COMMUNITIES INVOLVED: Originally from Arabia, the Haalepotra community settled in Sindh before moving to Banni about 400 years ago to practice thetraditional occupation of cattle rearing. Even today the men rear sheep, goats, cows and oxen. Elders of the Meghwaad Maarwaada community trace their ancestry to the Marwar region of Rajasthan. They say the community […]
COMMUNITIES INVOLVED: The Node community hails from an area called Vanga in Tharparkar in Sindh, Pakistan. All 15 subgroups originally resided there. Many Node families came towards Kutch and settled in different villages. Other families went straight to Badmer taluka in Rajasthan. They were farmers, zamindars (landlords) and cattle rearers. The women of this community […]
COMMUNITIES INVOLVED: Today Aari is practised in many parts of India. In Kutch and Banaskantha it is the craftspeople of the Mochi community that create Aari embroidery for Shrujan. The history of Aari embroidery shows that this embroidery did not belong to any specific community. Aari was a court embroidery (darbari bharat) done by male […]
COMMUNITIES INVOLVED: The Meghwaad Maaru community came to India as war refugees – a fact that has had a profound impact on the community.During the 1971 war between India and Pakistan, the Indian Army took control of some areas in Pakistan, including Tharparkar. In their own words; ‘when we realized that the land would be […]
COMMUNITIES INVOLVED: The Sodha and Jadeja communities share the same embroidery tradition. A senior craftswoman explains how this came about: ‘There is an age-old tradition of intermarriage between Sodha and Jadeja families. The Jadeja community has lived in Kutch ever since we can remember. Some say they did a little Huramjee bharat, but as far […]
In Sanskrit, saura means sun, and rastra means worship – the region was named after its ancient sun worshipingAryan inhabitants. It is the large central to southern peninsula of Gujarat which more recently is locally called Kathiawar or Kathiawad after the Kathi people.
The term neran is derived from the word nen- which means eyes/eyebrow. If you look closely at the pair of shorts and the fabric bag, the smaller diamond in white denotes the eye, the surrounding curved design in brighter colours symbolises the brow. And the entire motif is always outlined by black thread. This style […]
Mutwa embroidery, done by the women, is distinguished by its dense design and exceptionally fine stitches and mirror-work. Mutwa women rarely, if ever, step out of their homes even for festivities and weddings, yet their crafts tradition has transformed them from homemakers to breadwinners. The community’s tryst with embroidery as a means of income started […]
The Jats are a conglomeration of peoples who live in parts of Pakistan and northwestern India (Haryana, Gujarat, Kutch, and Rajasthan). Traditionally they make their living by herding or farming. The diversity of the Jats means that they may be Hindus, Muslims, or Sikhs. The Kutch Jats are known for their embroidery work, which comes […]
Pakko work is carried out by women of the Sodha, Rajput and Meghwal communities in the Kutch area of Gujarat, Northwest India. The motifs are generally geometric and floral, sometimes with stylized figures of peacocks or scorpions. The motifs are traditionally first drawn with mud, and then worked in maroon or red, dark green, white, […]