A descriptive report on "Madhubani Painting" and "Ikat" as crafts displayed at the National Handicrafts & Handlooms Museum (NHHM), Delhi.

1. VISIT TO NATIONAL
HANDICRAFTS & HANDLOOMS
MUSEUM
SALONIE AGRAWAL
Institute of Apparel Management
Apparel Design and Merchandising
(14-17)

2. INTRODUCTION
The National Handicrafts and Handlooms Museum (NHHM)
commonly known as National Crafts Museum in New Delhi is one of
the largest crafts museums in India. It is run by the Ministry of Textiles,
Government of India. The museum is situated on the corner of the
Pragati Maidan, facing the Purana Qila complex.
The Museum’s collection of about 35,000 objects, covers a range of
bronze images, lamps and incense burners; ritual accessories; utensils
and other items of everyday use; wood and stone carving; paper mache;
ivories, dolls, toys, puppets and masks; jewelry; decorative metal ware
including bidri work; paintings; terracotta and cane and bamboo work.
The Museum’s rare collections include the 250-300-year-old, Bhoota
Collection from Karnataka, rare Kashmiri 300-year-old ‘dushalas’,
handkerchiefs from Chamba, known for their unique embroidery, rare
brocade and Baluchari saris, Kutch embroidery, precious metal
jewellery; tribal bronzes from Chhattisgarh; carved wooden
architecture of Gujarat represented by a whole haveli (traditional
house), jharokha (balcony) and a palatial facade; embroidered, beaded
and printed wall hangings; saris employing techniques of ikat, jamdani,
tie-and-dye, etc.

4. The Craft
Madhubani painting or Mithila painting is a style of Indian painting, practiced in the Mithila
region of Bihar state, India, and the adjoining parts of Terai in Nepal
The Mithila region, from which the name Mithila art is derived, is believed to have been the
kingdom of King Janak. The exact location of it lies in present day Janakpur of Nepal.
Its Origin
The exact time when Mithila art originated is not known. According to local mythology, the
origin can be traced to the time of the Ramayana, when King Janak of Nepal ordered his
kingdom to decorate the town for the wedding of his daughter, Sita, to Lord Rama. The ancient
tradition of elaborate wall paintings in Nepal and Bihar played a major role in the emergence
of this new art form. The original inspiration for Madhubani art emerged from women’s craving
for religiousness and an intense desire to be one with God. With the belief that painting
something divine would achieve that desire, women began to paint pictures of gods and
goddesses with an interpretation so divine that captured the hearts of many. The paintings were
originally done on walls coated with mud and cow dung.
Materials, Colors and Motifs
The painting was traditionally done on freshly plastered mud walls and floors of huts, but now
they are also done on cloth, handmade paper and canvas with fingers, twigs, brushes, nib-pens,
and matchsticks, using natural dyes, pigments and rice ground paste. Charcoal and soot is used
for black, rice powder for white, turmeric for yellow, sandalwood for red, indigo for blue, and
so on.
Generally Madhubani painting are identified by the fact that there is no space in the
painting/canvas left uncovered. Typically the paintings will also have a margin or a border, but
this too will be embellished with geometrical patterns, or flowers, or other motifs. The colors
are bright, vibrant and eye catching. There is very little shading in the paintings, though not
entirely absent.
Madhubani paintings mostly depict the men & its association with nature and the scenes &
deity from the ancient epics. Popular motifs were - the sun, the moon, flowers, fish, trees,
animals, birds, geometric patterns and religious plants like basil along with scenes from the
royal court and social events like weddings. Traditionally, painting was one of the skills that
was passed down from generation to generation in the families of the Mithila Region, mainly
by women.

5. Picture Gallery
Figure 1: ram- sita swayamwar Figure 2: Fortune Fish
Figure 3: Ardhnareshwar Figure 4: Nataraj
Figure 5: A scene of Local Festival

6. IKAT

7. The Craft
Ikat, or Ikkat, is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles that employs a resist dyeing process
on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric.
In ikat the resist is formed by binding individual yarns or bundles of yarns with a tight wrapping
applied in the desired pattern. The yarns are then dyed. The bindings may then be altered to
create a new pattern and the yarns dyed again with another colour. This process may be
repeated multiple times to produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When the dyeing is
finished all the bindings are removed and the yarns are woven into cloth.
A characteristic of ikat textiles is an apparent "blurriness" to the design. The blurriness is a
result of the extreme difficulty the weaver has lining up the dyed yarns so that the pattern comes
out perfectly in the finished cloth. The blurriness can be reduced by using finer yarns or by the
skill of the craftsperson. Ikats with little blurriness, multiple colors and complicated patterns
are more difficult to create and therefore often more expensive. However, the blurriness that is
so characteristic of ikat is often prized by textile collectors.
Types
In WARP IKAT it is only the warp yarns that are dyed using the ikat technique. The weft
yarns are dyed a solid colour. The ikat pattern is clearly visible in the warp yarns wound onto
the loom even before the weft is woven in.
In WEFT IKAT it is the weaving or weft yarn that carries the dyed patterns. Therefore, the
pattern only appears as the weaving proceeds. Weft ikats are much slower to weave than warp
ikat because the weft yarns must be carefully adjusted after each passing of the shuttle to
maintain the clarity of the design.
DOUBLE IKAT is a technique in which both warp and the weft are resist-dyed prior to
weaving. Obviously it is the most difficult to make and the most expensive. Double ikat is only
produced in three countries: India, Japan and Indonesia. The double ikat made in Patan, Gujarat
in India is the most complicated. Called "patola," it is made using fine silk yarns and many
colours. It may be patterned with a small motif that is repeated many times across the length
of a six-meter sari. Sometimes the Patan double ikat is pictorial with no repeats across its
length. That is, each small design element in each colour was individually tied in the warp and
weft yarns. It's an extraordinary achievement in the textile arts.

8. Picture Gallery
Figure 1: Sambalpuri Ikat saree Figure 2: Ikat silk fabric
Figure 3: Ikat Saris Figure 4 Various Ikat Products
Figure 5: Patola Saree