Pedana Kalamkari

What is Pedana Kalamkari?

Pedana Kalamkari is one branch of kalamkari, the Indian craft of dyeing cloth and printing patterns onto it. Here the colouring matter comes from plants, and the pattern is pressed in with wooden blocks, which is why the sources describe the work as block-painting. Its second name, Machilipatnam Kalamkari, comes from the port city it sits beside. The cloth is made in Pedana, a town in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh. Saris are among the goods produced this way, together with bedsheets, curtains and wall hangings. India has two kalamkari styles; this is one of them, Srikalahasti the other.

Where does Pedana Kalamkari come from?

The style grew up under Mughal rule and was practised in the Golconda Sultanate, the article says. Its history runs deep: a wall hanging in this work, dated to the 15th century AD, is still displayed at the Victoria Museum in London. Andhra Pradesh later entered the craft on India's geographical indication register as a handicraft, which gives Pedana's makers a recognised claim to the name. That registration also draws a boundary. Under the authorised-user terms the work may be done only in Pedana town and a short list of villages beside it in Krishna district's Guduru mandal: Polavaram, Kappaladoddi and Machilipatnam.

How is Pedana Kalamkari made?

Fabric is the base material and dye is the other. The colouring matter is vegetable, taken from plants, and it goes onto the cloth by hand with wooden blocks rather than by drawing. Each block carries part of the design and is pressed down in turn, so the pattern is built across the surface piece by piece. The sources call the result dyed block-painting and class it as a handicraft, handwork done in small workshops. There is no metal thread in the account, and no weaving step. The article gives no dye recipe, no production time and no list of the woods the blocks are cut from.

Colours, motifs and borders

The pattern travels on the block, so it is assembled by repetition, one impression after another, until the cloth is covered. Colour comes from the plant dyes; the sources name no particular shade. They name no motif either. What they do set out is the range of goods the design is applied to: saris and other clothing, and for the home, bedsheets, curtains and wall hangings. The oldest record of the design they mention is a hanging kept at the Victoria Museum in London, dated to the 15th century.

How Pedana Kalamkari is worn

The sari is one of the products listed for this craft, along with bedsheets and curtains. The sources describe no drape of its own for it, so a Pedana kalamkari sari is a sari like any other on the Andhra coast: wrapped and tucked at the waist, with the loose end carried over the shoulder. No special blouse shape and no special pleating are recorded for it. The decoration sits in the printed cloth itself rather than in a woven border or a heavy end piece.

When Pedana Kalamkari is worn

The sources tie no festival, rite or wedding to this cloth. Its occasions are the ordinary ones. It appears in the house as a wall hanging, a bedsheet or a curtain, and on the body as a sari. That places it among working crafts rather than ceremonial ones, made to be used, sold and looked at. The article names no holy day, no bridal use and no royal ceremony, so nothing more specific can be claimed for it.

Styles of Pedana Kalamkari

India has two kalamkari traditions, and this is the Machilipatnam one; the other is Srikalahasti, named after its own town. The sources separate them by name and place, and do not compare their methods. What varies within Pedana work, as the article describes it, is the finished article rather than the printing: the same dyed, block-printed cloth is turned into a sari, a bedcover, a curtain or a hanging. The article says nothing about imitations, powerloom copies, or how to tell a hand-printed piece from a machine-made one.

What Pedana Kalamkari means

The registration carries weight. It puts Pedana Kalamkari on India's geographical indication list for handicrafts from Andhra Pradesh and fences off the places where the name may be used: Pedana and a small group of villages in Krishna district. That protects a local livelihood as much as a label. The craft also holds a longer memory, from Mughal times and the Golconda Sultanate to a museum wall in London, where a hanging from the 15th century is still displayed.

Questions people ask about Pedana Kalamkari

Good reading and sources

• Pedana Kalamkari made of natural colours gets GI tagDeccan Herald, Article
• Pedana Kalamkari art form gets GI tagThe Hindu, Article

• Pedana kalamkari on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data