Woven wonder

Bengal’s kantha has moved out of humble rural homes to the designer abodes of the cognoscenti. Behind this popularity are the unknown faces of ordinary women with a rich imagination and designers who tapped its potential, finds Ranjita Biswas.

TWO years ago, in a beautiful Victorian manor along the banks of the Thames river, where the royal swans glided past, an exhibition on kantha collection created a stir. Recently, in Kolkata on the bank of the Hooghly, which was once the British capital, another exhibition, "Kantha Kaleidoscope" on the British Council premises made it a conversation piece with its innovative designs. Bengal’s home-grown craft, kantha is going places, indeed. As Shamlu Dudeja, an exponent of the art and the force behind the exhibitions recalls, "In that exquisite (England) home, among artefacts worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, a rust-coloured wall hanging with a dense cream-coloured geometric pattern hung on the wall..."

The current popularity of kantha across the country, and now abroad too, as a fashion statement has a very humble beginning, like many Indian crafts. Kantha, in Bengali, literally means a quilt. Bengali women made quilts from old saris, folding them into layers and using itinerant running stitches with threads picked from the sari borders. It is warm as a wrap and soft for babies too. Rural women gave free rein to their imagination in colourful designs or flowers they saw, the pond they went to bathe in, or the conch shell they blew in the evening. From an ordinary stitch it morphed into the beautiful nakshi kantha, a connoisseur’s delight.

Kantha-work also has a contemporary touch. The western influence of colonialism made its appearance as a sahib in a palki or a memsahib with a parasol, for example. Some of the best kantha quilts made in Satgaon, the old capital of Bengal, using unbleached silken threads were turned out under Portuguese patronage, Dudeja informs. A piece at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum has concentric circles along its borders, with the centre filled with Portuguese coats-of-arm and sailing ships. But it’s also true that like many Indian handicrafts during British rule, kantha suffered too. Rabindranath Tagore’s daughter-in-law Pratima Devi tried to revive it though it was not a commercial success. In the post-Independence period, particularly under freedom fighter Phulrenu Guha and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (the person behind Cottage Industries), kantha made a comeback. But its present popularity can be traced to the ‘80s. Today, from batuas and menswear to intricately woven saris, it’s been on the fashion trail.

Designers have also been constantly trying to innovate. Dudeja says, "Original kantha, nakshi kantha, was a multi-layered sewing to produce coverlets and small asanas for the deity of the house, in spontaneously chosen colours, depending upon the threads available. Now, kantha is being done on single layers of new silks and tussars, and is being done on fabrics for tailored garments such as salwar-kurtas and jackets."

Dudeja notes that abroad, the NRIs often buy dress material such as saris and salwar-kurtas while the foreigners buy household linen, throws, bedspreads, and, of course, scarves, bags and slippers done in kantha. Dudeja, a mathematician by profession, is also trying to introduce geometric patterns`A0 like the honeycomb, the spiral, and other more complex designs. Concentric circles, squares and rhombuses were designs which women artisans had mastered centuries ago.`A0"In fact, there’s a sophisticated iron instrument which was earlier used to draw out concentric circles." She has also introduced muted colours, embroidery with threads of the same colour as the base fabric, and the white on cream.`A0"I was presented with a printed warli design sari about 10 years ago. I asked my girls to recreate the warli patterns with kantha, which they did successfully. Now warli designs are very popular.`A0White on tussar, black on tussar, a dusky sea blue on tussar, selected browns and beiges on black .... they have worked beautifully." Another very successful innovation has been the introduction of beads and sequins, strategically placed along the border and palloo of a sari or dupatta.`A0 This does not detract from the original beauty of kantha, but adds to it, and attracts many buyers, she says.

Their designs also depict socially significant themes, like the condition of women, wife-beating and bride-burning, water pumps(which indicate lack of availability of potable water), etc.
One problem is the cost of the materials/saris. The more intricate the stitches the more expensive the fabric. But this also affects the affordability and it has spawned kitsch kantha available in the market.

"Good kantha is expensive.`A0Creating new kanthas means a lot of experimentation and payments to artists, especially from the semi-urban areas. Then, we have to pay our supervisors to visit the interiors and find women who have some spare time which they can devote to an income-generating project.`A0 We also don’t compromise on the fabric and threads," Dudeja defends, adding, "As for the kitsch kantha, it’s produced by those who have no concern for the quality of fabric, design and the colours."

The popularity of kantha has meant economic independence and empowerment to hundreds of poor Bengali women. Today, many girls train in the craft after their schooling.

Bengal’s kantha is now being adapted by a project involving women in Chhattisgarh too. This has been possible, Dudeja says, through the initiative of Renu Jogi, the Chief Minister’s wife. Impressed by this craft, she sent a group of 10 women to train with the kantha workers, so that they could in turn train the tribal women.`A0This work is now called marwahi, after the name of the place where this project began.`A0 Another similar project began with the women prisoners in Raipur.

Clearly, kantha has not stagnated. The craft has remained as traditional as it is contemporary. TWF

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