Srikalahasti was under Hindu rulers, it flourished directly under the patronage
of temples, and exclusively drew figures and narrated mythological stories.
MASULIPATNAM STYLE OF PAINTING
•Masulipatnam designs are Iranian in character with intricate and delicate forms.
•The old traditional block prints were largely used with Persian motifs like trees,
creepers, flowers and leaf designs.
•Later came the Dutch influence when there was an increase in demand from
Europe.
•This style of Kalamkari was mainly done on bed covers, curtains and also
garments, as it was a popular demand from the west. In the nineteenth century
block prints reached its peak and even today it’s largely produced for Indians
and foreigners.
SRIKALAHASTI STYLE OF PAINTING
•Temples were a major inspiration.
•It richly displayed episodes from the Puranas, Mahabharata, Ramayana, and other
Mythological stories for their themes painted in the panels with a script running
along the border.
•The subjects chosen to paint were restricted to Gods such as Krishna, Brahma,
Ganesha, Durga, Kiratavinyaar juna, Lakshmi, Rama, Shiva and Parvathi.
TECHNIQUES
•The Kalamkari art of painting undergoes a laborious, slow process of resist –
dyeing and hand printing.
•Kalamkari painting demands a lot of treatment before and after the painting is
completed on the cotton fabric.
• Depending on the treatment of cloth, or quality of themordant, the colours

change accordingly.
•Every step from soaking of clothe, to sketching the outlines to washing and
drying
•the cloth, is done carefully and correctly.
• The harmless, naturally dyed fabrics is used for Kalamkari painting. The artists
believe in using natural dyes, extracting from bark, flower and root.
•No chemical dyes are used is producing Kalamkari colours

•The colour red is obtained by using the Indian madder root, yellow from the
pomegranate seed or even mango bark, and colour black from myrobalam fruit.
•The process used for both schools of Kalamkari painting is more or less the
same. The only major difference is that Srikalahasti paintings, depend entirely on
the brush – like pen where as the Masulipatnam style uses block-printing
procedures.
IMPLEMENTS USED FOR KALAMKARI
PAINTING
1. Kalam:
(a) The point – 15cm bamboo slivers the
diameter of a thin pencil with required
thickness of the tip. The tip is spilt 1 inch at
the pointed edge
(b) the Spindle – woollen strips of 2cm x 12

cm are wound around the sliver, 4 cm above
the tip and bound with cotton thread. This
absorbs the dye which is squeezed out of it
onto the cloth.
2. Pads
3. Vessels
a
a. Artist working on the kalam

b. Making designs on the cloth
c. Dewaxing
STAGES
•Cloth is first whitened by immersing it in a solution
of goat or cow dung and letting it dry in the sun for
a few days.
•Cloth is then treated in Myrobalan solution. Ripe

fruits are used in Masulipatnam, raw ones in
Srikalahasti. Milk is then added to the solution to
prevent the color spreading in the next step.
•The iron acetate solution is filled in, either for solid

spaces or as outlines, with a brush – pen in
Srikalahasti, and wooden blocks in Masulipatnam.
•All the areas meant to be red are painted or
printed over with the alum solution as a
mordant. Mordant is a substance that fixes the
natural dye on the material.
•After applying alum, the cloth is kept for at

least 24 hours. Then the excess mordant is
removed by washing the cloth under flowing
water.
•The dyeing is done for the red colour by boiling
with the red colouring materials.
•All the portions which are not to be blue are

covered with wax.
•The waxed cloth is immersed in indigo solution. In
•Srikalahasti the blue is painted with the kalam. Then
the wax is removed by boiling the cloth in water.
•The yellow is painted on to produce yellow and

green.
INFLUENCE OF PALAKOLLU STYLE OF
VIJAYANAGAR
INFLUENCE OF THE MOGHUL STYLE
Drawing exercises done on daily basis which enable artists to
create with ease.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
•All India Handicrafts Board : Indian Kalamkari,

•Sethna, Nelly H., 1985 Kalamkari : Painted and Printed Fabrics from
AndhraPradesh,
•Varadarajan Lotika, 1982: South Indian Traditions of Kalamkari
•Venkateswara Rao, Akurathi, 1992, Kalamkari Industry of Masulipatam,
Hyderabad : Shuttle Craft publications
•1986, Homage to Kalamkari, Bombay : Marg Publications
• Paramparik Karigar by the TATA group
•Dyeing processes in India by B.C. Murthy

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KALAMKARI

•India is rich in art and craft and

•In Andhra Pradesh, both the

•Techniques of craftsmanship in Kalamkari were handed down with in the

•Originated in Andhra Pradesh

•VRATHAPANI – kalam or pen drawn and painted cloth, produced in

•ADDAKAMU – block printed cloth, produced in the MASULIPATNAM area

• Depending on the treatment of cloth, or quality of themordant, the colours

•No chemical dyes are used is producing Kalamkari colours

(b) the Spindle – woollen strips of 2cm x 12

a. Artist working on the kalam

•Cloth is then treated in Myrobalan solution. Ripe

•The iron acetate solution is filled in, either for solid

•After applying alum, the cloth is kept for at

•All the portions which are not to be blue are

•The yellow is painted on to produce yellow and

•All India Handicrafts Board : Indian Kalamkari,

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