Nitin Singhania Test: Indian Handicraft - UPSC MCQ

• The first reference to glassmaking was found in the Indian epic, Mahabharata. However, material evidence does not give any indication of glass beads in the early Harappan civilisation.

• The first material evidence is found in beautiful glass beads from the Painted Grey Ware culture of the Ganges Valley (c. 1000 BC). In the Vedic text called Satapatha Brahmana, the term used for glass was kanch or kaca.

Currently, the glass industry has many facets, but the most famous one is glass bangles. The most exquisite ones are made in Hyderabad and are called 'Churika Jodas'. Apart from this, Firozabad is famous for glass chandeliers and other decorative pieces.

Batik Art, in which one end of the fabric is permeated with molten wax and then dyed in the cold to produce batik sarees and dupattas multicoloured. Batik art is famous in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

It is a traditional regional saree of Rajasthan.

The traditional centres for ivory's carving are Delhi, Jaipur, and parts of West Bengal produced beautiful objects of art, caskets, palanquin, and the famous Ambar Hathi.

Other specialist areas are

• Kerala: Well known for painting on ivory.

• Jodhpur: Bangles made of Ivory.

• Jaipur: Famous for its ivory jali work used in homes and small art objects.

• Alwar is known for "Kagzi Pottery" (made with a thin layer of clay). It is very light in weight.

• It also requires a lot of experience, patience, fineness and designing skill at the same time.

• The earliest literary evidence about different methods of casting bronze can be found in the Matsya Purana

• Later texts Nagarjuna's Rasa Ratnakar also mentioned about metal purity and distillation of zinc

• Embroidery arts like Applique or Pipli work is practised in Pipli village in Odisha. It is a type of patchwork made of embroidered colourful fabric that is sewed together to make a single piece.

• They use this technique to make beautiful lamps. Another famous technique is called Phulkari, which literally means 'making flowers'. This process uses the technique of darning to create colourful flower-like patterns on the cloth. It is produced in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.

• Furthermore, medieval yet innovative techniques like Bagh use silk threads to embroider on a green cloth to make flower-like patterns. Other techniques like the Gota (Rajasthan) use gold threads to embroider and create applique Nike clothing patterns.

• Kashmir is famous for the Kashida embroidery's fine craft that is generally done on the famous Cashmere Shawls.

• Chamba Rumals (handkerchiefs) of Himachal Pradesh. Chamba Pahari painting's influence is evident and delicately embroidered in shades of green, yellow and ochre with themes of Krishna's tales. It is commonly used as an item of gift during marriages. All of nature, including trees, flowers etc. are depicted in these rumals.

• Himroo Shawls - Maharashtra

These are some of the districts where Kashmir willow bats are made. The willow used in making these bats was brought in by the British. These willows are lighter and more powerful than ordinary wood, making them more effective as a hitting bat.

• Often a mixture of cotton and gold thread was used, as in the cloth in this picture.

• The most important centres of Jamdani weaving were Dacca in Bengal and Lucknow in the United Provinces.

• Imperial warrants of the Mughal emperors patronised the historical production of Jamdani. UNESCO has declared the traditional art of weaving Jamdani as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

• The Patolas of Gujarat: The patolas are known for their precision, subtlety and beauty. Here, both weft and warp are dyed by dye resist method in five or six traditional colours like indigo, blue, red, emerald green, black or yellow.

These are some of the famous centres in the UNESCO list:

Chanderi, Ashok Nagar District, Madhya Pradesh

• The town of chanderi has a prosperous history that was shared among Pratihara kings, Delhi sultans, Mandu sultans, Bundela kings and Scindias of Gwalior.

• That was probably why it had been a major urban centre since the 11th century AD. It is situated on the borders of the cultural regions of Malwa and Bundelkhand.

• As it was an important linking route to the ancient ports of Gujarat and Mewar, Malwa, Central India and Deccan.

Paithan, Maharashtra

• Comprising pure gold threads and yams of silk spun in the 2000-year-old traditional method developed in Pathan in Aurangabad, which was then known as pratishthana.

• The city was the capital of satavahanas of ancient India who ruled from 2nd century till 2nd century A.D. greek traders visited the city between 400 and 200 BC during the Satavahana era paithani weavers.

Yeola, Maharashtra

• The art of paithani sustained under the rule of changing rulers, whereas it even flourished under the reign of Aurangzeb. The paintings of Ajanta cave inspire the motifs. The art spread to different parts of Maharashtra, namely Ysolda, Pune Malegaon and Nashik.

Pochampalli, Telangana

• Pochampalli is a small town in the Yadadri-Bhuvanagiri district of Telangana, known for its hand-woven Ikat sarees and other woven products.