Kalamkari Painting

Kalamkari or Qalamkari is a type of hand-painted or block-printed cotton textile, produced in parts of India. The word is derived from the Persian words ghalam (pen) and kari (craftmanship), meaning drawing with a pen (Ghalamkar).

• The Machilipatnam Kalamkari craft made at Pedana near by Machilipatnam in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, evolved with patronage of the Mughals and the Golconda sultanate.

There are two distinctive styles of kalamkari art in India - 

1. one, the Srikalahasti style and the other, 
2. the Machilipatnam style of art. 

Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari

The Srikalahasti style of Kalamkari, wherein the "kalam" or pen is used for free hand drawing of the subject and filling in the colours, is entirely hand worked. 

This style flowered around temples and their patronage and so had an almost religious identity - scrolls, temple hangings, chariot banners and the like, depicted deities and scenes taken from the great Hindu epics - Ramayana, Mahabarata, Puranas and the mythological classics. 

This style owes its present status to Smt. Kamaladevi Chattopadhayay who popularized the art as the first Chairperson of the All India Handicrafts Board. Only natural dyes are used in Kalamkari and it involves seventeen painstaking steps.

Masulipatnam Kalamkari:-

Owing to Muslim rule in Golconda, the Masulipatnam Kalamkari was influenced by Persian motifs & designs, widely adapted to suit their taste. 

The outlines and main features are done using hand carved blocks. The finer details are later done using the pen. 

Under the British rule the designs as well as the end use of the fabric differed - for garments as well as furnishings. During this period floral designs were popular. The artisans were made to create even portraits of English men. 

GI tag

The Government of India, under the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act 1999, has issued GI tag to the Kalamkari industry in 2012 but it has failed to keep vigil on maintaining the process and production standards claimed by the production units in the registry.

Pen:-

The artists use a bamboo or date palm stick pointed at one end with a bundle of fine hair attached to this pointed end to serve as the brush or pen.

Colour:-

The dyes are obtained by extracting colors form parts of plants - roots, leaves along with mineral salts of iron, tin, copper, alum, etc., which are used as mordants. 

Karrupur style of Kalamkari:-

Karrupur is a style of Kalamkari that developed in the Thanjavur region during the Maratha rule. The Kalamkari work was a further embellishment to the gold brocade work in the woven fabric, which was used as sarees & dhotis by the royal family during the period of Raja Sarfoji and later Raja Shivaji.

• After independence of India, the Handicrafts Development Board took up the task of reviving this art, which had dwindled due to lack of buyers.