BAGH PRINTS : Cluster of Blocks

 Traditional hand block printing

This is a 400- year-old traditional block printing, using natural ingredients with labour- intensive technique.

Purpose of Blog

 A detail study of the craft, the people, the social background, the culture, the geographic's of the place. It consist of a detail analysis of  how the craft started, how it all involved in certain place. It is also about knowing how important this craft is for the people who are still preserving it. 

 

Introduction to Bagh village

Bagh is a village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. Bagh gets its name from the ancient Bageshwari devi temple and is famous both for the ancient Bagh caves, which are set to be more than half a million years old, as well as for Bagh printing. It is around 150 km from Indore, the commercial capital of the state. This area is hilly terrain with thick forest cover and a consideration tribal population, mostly Bhills and Bhillalas. Other communities residing here are other backward casters (OBCs) like Kurmis and Sirvi, and some muslims, who are traditionally weavers. Bagh printing is done exclusively in Bagh village in Dhar.

Mirchi Bhajiya is Famous in Bagh village.

FestivalBhagoria haat is a festival celebrated  by  the tribal people. They dance on traditional musical instruments and songs and enjoy whole day with meeting people of the region. It is celebrated by tribes of  madhya pradesh, in the month of march before the festival of holi. 

The Bagh caves are group of nine rock-cut monuments, situated among the southern slope of the  Vindhyas in Bagh town of Dhar district. This monuments are located at the distance of 97 km. from Dhar town. these are renowned for mural paintings by master painters of Ancienet India. The use of the word “cave” is a bit of a misnomer, since these are not natural, but instead example of Indian rock-cut architecture. The Bagh caves, like those at Ajnata, where excavated by master craftsman on perpendicular sandstones rock phase of a heal on the far bank of a seasonal stream, the Bhagni. The Bagh caves where quarried in the 5th- 6th century AD, in the very late stages of buddhism in India, and long after most of the Indian Bhuddist cave had being build, many of them since the 2nd  or 1st century BCE.

The paintings on the wall and silling of the Viharas of Bagh, the fregments of which are still visible in 3rd and 4th caves. this painting are materialistic rather then spiritualistic. the ground prepared  was reddish brown gritty and thick mud plaster, lime primimng was done , on which this painting were executed.

About Bagh Print

Bagh Print, started by the community of Muslim Khatris  in 1962 when they migrated from Manawar to Bagh. Their antecedents are traced to Larkana in Sindh (now in Pakistan) from where they shifted base to Marwad in Rajasthan and then to Manawar; the printing technique prevalent in Sind which they practiced is known as Ajrak prints. However, the reasons for their migration from Sindh across the Indus is not clear. They came with their traditional art form of the block printing process and continued at their new place of settlement but with innovations to meet the local trends and practices in the region; this came to be known as Bagh printing as they settled on the banks of the Bagh river in the village of the same name.
Bagh print is listed as a geographically tagged & is protected under geographical indication of goods 1999 of the government of India.

Raw Materials

The raw materials involved are base fabrics of cotton or silk, natural dyes and wooden blocks.
In Bagh Printing, only Natural dyes are used, main colours being black and red. 
For making black colour, a mixture of harada and iron ore is used. 
For Red, a mixture of Alum and Dhavda Flower is used. 
These dyes are extracted and prepared locally.

Wooden Blocks or Billals are the main tools used in printing. These blocks are made of Teakwood Slabs. Blocks are generally bought from Gujrat of sagavan wood.

Printing table are raised Wooden Blocks, around 5ft in length and 3ft in breadth. They are raised from the ground using bricks and wooden blocks to height of about 9 inches. covered with plain cloth for protection, these are used by the artisans for printing. Printing is done very carefully because even a small disturbance can ,make the printing . 

Sources of Inspiration

The designs are inspired by nature, wildlife, architecture and the ancient Bagh Cave paintings. Name of the blocks are as follows: Genda (Marigold flower), maithir or makkhi (mushroom), leheriya (waves), keri (mango), saaj (border), nariyal Jaal (inspired by Taj Mahal), tikoni (triangular), chaukdi (rectangular), dhaari (stripes), mitthu Boota (inspired by parrot) and jurvaria (polka dots).
200 and 300-year-old  based on traditional motifs inspired by the 1,500-year-old paintings found in caves in the region. 

Process of Bagh Print

Preparing Wooden Blocks

• Preparation of design- The master weaver prepares design on graph paper. This is normally a geometrical pattern or a natural design with flowers and leaves.

• Selecting the wood for the blocks- Teak wood pieces without defects like warping, knots, or irrregular granules are selected for the prepration of wooden blocks.

• Engraving designs on the blocks- The craftmens engraves the delicate designs on the block using sharp carpentry tools.

• Preserving the blocks- Once prepared, these blocks are emersed in oil for a few days to provide greater stability to them and to protect them against warping and insect attack.

Preparation of Fabric

• Khara karna- The fabric is first washed in running water/river, but due to shortage of river water, it is now done at workshop. For this process, the fabric is dipped in plain water for morning to evening in cemented tanks .

• Megni Karna- The cloth is brought back to the worshop, and dipped in solution of castor oil, sanchora( raw sea salt) & goats dunk/dropping is being prepared. fabric is soaked for two hours & the fabric is kept for one night so the heat produces in the fabric.then dry it on stones in sunlight. 

• Treating with Harana- After mangni karna the fabric has to be treated with a solution of harana powder, 15 to 20 kg of harana soaked in 20 liters of water. after which the fabric is dyed in it & the dryed. The fabric is now ready for printing.

• Printing- At these stage cloth is pattentily printed by hand with the help of small design block. the design are transfered very neatly on the cloth. it takes minimum 2 weeks for the colours to be absorbed by the fabric.

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After Printing Process

• Vichaliya process- Now the fabric is washed in flowing water. These process can be done only in river because the print should not overlape each other otherwise the dyes colours spread on the fabric.

• Bhatti process- In order to provide the Bagh print cloth their characteristic contrast and finishing, the cloth passes though the boiling process for this alizarin and dhavadi flowers are boiled together in big copper containers concealed in a cement structure under which a fire using wood, leaves, etc.  The printed cloth is put in these vessels and is left to boil there for five to six hours. The red printed portion, which has alum, takes its color by reacting with alizarin. At the same time, the dhavadi flower works like bleach on the unprinted portions, which have beendyed with harada to make it white after boiling. 

• Bleaching- After drying the cloth is taken to the stream where it is washed three or four times. this process is called “Tarai”. In the bleaching process Bleach is mixed in a vat of plain water. the fabric is dipped in bleach , washed quickly in river and then dried.

• Dyeing- Red: for making red dye, a solution of alum and the powder of tamarind seed is boiled and left to cool in a plastic vessel. This solution is then filtered through fine cloth. for deep colour dye less viscous solution is used and for fine printing thick solution is used. Black: Black dye is  prepared by mixing alum and iron ore. violet: for this indigo is used. Yellow: for this turmeric used.

• Over dyeing- Sometimes, if the colour is not as bright as it should be or it is as required that two shades of the same colour as show up sepreataly, over dyeing is done.

• Finishing- After this process, through which the cloth gets claer red, black colours , it is left on pebbles to dry. packing follows the drying process, and the cloth is then ready to be marketed.

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• Collection of Bagh Print, a touch of tradition to the contemporary living

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