A ‘garland of ragas’ or musical modes ( f. ragini), whose essential characteristics are creatively personified, both in verse and in visual images, in series of thirty-six or more illustrations in the miniature tradition.

Ceremony to propitiate King Rahu performed by the Dushadh community of Bihar.

Known as ‘fondu’ in France. The use of a divided colour-box in block printing, so that the colour is transferred to the block in the form of softly shaded stripes.

King and queen.

Warriors by caste, the former ruling class of west India.

Red sandalwood.

The Ram Dao sword is not a combat weapon but one used for sacrificial purposes. It was in use in Bengal, Assam and Nepal. It has a broad, heavy, forward curved blade about 2 feet in length. The handle is straight and long so that the sacrificial sword can be held in both hands for a downward stroke.

Oil lamp depicting the sun and the moon in Bastar, Madhya Pradesh.

Colour.

Coloured wire.

Auspicious diagrams executed on the floor by women of Maharashtra.

Dyeing of fabrics in India, is the traditional occupation of the rangrez, rang meaning "colour" and rez, "to pour".

See Ageing.

Circle dance.

The many tiered chariot on wheels which is fitted with statues of deities and decorated colourfully. It is pulled through the streets by devotees during puja festivities in India and Nepal.

Oil lamp shaped like a chariot in Madhya Pradesh.

Chariot.

Chariot festival.

Fibre from the stems of various climbing palms of the genus Calamus, used for matting and basketry.

Shadow theatre of Orissa.

Mythical many-headed demon king of Lanka.

Stringed fiddle-like instrument played by a bhopa in Rajasthan whilst narrating the Pabuji epic.

The wild or raw silk is obtained from silkworms known as the tassar, muga and eri as well as some other local varieties is indigenous to Indis It is well known for its textural beauty and subdued tones. Tassar worms are simply fed on any tree in the hilly tracts of the country and produce a variety of silk that is stiff in texture. The muga worm is reared mainly in Assam where it is fed on a species of laurel, producing a golden-hued silk. Eri worms feed on the leaves of the castor plant, locally known as arundee, and produce a silk which is rough-textured and lacks a glossy shine.

A term for artificially made silk thread. See also synthetic fibre.

Camwood, Barwood, Sanderwood (Santal, Sandal, Red Sanders), Brazil wood, Sapan wood, Peach wood.

A piece of loom apparatus consisting usually of fine /wood slivers standing vertically between two horizontal bars. The comb acts as a warp-spacer and, when weaving, the weaver beats the comb against the newly inserted weft thread with her sword.

The correct fitting together of all areas and colours in a printed fabric.

A threaded stitch border resembling a pattern of wrenches in nakshi kantha.

The exact reproduction of any unit of design placed in and accurate geometric relationship to it - for instance ‘side to side’ (known as a ‘square’ repeat), that is, set at a given distance exactly horizontal and vertical to the original.

Wax or a paste of rice or clay painted or printed on to the cloth before dyeing, to reserve a white pattern. There are also modern resists which act chemically to prevent the fixation of the dye. Hence the ‘resist style’ of printing.

Resist dying is a common method of textile decoration in India, this process involves the resisting, screening or covering of pre-woven yarn or finished cloth with a removable yet impermeable substance. The placement of the dyestuff in the resist technique is controlled in various ways, though there are two main methods of regulating the patterning. First, there is the tie-and-dye technique, in which yarns or textiles are screened/covered, or partly screened, by being tied with impermeable threads. The second creates patterns either by painting or printing with a substance that will react with the dye to fix the colour (mordant resist dyeing), or by applying an impermeable and removable substance such as mud, gum or wax, that will successfully resist the colour when the cloth is dipped into a dye bath, yet may be removed by dissolving through washing or washing and heating.

Any process which employs dye-resistant materials to block the penetration of dyes on to or into selected areas of fabric or threads for the purpose of decorative patterns. See also batik, ikat, plangi, tritik.

Method of printing in which substances that will prevent the dyestuff from penetrating the fibres are applied to the cloth before printing or dyeing.

To pour.

An embroidery technique in which narrow flat ribbon thread, usually of beaten silver, is interlaced or stitched into a net or gauze-like fabric. See also embroidery.

Narrow zigzag braid used as trimming.

Zigzag braiding used to decorate garments.

An adhesive residue of safflower, castor or linseed oil used to prepare a colour for printing textiles. When oil of safflower, castor or linseed is heated over fire for more than 12 hours and cast into cold water it produces a thick residue known as roghan. The raised or encrusted work in roghan carried out by craftsmen of Nirona in Kutch, Gujarat, is skilfully worked out using a stylus on one quarter of the cloth which, when folded, effectively stamps the design on the remaining parts.
When this adhesive-residue is printed on cloth and subsequently dusted with coloured powder, gold or silver dust, it is known as khari or tinsel work.

Printing from a machine equipped with a set of cylindrical screens - usually, but not always, placed in line along a horizontal print table - each fitted with an internal squeegee and colour-feed unit.

Anatta, Arnotto.

Coil or roll made of ribbon or strips of fabric.

Fruits of the Elacocarpus Canitrus used as roary beads.

Lit.tears of Shiva. Seeds of the Javanese tree Eleaocarpus ganitrus, revered and used in India as necklaces and rosaries by shiavite priests, holy men and devotees.

The terms rug and carpet are often used interchangeably. However the term "rug" is broader, often including a range of coarse weavings including tent furnishings, bags for storage and transport and animal trappings.

A segment of a supplementary wrapping weft whose cut ends project above the surface of the rug. Although called a "knot", the yarn segments are not actually tied, but just wrap around the warp yarns and are held in place by the ground weft yarns. Depending on the coarseness of the yarns and how closely they are set, the number of "knots" per square inch of a rug or carpet can range from less than 50 to more than 1000.

A small mill which has scale lines raised in relief on its surface, and which is used to transfer these lines on to the varnished surface of a copper cylinder.

A specially prepared coating used to protect the surface of the cylinder, but which is malleable enough to be finely and clearly scarped away when the small ruling mill is rotated against it.

Either a kerchief worn over shoulders or head, or a square cover for gifts or food.

Handkerchief; square fabric often used as a base for embroidery. See, Chamba Rumal.

Type of alloyed silver.