Fish bone pattern in Kantha embroidery.

Grain measure in Madhya Pradesh.

Main room of a kathi house in Gujarat.

The mace was essentially a weapon against armour for which purpose it is admirably designed. The spiked mace was particularly effective against the helmet. The Ain-I-Akbari mentions several types of maces. Apart form their use as weapons of war, maces also had a ceremonial role as a symbol of office or command and were carried by mace bearers or chobdars. Such maces were made of precious metals and lavishly ornamented.

Fish motif in an Orissan sari.

The process of printing designs in dyes or pigments on to a cloth surface by mechanical means, usually employing copper-plates or rollers on to which the patterns are etched or engraved.

Threads spun by machine. These include natural fibres such as cotton and silk and synthetic fibres.

A general term for ornamental knot work. More specifically the term refers to an ornamental fringe of knotted threads. See also knotting.

The red dye stuff extracted from the roots of the plant species Rubia Munjeesta, Rubia Tinctorum L., Al and other species of Rubia.

The most popular of the mats produced in West Bengal is the madur, its production is now undertaken on an organised scale by weavers of the Mahishya caste mainly in the southern districts of Midnapore, West Bengal, an area covering the coastal area of the state, west of the river Ganga.
Woven on a simple bamboo frame loom with a warp of cotton thread and the weft -the thin soft reed, madur kathi that is cultivated in the Sabong and Ramnagar areas of Midnapore district.
Three types of madur are made in Midnapore-ekrokha, dorokha and masland. Dorokha, with a double madur kathi weft is thicker and is more comfortable to sit or lie on than the simple ekrokha that and is used for general purposes, while the masland is very fine-textured and made with carefully selected reeds. It has two borders of beautiful geometrical designs, sometimes in a deep magenta, but most often in a self- colour, the designs showing up through the texture of the patterns only. The main centres of madur and masland mat production in Midnapore are Ramnagar, Sabong, Kholaberia, Sadirhat and Narayan

An appliquéd tent-like cover for an ox cart used at marriages and other celebrations by some farming castes in Kutch and Saurashtra.

Hindu goddess of beauty and prosperity.

A method whereby squeegees- in the form of cylindrical metal rods, varying in diameter from 3 to 18mm., placed loosely in the screen with the print paste- are moved along by means of magnet coils under the printing blanket, which draw the print paste through the mesh of the screen. It is used in both Johannes Zimmer and Peter Zimmer screen- printing machines.

Broker; Gujarati merchant; moneylender.

Madhuca indica; mahua flowers are used for extracting alcohol.

Vahana of Ganga Devi; a mythological river creatur resembling a crocodile.

Fish-crocodile figure associated with Hindu religious art.

Velvet.

Garland; Necklace patterns.

The garland border in Kantha.

Community of traditional shoal pith makers in Assam and West Bengal.

Cattle traders in western India.

Floral motif in Orissan sari.

Cotton cloth of Sind and western Rajasthan woven on narrow looms, block-printed in the ajrakh style, but mainly in red rather than indigo blue. Originally printed in the Thar Parkar village of Malir, although now printed in other places in Sind, and in Barmer Rajasthan.

A brass pot called mana was used as a musical instrument by the mana-bhattas the narrative singers and storytellers. This pot, almost round like a ball, with a very narrow neck, was played by the slight beating of the palm with special finger-rings.

Shrine of the snake goddess Manasa in West Bengal.

The display of utensils on multiple shelves in the living room of Gujarati rural households.

A circle enclosed by a square with a central point or beeja (seed). It is a pattern for meditational vision; it is also sacred space. Based on geometrical principles of abstract form on which the Hindu temple is built, it also symbolises the universe at different levels with gates and doors to the four Vedas.

Gujarati wedding pavilion.

Embroidery design among herding Jats in Kutch, Gujarat.

Temple-shaped date palm leaf basket with lid, from Bihar.

Wall mural, generally painted or mud mirror relief.

A supporting steel bar on which the engraved copper cylinder turns.

Alpana drawn when a marriage is fixed - in Bengal.

Literally auspicious thread, a necklace of black beads worn by married women, especially in Maharashtra.

"Mango necklace" in Tamil Nadu.

Incantation and recitation of coded Hindu prayers.

Coarse unbleached mill cotton.

North Indian storage jar.

Lit. inhabitants of Marwar, the old name for Jodhpur. Members of the Rajasthani trading caste, which is now the dominant force in business and industry throughout India.

Mashru is a mixed brocade fabric with a silk warp and a cotton weft. Distinguished as a textile, mainly with stripped patterns in satin-weave, the warp yarn is often tie-dyed in the single-ikat technique giving the fabric its characteristic lightning effect. It is believed that Muslin men were permitted to wear mashru cloth in lieu of pure silk which was prohibited. This type of cotton and silk mixed fabric known variously as mashru, gaji or atlas, is traditionally woven in Mandvi, in Kachchh, Patan, Surat and Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, as well as in the Deccan and the South.

Lit. permitted. A warp-faced textile of mixed fabric. A silk (now usually synthetic) warp and cotton weft.

Cloth floor covering.

Lamp for the mata or goddess in Bastar, Madhya Pradesh.

In Gujarat, matano chandarvo or textiles for goddess worship” follow an old tradition and are made and used even today in Ahmedabad. These temple hangings are installed at the time of the annual ritual of a sacrificial offering to the various local goddesses. In Gujarat members of the Vaghri, Ravalia, Bhangi and Dhedh communities construct an enclosure of such hangings and install it around the village shrine of the goddess. Inside this enclosure, the ritual of invocation and the goat or buffalo sacrifice is conducted. These hangings are block printed and hand-painted with iron rust dye on cotton.

Monastic house in Puri, Orissa.

The form or mould on which something is shaped. In the case of textile printing, it is a solid steel cylinder, or one of inflatable rubber, on which rotary screens are formed.

Fish incarnation signifying the creation of life from water.

Clay.

An often somewhat rigid fabric constructed of interlocking fibres which are not woven on a loom with shed openings. Also known as basketry interlacing.

Muslim preacher.

Literally peacock casket, as it is called by the Ghantrar metalsmiths of Orissa.

Enameller in North India.

Delhi and Jaipur are known for meenakari, the jewel coloured enamel work on gold, silver and since the 1980s on copper. The art involves the fusion of coloured minerals, such as cobalt oxide for blue and copper oxide for green, on the surface of the metal giving the effect of precious stone inlay work. The particular mode employed is known as champleve where the metal is engraved or chased in such a way as to provide depressions within which the colours can be embedded. The colours are applied in order of their hardness, those requiring more heat first and, those less, later.

Enamelling on the surface of a metal.

A caste of leather workers found in Sind, Banni Kutch and western Rajastnan.

A farming caste settled mainly in western Saurashtra.

Arch.

Motif characterised by a flowering cane bound within an arch.

Ring worn by women of Kerala in the upper part of the ear.

Folk festival.

A Muslim merchant caste of Gujarat and Sind.

Cotton prepared by treating with a solution of caustic potash or soda or certain other chemicals. Discovered by John Mercer in 1844.

Worked metals, especially gold and silver, are used to fashion thread either in the form of wire or float metal ribbon, or wound around a core of other fibre. The metallic thread is used as a weaving and embroidery element.

Contrary to myth, gold and silver cannot be spun, and they are generally too precious and heavy to be woven in the form of wire. Frequently, the glint of gold or silver that embellishes many traditional textiles is a silk or linen yarn that has been wrapped with thin strips of metal.

South Indian cushion mat made from two mats sewn together.

Thin, flexible, transparent and glittering scales of silicate found naturally and used to decorate garments. Mica has largely been replaced by mirror- work.

A small cylinder of softened steel on which the pattern is raised in relief (by pressure and acid) from contact with a previously engraved die.

Also known as ‘machine engraving’, it is the mechanical method of ‘engraving’ a cylinder; the design is pressed out by means of a mill.

The operation of fulling cloth.

"Spirit reservoir" among Naga tribes.

Rounds cut from thin mirror glass, often lead-backed, or from mica, and sewn on to a base fabric with a framework of stitches.

Embroidery design for churi, Gracia Jats in Kutch, Gujarat.

Lit. mixed. Refers to the fabric more generally known as mashru

Triangular head cloth worn by some Muslim communities of Gujarat.

Artisan, most generally a carpenter.

Mixed brocade fabrics include the amru silks of Varanasi, the sangi silks of Azamgarh, gulbadan silks woven all over northern India, the Himru of Gujarat and Deccan, and the ghatta and abrawan of Uttar Pradesh and the Mashru of Gujarat.

Male professional embroiderers of Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat. Famed for their delicate ari-work silk embroidery.

Chain stitch embroidery done using a cobbler’s awl in Rajasthan and Gujarat

A directional form of laying stitches to create shapes.

City ward or locality.

Deity mask in Himachal Pradesh.

Ladder border in Kantha.

A description by nakshi kantha embroiderers for the inner circular enclosure which contains a symbolic device.

A slanting stitch described as ‘twisted’ in kantha embroidery.

Stronger than sikki, but lacking the golden hue, is moonj grass (Saccharum munja) used by the Tharu tribals, mainly in Nepal, as well as in the Madhubani region of Bihar to make baskets and caskets with lids of numerous varieties dyed in dark tones.

A ceremonial fan made of peacock feathers in Rajasthan.

An agent, often in the form of a metallic salt which combines chemically with the dyestuff to fix the dye permanently. It has an affinity for the cloth and an attraction for the colouring matter and so in combining with them it forms an insoluble colour lake on the cloth.

A chemical that increases the effectiveness of a mordant. Examples are cream of tartar and washing soda.

A design with mordants applied to cloth by carved wooden blocks. The design remains fixed and the coloured pattern stands out against an undyed ground after the dye process.

A design in mordants painted on to a prepared cloth with a pen or stylus. The mordants will react with the dyes to produce a colourful pattern against an undyed ground as practised in Sri Kalahasti, Andhra Pradesh.

A chemical substance that has an Acetic Acid for both the dye and the fibre (metal oxides, tannins, and oxyfatty acids) they are necessary to chemically fix (make washfast) most natural dyestuffs (but not for indigo). The mordant combines both with the dye molecule and the fiber molecule, producing a permanently fixed insoluble colour lake. Most mordants are metallic salts although some are arcidic in nature.

A tree grown widely in Asia, the bark of the roots of which yield red or rust dye. It is known as mengkudu, kumbu, Al or related terms.

Young men’s dormitory characteristic of the North-Eastern tribes of Nagaland.

Glass beads, particularly Venetian Murano beads.

Bead embroidery of Gujarat.

Pea border in Kantha.

Metallic thread embroidery done throughout the Banni in Kutch, Gujarat.

A silkworm reared mainly in Assam where it is fed on a species of laurel, producing a golden-hued silk.

Oriya term for the endpiece of a sari.

Bamboo tripod in Tamil Nadu.

Face of mask.

Anthropomorphic phallus, a Shaivite object of worship

Crown.

Rubia Munjeesta. This is a plant of the maddar family.

The island in the lagoon of Venice that has been the centre of Venetian glassmaking since 1292.

Low cane and bamboo stool from Tripura.

Idol, image.

Textile, warp facedsatin weave.

Type of cane used for making mats in Bengal.

The fruit of several species of trees, growing in China and the East Indies, containing tannic acid (25-40% tannin).