Mansukhbhai Pitambar Khatri, the final custodian of bela printing in Kutch.
| Picture Credit score: Particular association
On April 30, ajrakh, the extensively recognized craft of resist-dyeing from Kutch, bought a Geographical Indication (GI) tag, a mark of authenticity that gives authorized safety to arts from particular geographical areas. Whereas that is trigger for celebration, one other lesser-known craft — bela block printing — from the identical area, continues to languish in obscurity.
At one cut-off date, Bela, a village within the Rapar block of Kutch in Gujarat, was a flourishing hub for the block printing commerce. In an undivided India, Bela can be teeming with merchants and camel carts ferrying folks between Kutch and Sindh in present-day Pakistan. For craftsmen practising bela block printing on textile, enterprise was good. Issues modified dramatically over time, and at this time, there’s a threat of the craft being misplaced altogether, however for the efforts of its sole custodian, Mansukh Pitambar Khatri.
Gradual decline
Mansukhbhai, now in his late 50s, was simply eight when he first learnt the right way to make graphic prints on material with natural colors and carved wood blocks. As kids, his elder brother and he would sit and watch their father laborious at work. “All of the family members can be concerned within the printing processes — the washing, printing, dyeing,” he recollects. “I discovered all of it very fascinating. How a plain piece of fabric would flip into one thing so stunning. It was due to my curiosity that I learnt the craft.” Sadly, their father died when Mansukhbhai was nonetheless very younger and so he turned to his brother to be taught the nuances of the artwork type.
Bela block printed material.
| Picture Credit score:
Particular association
The fantastic thing about bela printing lies in its daring designs. Based on Mansukhbhai, whereas ajrakh is all about skinny strains and principally geometric or floral designs, bela includes thicker strains with motifs that embody animals resembling elephants and horses. “There’s a distinction within the course of, too,” he says. “The resist that ajrakh makes use of is a mixture of lime and gum; in bela we use mitti wax, a mixture of mud and bajra flour. This paste is thick.”
A number of components contributed to bela’s decline, in addition to the border drawn between India and Pakistan and the sluggish drying up of the open commerce route. Take the appearance of energy looms and display printing, as an illustration. The standard craftsmen stood no likelihood in opposition to the tempo and value of those materials. “We had about 40-50 Khatri households concerned in bela printing; now there’s simply mine,” says Mansukhbhai. “Furthermore, at about 180 km from Bhuj, we aren’t on the centre of the vacationer map. So tourism has not helped us prefer it has different craft varieties nearer by.” Most households earlier concerned with bela printing, together with Manuskhbhai’s kinfolk, have now turned to different companies resembling sweet-making.
Rescuing the blocks
Mansukhbhai too had deserted this craft for a quick two-year interval — his enterprise with a choose few merchants didn’t suffice the household’s wants. Then round 2013, Khamir, an NGO that works on preserving native crafts, satisfied him to take up the block as soon as once more. “We supported him in re-learning the dyeing course of, taking on indigo dyeing, and launched some new designs,” says Ghatit Laheru, director of the Gujarat-based Khamir. “Simply earlier than COVID-19 hit, he requested some area in Khamir itself to do his work, which we gladly obliged. Now he spends most of his time right here, engaged on each previous in addition to new designs.” Slowly, Mansukhbhai’s work bought the platform it wanted, with a wider viewers and a better demand — with consumers typically interacting with him and his work at Khamir itself.
Blocks that Khatri makes use of for bela printing.
| Picture Credit score:
Particular association
“I keep in mind throwing sacks of wood blocks into the Saran [river] as a result of there was barely any work for us,” he recollects. Displaying a block with the carved figurine of a lady and a tree, he says, “I did avoid wasting, like this one. It was made by my grandfather and is at the very least a 100 years previous. Khamir made an extended duplicate of this so my work turns into quicker.” Historically, the Khatris would make completely different designs for various communities. For example, one neighborhood would put on prints with horse and horsemen, and one other with elephants, and you could possibly inform the neighborhood an individual belongs to by the garments they wore. Many of those designs now come collectively on saris, dupattas, and unstitched material— of horsemen, bushes and elephants.
In April, Bela has additionally been listed as an endangered craft by the workplace of the Improvement Commissioner for Handicrafts, the nationwide company that works for the promotion and export of Indian handicrafts, says Laheru. “That is optimistic information as a result of there’s now the impetus to achieve extra folks by way of government-sponsored exhibitions and different assist.”
Mansukhbhai Khatri
| Picture Credit score:
Particular association
The final 12 months has additionally seen Mansukhbhai’s youthful son (23) displaying curiosity in taking on the craft. “He is aware of the craft however due to the way in which issues had been, he had taken up a job in a store in Bhuj as an alternative. Now he’s eager on coming again to Bela,” Mansukhbhai says, with rising hope that he might not be bela’s final custodian in spite of everything.
The author is a contract journalist primarily based in Kutch.
