A coiled thin wire.

Circular boxes with a three tiered tapering dome shaped lid, standing on three legs used in Gujarat.

The Dablo a Saurashtrain brass-container is a vessel peculiar to Gujarat and not found anywhere else in India. The height of this circular container varies from a small 15cm to a large 160 cm. It consists of a circular box resting on three hollow tapering legs. The lid is attached to the box with a dovetailed hinge. On top of the lid are usually attached two heavy brass-rings, pierced into one another. The lid is normally ornamented by embossed crisscrosses and parallel lines, circles and triangles. This box was an essential part of every Kathi and Rajput house of Saurashtra. It is said that precious ornaments and clothes were stored in these boxes and during plundering raids such boxes were lowered into wells, and they were pulled out with a rope and an iron hook after the danger had passed.

The dagger, with its short blade, has always been a thrusting or stabbing weapon, unlike the long bladed sword, which could be designed not only as a thrusting weapon but also as a cutting and slashing weapon. The dagger has generally been an auxiliary weapon for soldiers and was used in close combat. It was also part of the formal attire of courtiers and other civilians.

Shrine of the daiva or diety in South India.

Demonesses.

Double-layered split bamboo basket for storing fine grain in Madhya Pradesh.

North Indian salver.

Hour-glass shaped hand drum associated with Shaivite deities.

A general term applied to fabrics patterned by floating weaves dissimilar on each surface.

Tooth-like motif in Orissan sari.

Bill hook in North Eastern India.

The dao a sword used in Eastern India by the Nagas and other tribes; has a blade that is about 2 ½ feet in length, straight and narrow at the hilt, broad and square at the tip. It is usually set in a handle of wood. Daos are carried in wooden cases, one side of which is open where cane bands keep it in position.

Court of the king.

Plant fibre.

Muslim tomb.

Shrine and tomb of a Muslim saint.

Landowning caste of Sind.

Ritual viewing of the deity by devotees for seeking blessings.

Tassels.

Ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu.

In wooden hand blocks used for printing on fabric the Datta block is part of the set and is carved in bold relief corresponding exactly to the shape and size of the asl and gad blocks.

Temple motif in Orissan sari.

School of law.

An old form of lithographic printing for embroidery transfers. The design was transferred from the tissue paper on which it was printed, usually by ironing; thick enamel- like pigments were used.

Temple pinnacle motif in Orissa sari.

A cleansing agent.

Celestial dancer.

Village shrine of the male deity in Madhya Pradesh.

Male deity.

Literally, devoted caretaker of the deity, temple dancers symbolically wedded to the deity.

Village shrine of female deity in tribal Madhya Pradesh.

Female deity.

Oriya term for the main ground of a sari.

Rice stalk, symbol of Lakshmi and also prosperity, used as a motif in weaving and embroidery.

Dome-shaped lamp receptacle for deity in Gujarat.

Oriya term for sari border.

Barrel-shaped grain storage basket with lid in Bihar.

Shield in Northern India.

Coriander creeper in Northern India.

Rectangular embroidered or appliquéd cloth used in Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat to cover a pile of quilts when they are not in use.

Rest house for Hindu pilgrims.

Split-bamboo basket for grain storage in Madhya Pradesh.

Dancing waves; is used for the undulating wave line in embroidery.

Drummer in Northern India.

An unstitched waist-cloth, passed between the legs and tucked; a common male dress in northern India.

Man's loincloth.

A rectangular length of unstitched cotton cloth (usually approximately four yards long and made of thin muslin) which is tied to form a loose pair of trousers. Worn by Hindu men.

A man’s lower unsewn garment of two and half yards draped between the legs and folded in at the waist. Hindu widows saris are also referred to as dhoti, as they are of similar white cloth with a very narrow border.

Painting or drawing executed on the floor.

Black tar-like substance that becomes pliant and elastic upon the application of heat. It is extracted from the secretion of a particularly tree.

Woven floor coverings.

A small cylinder of steel which is hand-engraved with one or more repeats of a small-scale pattern, then hardened and used to produce the mill.

Generally applied to immersing cloth, etc. in the blue vat.

Goddess of light .

Hindu festival of lights.

A class of dyeing which can be applied to cotton and other vegetable fibres without the use of a mordant. They are easy to apply but on cellulose fibres are only of moderate wash fastness.

The type of textile printing in which the mordant and the colouring matter are applied simultaneously. It was very rare until the development of artificial dyestuffs.

An agent, which removes the colour from previously dyed cloth. Hence the ‘discharge style’ of printing fabric.

Method of producing lighter free-standing motifs on a darker ground by printing a previously dyed fabric with a chemical reducing agent which will withstand the action of the reducing agent can be included in the printing paste, and during treatment the dyed colour will be removed from the fabric and replaced by the non-dischargeable colour.

A fabric woven in such a manner that it is removed from the loom as a non-circulating, flat rectangle. The manner of warping the loom through a comb usually results in a discontinuous length of fabric.

Supplementary weft weaving in which extra weft threads are worked back and forth across limited areas of warp to shape pattern units.

The dried pods of Caesalpina coriaria growing in the West Indies and S. America; they contain 20 to 35% tannin and a brown colouring matter.

Holder of the lamp in the Dev Narayanan ritual in Rajasthan.

A traversing steel blade, which is placed in contact with the engraved cylinder and serves to scrape off the surplus colour from the raised (non- printing) surface. The term is now applied to any blade-type squeegee.

Woollen twill weave blankets in geometric patterns, Himachal Pradesh.

Couching technique using cotton thread.

A loom material woven in self-coloured checks or lines.

The ikat-resist dyeing process applied separately to both warp and weft threads. The fabric is woven to achieve a balanced plain or tabby weave so that the patterning of both sets of loom threads emerges.

Ladle made of gourd in Gujarat.

Grape.

A small hand-held rod weighted with a disc (spindle-whorl) which is allowed to spin freely from some height, to twist the fibre into thread. (See also spinning).

See Mordants.

Rabha fish basket, Assam.

Headscarf for women made up of two breadths of fabric. Nowadays usually worn draped over the shoulders rather than the head.

A method of printing in which both sides of the cloth receive the pattern - either at the same time (as with the Aljaba Duplex rotary screen printing machine) or one side immediately after the other (as in duplex engraved roller work).

These paintings, usually on round terracotta plaques are used for puja in modest homes where a real Protima idol, is beyond the budget.

A thick cotton floor covering, Rajasthan.

Hindu festival, in October, celebrated in honour of Rama and Durga.

A way of patterning cloth in which the design is painted or printed in mordant and subsequently dyed. Only those areas so mordant take the colour in a fast form.

A process through which molecules imparting colour are chemically bonded to fibers. The fibers may be un-spun, or in the form of yarns or fabrics, during the dyeing process.

See print-paste.

Aqua fortis, 10 parts; sal ammoniac, 5 parts; tin 2 parts; dissolved together.

Natural or traditional dyes are organic chemicals produced by plants or animals, such as indigo, and inorganic chemical compounds, such as iron oxides.

Materials used to colour threads or fabric. True dyes penetrate the fabric and bind to the fibres. See also aniline dyes, natural dyes, vegetable dyes.