Still on the lookout for a showstopper sari this Puja? Pay a last-minute visit to the Banglar Nakshi Kantha exhibition organised by the Centre for Folk and Tribal Culture, Department of Information and Culture, West Bengal, at Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala till 8pm on October 8 and pick up an exquisite kantha stitch sari.
All images by Ashim Paul ( except number 9)
‘Nakshi kantha’ has its origin in the centuries-old tradition of quilt-making. Old cloth would be stitched together with threads to make quilts (‘kanthas’). Women would wrap up their household chores and spend in the afternoons doing embroidery and chatting with each other. They would embroider different kinds of designs and motifs such as gods, goddesses, animals and the surroundings they lived in. With time more and more designs evolved as ‘nakshi kantha’ embroidery made its way to saris and other garments. ‘Nakshi kantha’ work is also found in Assam, Tripura and Bangladesh. In Bengal ‘nakshi kantha’ came to be taught at Kala Bhavana in Santiniketan as Rabindranath Tagore and his daughter-in-law Purnima Devi started training Santhali women from the nearby villages.
An exhibitor displays her artwork on tussar. Prices of silk saris at the exhibition start from around Rs.6000 and art silks around Rs 4000. Tussars start from approximately around Rs 6,500 and ‘khesh’ saris with ‘kantha’ work are priced at around Rs1,600. Blouse pieces, kurtas, dupattas, stoles, bags and a variety of other items are also available.
