Jaipur Pink city of India has herbal colours for fabric printing for generations ‘Sanganer’ and ‘Bagru’ towns of Jaipur district are famous for fabric-printing throughout the country.
PLANTS FOR FABRIC PRINTING ‘Sanganer’ and ‘Bagru’ towns of Jaipur district are famous for fabric-printing throughout the country. ‘Sanganer’ is also known for the hand made paper, used for making account books and paintings of traditional style paper. In printing of fabric and painting, various kinds of dyes and coloures used are of vegetable origin. Each community wear specific costume by which one can recognise the caste and sub-caste of the wearer. Their costumes are characterized by their colour and motifs, like flowers, leaves and birds. The tribal ladies of this area, have a set of three articles as their attire, Ghaghara, a closely gathered skirt, Kanchli, corset and loogri, a long scarf which is partially wrapped around the body and partly thrown over the head as a veil. Tribal men have a set of three items as their dress, truban, variously called Safa, Phenta or Pagri, a Shirt called Bandi and Dhoti to cover loins. The “Chippa” community, resides in interior parts of the old city and surrounding villages of Jaipur city, had occupation of fabric block printing, with hundred of motifs and designs of floral pattern. The dress materials are printed in colours obtained from vegetable kingdom. The fabrics are first subjected to dipping in a solution of astringents to prepare them to receive the dyes through wooden blocks, and after printing to bear the long process of steaming, exposure to sunlight and running water. Fabric designs from Plants In printing the most common motifs and designs are constructed from plant parts, like seeds, leaves, fruits, various climbers, etc. Some traditional designs based on plants are given a specific name as “Channa dal pharad” (Cicer arietinum), “Dhaniya Chakari ki pharad” (Coriandrum sativum), “Keri ki pharad” (Mangifera indica), etc. Plants used in fabric printing are: S.No. Name of the plant Designs used from plant part 1 Aegle marmelos Leaves 2 Azadirachta indica Leaves and fruits 3 Bauhinia variegata Leaves 4 Cicer arietinum Seed 5 Chrysanthemum indicum Flowers 6 Coriandrum sativum Leaves and Flowers 7 Datura metel Flowers and fruits 8 Elaeocarpus sphaericus Fruits 9 Ficus religiosa Leaves 10 Helianthus annus Flowers 11 Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Flowers 12 Impatiens balsamina Flowers and leaves 13 Iris ensata Flowers 14 Mangifera india Leaves and fruits 15 Michelia champaca Flowers 16 Musa paradisiaca Bud 17 Narcisus tazelta Flowers 18 Nelumbo nucifera Flowers 19 Nerium indicum Flowers and leaves 20 Nymphaea spp. Flowers 21 Papaver somniferum Flowers 22 Piper betel Leaves 23 Rosa alba and R. damascena Flowers 24 Tagetes erecta Flowers 25 Vitis vinifera Fruit and Climber Printing dyes from plants The dyes for printing is obtained from plant materials. The fruits of Terminalia chebula are commonly used to give yellow colour to ‘pharad’ before printing. Gum obtained from seeds of Cyamopsis tetragonoloba and stem of Azadirachta indica are used as thickener for the colour. The bright black colour is prepared from Terminalia chebula and fruits of Phyllanthus emblica and for sizing the cloth starch, Triticum aestivum is used. Following plants used in printing as dyes : S.No. Name of plant Dye 1 Azadirachta indica Gum extracted from the stem is used to make colour concentrate 2 Butea monosperma Flowers yield a flating yellow dye 3 Carthamus tinctorium Flowers yield a golden yellow dye 4 Curcuma longa Rhizome yield a yellow dye 5 Cyamopsis tetragonoloba Gum extracted from the seeds is used to make colour concentrate 6 Indigofera tinctoria The colouring matter indigotin is present in the from of glucoside, indican in the leaf. 7 Nyctanthus orbortrisitis Flowers yield orange brown dye 8 Punica granatum Rind fruit bark yield light yellow dye 9 Terminalia chebula Fruits yield yellow dye Plants used in wooden blocks The engraved wooden blocks are used for printing purpose and the designs are made on wooden blocks by engraving. These wooden blocks are made out of the wood of various plant species listed below : S.No. Name of plant 1 Ailanthus excelsa 2 Dalbergia sissoo 3 Dipterocarpus turbinatus 4 Lannea coromandelica 5 Mangifera indica 6. Tectona grandis Sanganeri paper The well known hand made Sanganeri paper is prepared from the house waste materials, like waste papers, cloth and bags made belonging to plant kingdom. The method of paper manufacturing is old and primitive type. A thin layer of paper sheet is obtained by diluting pulp with the help of an iron net. The sheets obtained are dried on the house walls by exposing them to sun rays. In manufacturing process, gum obtained from Azadirachta indica, Acacia nilotica or Anogeissus pendula is used as binding media. The paper obtained by this process is rough and coarse, but contains large amount of fibres. The dried petals obtained from various flowers, mostly from compositae family, are also mixed in the pulp. These petals provided a natural random motifs in papers. A thick, hand made paper known as “Wasli” also prepared in Sanganer and its widely used for painting purpose. Various kinds of colour for painting purpose are obtained from plant materials too, some of these are: Black Colour : Earthen cup filled with seed oil of Sesamum indicum, a cotton wick saturated with oil is placed in a cup and lit up, then a globular earthen pot is placed over the flame. The lamp black sticking to the inner side of the pot is then scraped, kneaded in an earthen pot and allowed to dry, it should be mixed with gum of Azadirachta indica, levitated and then dried. • Black colour, for sketching purpose made from the mixture of lamp black and boiled rice. • Blue colour is obtained from leaves of Indigofera tinctoria. • A valuable yellow colour, exclusively used in Jaipur style of paintings known as “Pavedi”, is obtained from the leaves of Mangifera indica.