‘Town bred’ doll popular in Darbhanga, Bihar.

Plain cotton material used on top of the printing blanket to prevent this becoming soiled with excess dye.

A two-bar frameless loom with a backstrap, belt or wooden yoke passing around the weaver’s back and secured to the breast-beam. The leaning forwards or backwards against the strap, while at the other end of the warp, another beam, known as the warp-beam, is held secure. It is also known as a back-tension loom or a body tension loom.

A thick variety of flattened metallic wire.

Closely-woven silk fabric with all over or partly gold or silver thread patterns used specially for garments.

Necklace with floral design.

Punjabi woman's ceremonial shawl, where almost all the fabric is covered with embroidery; see also Phulkari.

A style of the Phulkari embroidery of Punjab that covers the entire surface of the fabric such that only the floss silk is visible.

(lit.’garden’) A Punjabi woman’s shawl worn at weddings and some other ceremonies. Embroidered in heer (floss) silk so that the background of hand-woven khaddar cloth is almost completely covered.

Tie-dyed shoulder cloth traditionally worn by Harijan women of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Type of the doll made in Sawantwadi, Maharashtra.

Armband worn on the upper arm; from baju, meaning upper arm and bandh, meaning to tie around.

Back stitch; part of the repertoire of nakshi kantha embroidery.

Rounded bangle.

Child Krishna

Earring.

A pillow cover with Kantha embroidery,Bengal.

A flat, single piece, pillow cover in Kantha embroidery.

A suburban village, famous for its highly skilled silk weavers who used an indigenous technique, the jala system, to produce intricate designs on the loom. The last master-weaver of the Baluchar tradition. Dubraj, died before the end of the 19th century. The Baluchar village itself also disappeared with the shifting course of the Ganges river.
Baluchar had enjoyed the special patronage of the Murshidabad court since the 17th century and developed a school of design where stylised forms of human and animal figures were most interestingly integrated with floral and geometrical motifs in the elaborately woven material. The Nawabs and Musilm aristocrats used the material produced in raw silk mainly as tapestry, but Hindu noblemen had it made into saris in which the ground scheme of decoration became a very wide pallav, often with a panel of large mango or paisley motifs at the centre. Efforts to revive the fine Baluchar tradition have recently yielded some success.
Surrounded by smaller rectangles depicting different scenes. The sari borders were narrow and had floral and foliage motifs and the whole ground of the sari was covered with small paisley and other floral designs in restrained but bright colour schemes.
An interesting feature of earlier Baluchari saris was the stylised bird and animal motifs that were incorporated in the paisley and other floral decorations.
The silk yarn used at Baluchar was not twisted and therefore had a soft, heavy texture. The ground colours in which the cloth was available were limited, but they were permanent and are still fresh after hundreds of years.
In recent years, expert weavers in Jiaganj in Murshidabad and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh have successfully reproduced old Baluchar saris, using the traditional jala technique.

A type of silk brocade sari produced in Baluchar in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal in the 18th and 19th centuries, with supplementary weft motifs of diagonal rows of small flowers worked on the central field and in the same technique vivid depictions of warriors, aristocrats, ships, carriages and cannon on the pallav end pieces. True Baluchar saris have not been made since about 1900, but copies made in the traditional manner have been produced at Varanasi since the mid-1950s.

Women who do the tying for the tie-dye pattern.

The Gujarati word for the resist technique of tie-and-dye.

Common term for a Hindu shopkeeper, merchant or money-lender.

Technique of tie-dyeing designs on cloth in minute dots, distinctive of Gujarat.

Hair Ornament.

Common term for a Hindu shopkeeper, merchant or money-lender.

A tribe of north Indian origin who are reputed to have moved south to the Deccan plateau when transporting the baggage train of Aurangzeb’s invading army.
Their traditional caste occupation was carting. Now they are classed as gypsies and sometimes as farmers. Banjara women produce some of the most intricately stitched folk embroidery in all India.

Twisted anklet.

Worker in cane and bamboo in North India.

Tongs.

Design that is diamond shape/half diamond, named after a sweet of this shape.

A toran (embroidered doorway hanging) in the shape of an arch from Kutch and Saurashtra.

Smooth fabric made from a fibrous plant substance, usually inner bark or bast, which is softened, flattened and felted by soaking and beating.

With twelve triangles, or segments; see aatchala.

Strong fibrous plant material - e.g. hemp, ramie, flax, nettle and banana - which was commonly used for woven cloth and in many areas predated the introduction of cotton.

The background weave or foundation of the fabric into which supplementary elements are interlaced.

Wedding head-dress among the Warli tribals of Maharashtra.

A cover for plates, with Kantha embroidery, Bengal.

A style of weave in which the pattern has the appearance of matting or basketry.

An often somewhat rigid fabric constructed of interlocking fibres which are no woven on a loom with shed openings. Also known as basketry interlacing.

‘Soft’ fibre obtained from the stem structure of dicotyledonous plants.

Metal embroidery on silk base.

A Javanese word for a resist process of patterning and dying cloth with wax. Such fabrics reached fantastic heights of virtuosity on the island of Java in Indonesia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries after the introduction of machine-made cotton fabrics permitted more finely controlled designs.

Shellac or purified lac, and lacquer, are used as bases into which mineral colour pigments are mixed and moulded into cubes of coloured lac called battis. The surface of the wooden object is first smoothened so that cracks and pores may be filled in. A batti of the required colour is pressed onto it while it revolves on the lathe. The heat generated as a consequence causes the lac to melt and spread over the wooden object.

Small envelope shaped bag for keeping money or betel leaves etc.

The Bauls are a mystic sect of Bengal whose religious observance is expressed largely in music and dance. They have a very rich musical tradition with their own typical instruments on which they accompany their songs and dances. Their settlements, small communes called akharas, are scattered throughout East (Bangladesh) and West Bengal. Mostly drawn from rural lower and, occasionally, upper caste Hindus, Bauls, both men and women, leave their homes and society to join the community life of the akharas. Caste distinctions are shed and they are all equals.

Itinerant minstrals of Bengal.

Spindle-shaped motif in Orissan sari.

Half-rounded bangle.

The threading of small beads on to the weft yarn before it is inserted into the warp.

A general term for the application of bead networks or strips of beads to a ground fabric.

A bark-cloth beater is a mallet with a textured stone or wooden head, used to pound the softened bark fibres into a flat fabric.

Bamboo basket for carrying seeds in Sarguja, Madhya Pradesh.

Meander or zigzag motif in Kantha embroidery, Bengal.

Wavy pattern in Kantha embroidery, Bengal.

Rolling pin, in Northern India.

Votive terracotta figure of a monkey on wheels in Bastar, Madhya Pradesh.

A pair of curved tongs meant for pots.

An embroidered, appliquéd or beadwork hanging which is hung right across the walls of kathi houses in Saurashtra, Gujarat.

Nose ornament.

Hindu month between August and September.

Priest of the Dushadh community of Bihar.

Javelin in Northern India.

Cannabis sattvica.

A caste of Hindu farmers who are largely settled in Kutch but can also be found in Saurashtra and the rest of Gujarat.

Embroidery in Kutch, Gujarat.

A caste of herders found in Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat.

A bard, often performing the function of genealogist, Rajasthan.

Kiln.

A caste of Hindu traders who are mainly centred in Kutch.

Loose warp at edges.

See Besan.

Paintings or drawings executed on a wall.

Itinerant narrator performers of the painted scrolls of Rajasthan, sometimes accredited with shamanistic powers.

The filler stitch, which unlike satin stitch is heavy on the surface and very light on the reverse, Kutch, Gujarat.

The bhuj or katti, as its name implies, is the well known dagger from the city of Bhuj in Kutch, Gujarat but it was also popular in Sind as well as north India. The bhuj is a dagger with a unique shape. The blade is about 4 centimetres wide and about 20 centimetres long, with an S-shaped edge. The grip is of steel, circular in section and is about 50 centimetres long, i.e. it is more than twice as long as the blade. At the base of the blade is a stylised elephant head and for this reason it is sometimes called an ‘elephant dagger’. Due to its axed like shape the weapon is sometimes also referred to as an axe knife. The bhuj is, in fact, a combination weapon which can be used for thrusting and piercing as well as for slashing and cutting; its log grip is also suitable for two handed use.

Paintings or drawings executed on the floor to enhance its beauty.

Light wood used in Varanasi to make toys.

Attendants of Shiva.

Deities of coastal Karnataka.

Shrine of bhuta deities of coastal Karnataka, usually near a peepal (ficus religiosa) or banyan tree.

Toe rings worn by married women in Bundelkhand, Madhya Pradesh.

The bichwa literally means a scorpion. This dagger was originally a Maratha weapon, and has a short, two edged, double curved blade. The hilt, which is padded towards its knuckles, is formed as a loop in which the hand is placed.

Bidri describes metalwork produced by a technique found only in India: objects are cast from an alloy in which zinc predominates but which may include small amounts of lead as well as copper and tin. The surface of the object is made smooth and a solution of copper sulphate darkens it temporarily for the next stage of engraving. The engraving tools cut the design into the metal, which is then lighter in colour than the darkened surface and enables the pattern to be seen more clearly.
The inlay of gold and/or silver wire on the blackened surface is called bidri after Bidar, a town of its patronage and production for nearly 300 years in the Deccan. The inlay process involves sketching the design onto the surface of the object using a kalam or a needle-sharp implement and then engraving and chasing the design with a cheelne-ki- kalam or chisel. This is followed by the chappat-kalam or the blunt-edged chisel for precisely embedding the fine silver or gold wires, previously drawn from a taar-patti having holes of varying diameters, onto the surface. This technique is also called tarkashi.

Inlay of gold and silver wire on the blackened surface of an alloy of zinc and copper named after Bidar, a town in Karnataka.

Grid pattern on the sheetalpati mat in Assam.

Land measure.

Mythological bird symbolising immortality.

The resist fibre (often strips of palm-leaf) tied in patterns around the warp or weft threads. This prevents dye from entering those sections of the threads. After the dye process, the resist bindings are removed before the patterned threads are woven.

A close-knit cluster identifying itself with a sub-caste or caste-like group.

A caste which slices bamboo in Northern India.

Hindu herding caste of western India, followers of twenty-nine (bishnui) sacred precepts. They are vegetarians and are noted for their care of wildlife.

To whiten by exposure to sunlight (ancient) or by chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite (modern).

Decoration of a fabric by means of a carved wooden block dipped in dye.

Method of printing a pattern on cloth (with a resist or mordant) before dyeing using a block, usually of carved wood, or with a raised design of metal strips or pins. Sometimes a thickened dye is directly printed.

An article, usually a small rod, around which the weft thread is wound for insertion into the warp during weaving. Also a small pin of wood, with a notch, used in lace-making.

Interlaced fabric made by manipulating groups of many separate threads by means of attached bobbins. The work is usually done on a pillow, hence the alternative term, pillow lace.

A two-bar frameless loom with a backstrap, belt or wooden yoke passing around the weaver’s back and secured to the breast-beam. The leaning forwards or backwards against the strap, while at the other end of the warp, another beam, known as the warp-beam, is held secure. It is also known as a back-tension loom or a body tension loom.

Fustic, yellow wood.

String and rod puppets of Tamil Nadu.

A lightweight, usually knitted, cloth which is strengthened and thickened by having a lining material fixed to it permanently by means of heat and pressure. Often a very thin layer of foam interlining is placed between two layers of the fabric.

Waistband of tiny silver beads that resemble smallpox postules and are meant to ward off the disease.

A style of embroidery, primarily consisting of pako embroidery with scattered white single chain stitches, used by Haliputra women in Kutch, Gujarat.

A square embroidered kantha used to wrap valuables when trunks and suitcases were not available. Possibily is a deriative from the local word ‘bosta’ or bundle.

Traditional danglers on silver necklets worn by Lambadi tribal women of Andhra Pradesh.

The term used in late Georgian times (when dark printed grounds were in fashion) for the thick edge the block cutter left to his outlines to make the fitting of the background block easier.

An instrument, usually made be bent bamboo and held taut with twine stretched between each end, used to fluff cotton fibre during the carding process. The string of the bow is struck to produce vibrations which loosen any packed cotton fibres.

Shrines visited by the Brahmin castes in Darbhanga, Bihar.

Members of the highest priestly caste whose men wear the sacred thread.

A general term to describe a flat, decorative, woven or plaited tape or band used particularly to trim border.

The process of producing narrow bands of braid. Some types of braid are woven on narrow looms, while other braid is produced by interlacing elements by plaiting or twining.

The beam in the backstrap tension loom closest to the weaver, around which the woven section of the warp moves or is rolled. It is also known as the cloth-beam. The backstrap of the loom is attached to this beam.

A general term referring to the patterning of woven fabric by means of supplementary threads. It is usually applied to silk fabric richly patterned with gold or silver weft thread.

Local term for reversible border of the Maheshwari sari.

Silver mixture used to fill in etched pattern on pre-fired pots of Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Scarf or sash, worn by bridegrooms in Kutch and Saurashtra and Thar Parkar, Sind.

Stiff cotton used for lining while couching.

Pulped paper used by Kashmiri craftsman to make papier mache items.

The cutting tool (also known as a ‘graver’) used by a hand engraver to incise lines on a copper cylinder or steel die.

Make shiny by rubbing with a hard, smooth object.

Kashmiri word for single flower or sprig motifs on the field of the fabric.

Big floral motif.

Saris with butis or tiny floral motifs.

Type of Orissan ikat sari.

Embroidery design used by herding Jats in Kutch, Gujarat.

Small floral motif.

Flower design in textiles. The ‘Paisley’ cone design of Kashmir is also termed butti.