The Breezy Fabric 'Kota Doria'

As the warm summer breeze blows into the western plains of India, I am feeling relieved to move from the silks to the soft, light as breeze, sheer and ‘square-y’ #KotaDoria.

Way back, maybe 30-35 years back in time, my mother wore sarees only at home. And most of them were the lovely, happy-coloured, soft Kota Dorias. Whether she held up the pallu to shield me from the sun while walking me back from school, or whether she played peek-a-boo with little children, again with her pallu, I could not help noticing and marveling at the tiny little squares in the saree. What were those squares and why were they needed, I often wondered.

The Kota Doria is Indian-climate friendly and sexy at the same time. The sheer fabric, the all-over checks adding a dash of that something that I don’t wish to destroy by an inaccurate description, the Kota Dorai is a dreamy number. Whether a plain cream (its natural shade), pastel shades or filled with floral prints, the Kota saree is also amazing to wear. Even though it is extremely light, it gives a great fall and is easy to wear.

Try a silk Kota #Doria for glamour. Or a cotton-silk Kota for a formal day at work. And a highly embellished silk Kota, usually with ‘gota work’ or ‘mukaish’ work for a celebratory occasion. A Kota Doria can also carry off other embellishments like ‘chikankari’ work. The one thing about a Kota I must mention here is about its strength. A cotton Kota can handle quite a bit of thread weight, so can a silk Kota. But the latter comes apart easily. Hence a heavy investment of embroidery on a silk Kota should be avoided.

You may find it interesting to know that the Kota saree originated in Mysore. Though I cannot say this for sure, but these sarees were first made in Mysore way back in late 17th century. They were called ‘Masuria Kota’ (‘#Masuria’ = ‘from Mysore’) and were woven with silk and one cotton thread. The credit of bringing this saree to Rajasthan is with Rao Kishore Singh a general with the Mughal army. And they have pretty much become the identity of Rajasthan. And rightly so since the fabric of this saree would have been ‘god-sent’ for the warm climate of that region.

Today Kota Dorias are made mainly in Kaithoon, a town near Kota in Rajasthan. They are also made in Muhammadabad, Mau in UP.

Sometimes we lose sense of the beauty around us just because it is ubiquitous and perhaps the Kota Doria suffers from that. It is common to see machine-made Kota sarees with simple to bizarre prints in the market, but what-to-do? Such is life. Luckily, unlike some other sarees, the tradition of hand-woven Kota Doria continues, thanks to the patronage of discerning buyers.

Admire the Kalaakari of Kalamkari

Kalamkari or the drawing with a pen is one of the timeless art expressions on fabric. A tribute to the storytelling traditions of India, the master craft is now an important expression of art on textile. People generally associate Kalamkari with the creative excellence of artistry or Kalaakari. Both complete each other. It is the kalaakari of the master artists only that turns up a simple cloth piece into a masterpiece.

“ Kalamkari refers to the ancient style of hand painting that is done with a tamarind pen, using natural dyes. Literal meaning of Kalamkari is kalam, which means pen and kari which refers to craftsmanship; which is derived from a Persian word.”

The intricate process sees a lot of changes in the look and feel of the fabric. In fact, each step brings the cloth one inch closer to this marvelous piece of art. The process starts from the initial dyeing to prepare the cloth for painting. The starch from raw silk or cotton is removed with first wash and then it is dipped in a cow milk and Karaka fruit powder solution. After following this process only, we get the perfect base for intricate #Kalamkari to begin.

The plain cloth now gets to witness the sheer brilliance of artists in the form of sketching. The designs to be drawn are either inspired by scenes from great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, temple architecture or lovely floral motifs and Persian vine patterns. Both the designs are popular in the fashion world for exhibiting unique art form in an authentic way. Many times, the artists draw directly on processed cloth with a charcoal pencil, which displays their Kalaakaari and the command over the art form. To draw thin and intricate parts, the artists use a thin pointed pencil.

All this is just the beginning of the fabric transformation. Next step is one of the most important process, based on which the art form is named. Yes, you guessed it right. It is the making of the pen or Qalam. There is a special pen made especially for this textile art from bamboo. The stick is chiseled in the shape of a pointed pen and wrapped with a thread spool to create a perfect soak for the natural inks.

The idea is simple. The ink gets slowly transferred from thread spool to the tapered bamboo point, which helps outline and fill the colour on the painting.

In the next step, the star attraction is put to best use where artists trace the painting and give it a permanent outline. The black outline colour is prepared with a mix of cane and palm jiggery with rusted iron fillings and water and is traditionally called Kaasim Kaaram. The artists dip their creative #Kalam in this permanent dye and outline the painting with great dexterity.

All the intricate steps followed till this are just the starters. The actual #Kalamkari craft gains a new high when the artists start working on filling their colours of imagination in the fabric painting. They don’t buy or source any colour from the markets, but they actually make it.

They use natural tints from flowers, plants, leaves, and even sugar molasses. The red colour is made from alum, yellow from myrobalan flower, blue from indigo, black from iron fillings, etc. The colour variation and shades on the piece of art are achieved with the number of coats. For darker shades, extra coats of colours are suggested.

Also, the colours are filled in phases. It’s not that all the colours are filled, dried and washed once and the fabric making is complete. It takes great levels of patience while painting the fabric. The cloth is first painted in a single colour, for e.g. red, dried for two days and then washed in running water. Next, it is put in boiling water solution of tree root powder and alum powder. Once the cloth completely turns red, it is removed from the solution and washed for three consecutive days to bleach the unwanted red colour. After such an extensive cycle of colouring and washing, the Kalamkari artists get one permanent colour coat on their cloth painting. The same intricate process is followed with great patience for every other colour.

The Kalamkari artists make sure only the best passes through their hands. The expertise with which they work and adhere to the timeless traditions of Kalamkari does not need any quality checks. Every piece of fabric they work upon expresses their expertise and dedication in a great way. And when this masterpiece reaches the art aficionados in the form of paintings, dress materials, sarees, dupattas, or suit materials, they are totally dazzled with the artistic dedication. They feel blessed for having hold over the artistic fabrics that passed from the hands of Kalamkars or master painters. They feel good for supporting the ancient art form and contributing their bit to preserve the artistic traditions of Andhra Pradesh.

Will you also feel the same way upon touching the Kalamkari fabric for the first time? Will you marvel it for hours before draping it? Or What will you do with it when you see this art yourself?

Gheecha silk of Assam

It was a plain, creamy-beige silk, with bright red woven triangles in the border and larger triangles of the same colour in the pallu. The fabric seemed a little coarse but was surprisingly smooth to the touch. “How much does this Tussar cost”? I recall asking the sales lady, in a saree shop in Chennai, one wintry morning (whatever that is).

“Madam this is #Assamese Gheecha – not Tussar” she said, with a smirk I think.

What is an Assamese Gheecha? I had never heard of this saree before. I wanted to know more. “Both are completely different Madam” the sales lady had looked at me with disdain and ticked me off. Of course, I said with a smile. And no, I did not want to look silly in front of her one more time. Best to be quiet now I thought. And best not to be taken for a ride too. Since this Gheecha silk looked so much like Tussar.

I was curious about this Assamese Gheecha and excited at having discovered one more type of saree. By now, I was not just greedy for sarees but also for the story that came with each type. And the accompanying science, history and geography were also welcome.

Gheecha silk, a friend informed me, was not named after a town (like Kanchipuram) or a weave (like Ikat). It was a type of silk. Just like #Matka, Tussar, #Mulberry, #Jacquard and #RawSilk and many others.

Deep love cannot last without deep understanding. So besides making sense of types of sarees, I realized that I must also understand these myriad forms of silk to help me build an authentic collection of sarees.

For most of us, the first lesson in #silk happened in school. A silkworm eats leaves and cocoons itself. The filament of this cocoon is reeled out and made into silk. In my later lessons I learned that the type of silk depends on 4 things: the species of silkworm, the tree whose leaves it eats, how its cocoon is processed into yarn and finally the technique by which the yarn is woven into a saree.

Let’s take Mulberry Silk for example – the finest silk available in India. When a silkworm called the Bombyx Mori eats the leaves of Mulberry tree you get a cocoon that ultimately gives you Mulberry Silk a thick and lustrous, expensive silk. The filament of the cocoon is ‘unreeled’ as a single thread, without breakages – giving Mulberry silk its lustre and strength. A Mulberry silk feels satiny smooth, luxurious to touch and strong. It can be thick – like in a Banarasi saree or thin and sheer like in a chiffon. Read more about the legend of how Mulberry Silk was discovered.

The wasteful remains of the Mulberry cocoon filament – gives Matka silk. The name ‘Matka’ or clay pot refers to the vessel where this waste is stored after removing the filaments for the Mulberry silk. It is thinner, not as lustrous, but still feels like silk. It is usually much less expensive.

And get a load on Tussar. It is born from the cocoons of moth worms that feed on the leaves of Juniper and Oak trees. The moth pushes itself out of the cocoon thus breaking the continuity of the filament. Hence the resulting filaments are short and coarse. This is why Tussar silk, though looks very good, is rough to touch. This silk does not bond too well with dyes. Hence most Tussar sarees are beige, their natural silk color. They do however, hold prints very well, hence printed Tussars look good and are popular. Read more about different types of silks to update your knowledge about it.

And now coming back to the love interest of this episode, the Gheecha silk. It is obtained when a certain species of worms, found only in Assam, feed on the Eri tree. #Eri, originally is ‘Eranda’ – the Sanskrit name for Castor (from where we get Castor Oil. Yes, that god-awful stuff that we as kids were made to drink sometimes for bad tummies.) So even though the #Gheecha silk looks a lot like #Tussar, its texture is smoother, softer, due to the filament that comes from the completely domesticated Eri worm.