Leheriya

What is Leheriya?

Leheriya is a tie-dye craft from Rajasthan in western India. The base is a thin cotton or silk, cut into lengths that suit a turban, a dupatta or a sari. What you see is diagonal bands of colour that bend instead of running straight. Makers fold and bind the cloth by hand before it goes near a dye bath. The name comes from lahara, the Sanskrit word for wave, and the pattern is meant to echo what wind does to desert sand. Jaipur and Jodhpur are the best known centres, and the work also continues in Udaipur and Nathdwara.

Where does Leheriya come from?

The style belongs to Rajasthan and is described as a craft found only in that state. Its wave designs are said to take after lines the wind draws on the sand of western Rajasthan. The word leheriya traces back to lahara, Sanskrit for wave. Turbans in this dye were ordinary business wear for men in Rajasthan through the 1800s and into the early 1900s. Production carried on in Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and Nathdwara, and the cloth has also appeared in fashion shows, among them a beach collection by Malini Ramani at the Delhi fashion show in spring 2006.

How is Leheriya made?

Work begins with a thin cotton or silk. The piece is rolled from one corner across to the far selvedge, then bound tightly at set spacing. Folds fan out before the dye is applied, and those folds decide where the waves fall. Traditional practice uses natural colour and repeated washing, with indigo or alizarin in the last stage. For mothara, the bindings come off, the cloth is rolled again along the other diagonal and tied a second time, leaving a checkered field with small undyed spots at even gaps. Moth means lentil in Hindi, and the spots are about that size.

Colours, motifs and borders

The pattern is a set of diagonal bands that ripple rather than run straight, a stripe with a bend in it. Colour comes from the dye bath; indigo and alizarin are the traditional dyes named, and the cloth stays pale wherever a tie held it back. Mothara adds a second direction, so the finished piece reads as checks, dotted at regular intervals with tiny lentil-sized patches that took no colour. Lengths are prepared for turbans, dupattas and saris. Borders and a decorated end are not recorded for this cloth in the sources.

How Leheriya is worn

Leheriya is less one drape than a cloth worn several ways. It is prepared in lengths for turbans, for dupattas and for saris, and it was as a turban that it entered everyday male dress in Rajasthan. The sources describe no special method of tying a sari in this fabric, so the drape follows whatever local style the wearer already uses. The cloth is thin, which suits hot, dry weather.

When Leheriya is worn

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries a leheriya turban was standard business dress for men in Rajasthan, so the cloth belonged to working life and not only to ceremonies. It is still made in Jodhpur, Jaipur, Udaipur and Nathdwara. Sellers leave the ties on most of a piece and open only a small part to show the pattern, which stands as evidence that the binding and dyeing were done by hand. The cloth has also had a small life on the fashion runway.

Styles of Leheriya

The plain wave is the base form. Mothara is the variant made by binding the cloth a second time along the opposite diagonal, which gives checks with pale dots at regular gaps. It is named for the lentil, moth in Hindi, because of the size of those dots. Beyond this the sources record no named sub-styles. The cloth turns up now and then in designer lines, such as Malini Ramani's beach collection shown in Delhi in spring 2006.

What Leheriya means

Leheriya carries a state's identity: it is described as a craft of Rajasthan alone, with its reputation resting on Jaipur and Jodhpur. The pattern is tied to the landscape, since the waves are read as wind marks on desert sand. The trade dressed turban wearers for decades and later drew fashion designers. The sources name no Geographical Indication or other official status, and no weaving community by name. Related resist traditions listed alongside it are bandhani, shibori, sungudi and tritik.

Questions people ask about Leheriya

Good reading and sources

• Leheriya on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data